10 Steps for Blood Cleanup in Cleveland

Blood Cleanup

Sometimes accidents happen, and that leads to a lot of blood. This blood cannot stay where it lies; it needs to be cleaned carefully. You need to be aware of bloodborne pathogens before you clean the blood up. 

There are places in town that can help you to clean up the mess. You can call companies that have efficient blood cleanup in Cleveland, OH, to help you. You can search online to find the right company that is near you. 

This article will give you some ideas about how to clean up blood on your own. It will give you the ten steps that you need to follow to get the job done. You can also do more research to find the information that you need. 

10 Steps for Blood Cleanup

Before you even begin, make sure that you have all the supplies that you need and that you read all the steps carefully. You don’t want to make things worse than they already are. The mess can be deadly if not cleaned up correctly.

You will need the following supplies: 

• Registered disinfectant product with a broad spectrum kills claim.
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Biohazard bags
• Biohazard labels
• Leak-proof sharps containers
• Brush and dustpan
• Tongs and forceps
• Disinfectant wipes

These are the steps to clean up minor blood spills from a hard surface:

1. Get the Right Equipment: You will need your personal protective equipment, which includes a gown or outfit, gloves, and eye and face protection. See here to learn more about PPE that you should use. Make sure that there are no holes in any of the equipment because that can lead to contamination. You also want to make sure that it fits snugly for the same reason.

2. Remove Broken Glass or Other Materials: Use the brush and dustpan or the tongs and forceps to remove glass or other materials that may damage your PPE. You will place these materials into a leak-proof sharps container to protect yourself and others from them. You don’t want to ever use your hands to pick these materials up because of the risk of contamination. 

3. Clean the First Time: The first time that you clean, you will need to put on hardy cloth towels that will soak up as much blood as you can. You can’t use the disinfectant until the majority of the blood is cleaned up because it won’t work as it should. You will discard all the towels into a biohazard bag.

4. Clean a Second Time: If the room isn’t an open room, make sure there is plenty of ventilation for the room. Pour your disinfectant onto the bloodied area and let it set for at least ten minutes: https://ehs.uky.edu/clean.html. Make sure that you are wearing your gloves and use more towels to wipe from the outside of the spill towards the center. Place the used towels into a new biohazard bag. 

5. Clean for the Third Time: After you have scrubbed the area with the cloth towels for the second time, you will need to dampen new clean towels and wipe the area again. These towels will also go into a new biohazard bag. Allow the whole area to dry completely. 

6. Dispose of Your PPE: Once you have cleaned everything up and have disposed of all the materials that you have used, it’s time to dispose of your PPE. Take it off carefully from the inside out when you can so that you aren’t contaminated by it. You will place all of this into a new biohazard bag.

7. Decontaminate Tools that You Used: If you have used the brush and dustpan and tongs and forceps, you need to soak them in a solution that includes mostly disinfectant. Let them soak for at least ten minutes, and then you can remove them. After that, you will need to scrub it all with clean, soapy water, and then rinse carefully. 

8. Check Yourself for Contamination:  Once you have cleaned everything up, check yourself for contamination. You may have splashed blood on your shirt or even your skin. This needs to be cleaned up by a professional so that you will have the best chance of not being contaminated. 

9. Wash Your Hands: You will then need to wash up thoroughly after finishing all this. You will want to use disinfectant soap to wash your hands and arms. If you still feel that you aren’t clean enough, do it a second time. You might even want to take a complete shower with disinfectant soap. 

10. Report the Incident – Your company will probably want you to do an incident report after you have finished the cleanup. Get this done as soon as possible so that you don’t forget to do it. The company could wind up in trouble if there is no incident report done.

Conclusion

These steps are for minor blood cleanups only. If you have a large blood spot that needs to be cleaned, you will need to call out some professionals to do the job for you. They have the proper equipment and training to do the job the right way.