Part 4 What should I know about cleaning and disinfection?

CORRECT or INCORRECT?

Breathing, ingesting, and skin contact with disinfectants can cause serious health problems.

Correct

Yes, breathing, ingesting, and skin contact with disinfectants can cause serious health problems.

Incorrect

Breathing, ingesting, and skin contact with disinfectants can cause serious health problems.

Acquiring COVID infection via contact with surfaces is now agreed to be VERY unlikely.

Breathing in aerosols and droplets are the main way that the virus spreads. Acquiring COVID infection via contact with surfaces is now agreed to be VERY unlikely – generally less than 1 in 10,000, which means that each contact with a contaminated surface has less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of causing an infection. In most circumstances, routine handwashing and cleaning surfaces with soap and water is sufficient to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 infection.

The virus dies naturally within hours to days on surfaces. Warm temperatures and exposure to sunlight reduce the time the virus survives.

Sanitizing and Disinfection refers to using chemicals to kill germs on surfaces. Chemical cleaners and disinfectants can expose you to toxic chemicals that pose serious health hazards. Under the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard, employers must provide training to workers who use hazardous chemicals including chemical cleaners and disinfectants.

Be aware of chemical hazards.

When cleaning and disinfecting, be aware of chemical hazards including the basic ways that chemicals can enter your body:

Direct contact - on the skin or eyes
Absorption - through the skin
Accidental Ingestion - through the mouth
Inhalation - through the lungs
Reproductive Hazards

Disinfecting Products

Many of the disinfecting product choices available on the market use chemicals such as bleach, phenols or quaternary ammonium compounds, often referred to as quats (quaternary ammonia compounds), that can have serious adverse impacts on human and environmental health. To learn about safer cleaning and disinfection products, see this list from the University of Massachusetts Toxic Use Reduction Institute: https://www.turi.org/Our_Work/Cleaning_Laboratory/COVID-19_Safely_Clean_Disinfect/Safer_Disinfecting_Products/List_of_Safer_Disinfecting_Products

Precautions

Necessary precautions when cleaning surfaces:

Wear disposable gloves to clean and disinfect.
Clean surfaces using soap and water, then use disinfectant.
Cleaning with soap and water reduces number of germs, dirt and impurities on the surface. Disinfecting kills germs on surfaces.
Practice routine cleaning of touched surfaces. More frequent cleaning and disinfection may be required based on level of use. Surfaces and objects in public places, such as shopping carts and point of sale keypads should be cleaned and disinfected before each use.
High touch surfaces include tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, sinks, etc.
Disinfectants work only to disinfect surfaces. You should never eat, drink, breath or inject cleaning products into your body or apply directly to your skin as they can cause serious harm. Federal OSHA standards require employers to ensure all cleaning staff are trained on the hazards of the cleaning chemicals used in the workplace in accordance with OSHA Standard 29 CFR 1910.1200, and on the proper disposal of hazardous wastes. OSHA’s Blood-borne Pathogens standard also requires employers to train employees on proper disposal of regulated waste.

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