Biological Hazard Cleanup Process

Situations to utilize a biological spill cleanup kit:

  1. When cleaning up blood/blood contaminated surfaces
  2. When cleaning up needles

Call the control desk if the spill is too large for the contents of the kit or if you do not feel comfortable safely cleaning up the biological spill Charles River Campus- (617) 353-2105; Medical Campus– 617-358-4144

How to protect yourself:

  1. Exercise Universal Precautions: Treat all blood and bodily fluids as “potentially infectious”
  2. Wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds after removing gloves
  3. Personal protective equipment included in your spill kit:
  4. Safety Glasses    Surgical Mask
  5. Nitrile Gloves
  6. Coverall Tyvec
  7. Shoe Covers

Clean-up Procedures

  1. Put on personal protective equipment.
  2. Place paper towels over the spill.
  3. Saturate the paper towels with the disinfectant spray bottle included in the kit and let stand for 15 minutes.
  4. Remove any contaminated sharp objects with tongs (included in the kit) and place them into the red sharps container included in the kit. Use the following procedure to collect any sharps:
  5. Place the sharps container on a firm surface near the sharp and open the container.
  6. Use the tongs to firmly grasp the needle and place it into the sharps container.

DO NOT HOLD THE CONTAINER WHILE PUTTING IN THE SHARP! THIS CREATES POTENTIAL TO CAUSE A NEEDLE STICK AS YOU BRING THE NEEDLE TOWARD YOUR OTHER HAND!

  1. Clean up paper towels and dispose of as biological waste. Place all contaminated materials inside the Biological waste bag included in the kit and place in the pail for pickup.

Once the biologically contaminated waste is contained in the pail, please place a removal request through the below link.  or call the Environmental Health and Safety office at: CRC- 617-353-4094; BUMC- 617-358-7840.

Additional kits can also be ordered through this link.

Each Biological Spill Cleanup Kit Contains the Following items:

  1. Nitrile gloves
  2. 1L bottle of disinfectant
  3. Surgical mask
  4. Paper towels
  5. Biological waste bag
  6. Tyvec coverall
  7. Shoe covers
  8. Safety glasses
  9. Tongs
  10. Sharps disposal container