Aseptic technique

Summary notes: Laboratory hygiene

Personal protective equipment

Personal safety clothing and equipment is designed to safeguard your health and
safety against a particular kind of hazard. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable, but it is used
for a reason.

For personal safety clothing to be effective there are four things to remember:

- It must protect against the type of hazard you are exposed to.

- It must comply with the Australian Standard, and be in working condition –

check before using that it is complete, not faulty or damaged. If there is a
problem report it to your supervisor, or the safety officer.

- It must fit properly – if it doesn’t, it will not protect you.

- You must use it correctly. Your employer has a legal obligation to ensure that
you are trained in the use of all personal protection equipment and you have an
obligation to take part in that training.

Preparing the work area for aseptic procedures

The route of exposure is the way that hazardous material enters the body. The most
common routes are through:

- Inhalation – breathing in gases, vapours or aerosols.

- Absorption – getting liquids on your skin, with absorption through the intact
skin, or through skin wounds.

- Ingestion – swallowing it. For example, this could happen through eating
without washing your hands after handling toxic or infectious material.

Obviously it’s not a good idea to eat or drink in the laboratory at any time!

- Wounds - from contaminated sharp objects such as scalpels, knives, broken glass.

This is why personal hygiene and protective clothing are so important.

Personal hygiene

When we talk about hygiene we are talking about clean, protective, or healthy
practises, so this isn’t just about washing your hands.

Personal hygiene is also about adequate eye protection and face masks, or, where
necessary, a full face shield.

For example, chemicals or bio-hazardous material can splash on your face, in your
mouth or eyes.

Apart from protecting your clothes, laboratory coats help protect you from splashing.

Disposable gowns and gloves are essential when working with infectious material to
protect you from direct infection.

Use the appropriate personal protection and ensure that it fits correctly.

Working with sharps, instruments or syringes, can also present risk and requires extra
care. This is especially so when dealing with infectious materials. If you cut or prick
yourself under these circumstances, you should immediately report it.

When working with animal body products, faecal matter, or body fluids, it is wise to
assume that they are infectious.

All of the above can be the cause of direct infection.

Always wash your hands thoroughly with the cleaning agent recommended for the
work routines you are performing.

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Make sure that you keep your bench area hygienically clean. This can be a source of
chemical contamination, or indirect infection if you have been working with infectious
material.

The risks to your health are governed by the level of personal hygiene that you
practise. Your workplace standard operating procedures will state what precautions
you should take when performing certain work routines.

For your own sake, and those about you, make sure that you comply with safety
requirements.

In general, you must always:

- use the correct personal protective equipment

- keep hands and protective clothing clean, particularly at meal and toilet breaks

- wash your hands whenever you leave the laboratory and again on your return

- wash hands each time you remove protective gloves

- take steps to prevent contamination of samples

- make sure your conduct is sensible and does not cause harm to yourself or
others.
Cross-contamination is the transfer of contamination from one place to another.

Your company will have procedures in place to help prevent this from occurring. In
general:

- Avoid all unnecessary contact with chemicals and materials that may be
contaminated.

- Don’t eat, smoke, chew your nails or place things like pens in your mouth.

- Make sure you don’t contaminate surfaces with bacteria by transfer of material
on your hands, clothing or other personal items such as pens, worksheets,
folders, chairs, safety equipment and other equipment that can come into contact
with work surfaces or other items in the laboratory.

All items in the laboratory should be treated as a potential source of contamination,

even if you have cleaned it. While it is impossible to completely stop contamination,
you can certainly help to minimise it.

Standards of workplace cleaning

Cleaning refers to removal of all sorts of contamination and waste materials.

Equipment, glassware, bench-tops, floors, furniture as well as people and their

personal protective equipment all require specialised cleaning which depends on the
possible contamination and its properties.

Sanitising agents

You will be familiar with the role of chlorine as a germ killer. Other sanitisers common
to the domestic scene are some (dual action) detergents and hot water and
disinfectants.

Sanitising means the removal of micro-organisms using chemicals or

hot water, and leaving the object in a condition which can resist further organism
growth. The food industry uses stainless steel because the chemicals used to remove
food residues and kill any organisms don’t attack this material. The microbiological
areas concerned with testing for micro-organisms must have sterile equipment and be
able to destroy any reproducing organisms. The enterprise must be able to protect its
staff from contamination by contact with these potentially harmful micro-organisms.

Microbe destruction can be carried out with:

- chemicals (chlorine-, aldehyde- and quat-types)

- heat (flaming, wet or dry steam – autoclave)

- radiation (UV, nuclear, microwave).

Barriers such as seals and plastic wrapping are used to prevent further access. Your
trainer/supervisor will stress areas of local importance.

Disinfection of benches and other work surfaces

The general procedure for cleaning and disinfection control of work surfaces in the
laboratory are summarised below. You may use this as a guide because your
workplace will have developed its own workplace hygiene plan and procedures and
you must know them thoroughly and follow them as required.

1. Clean first with hot water and detergent to remove build up of grease and fats.

2. Rinse with water to remove traces of detergent that might reduce the ability of
chemicals to disinfect the surface.

3. Apply disinfectant spray to the surface and allow it to soak. The soaking time is
called the contact time. Contact time is important for the chemical disinfectant to be
able to do its job effectively. The contact time varies with the type of disinfectant
used. You should always check the manufacturer’s instructions to find out the
appropriate contact time for the disinfectant that you are using.

4. Wipe down the surface and allow to dry.

Suitable disinfectants include:

- 1% glutaraldehyde gives broad protection against microbial contaminants but it

can be irritating to your nose and throat so it should only be used in a well
ventilated area.

- ethanol as an 80% v/v solution (=70% w/v ethanol)

- do not use pure ethanol because some water must be present for it to work as
a disinfectant mixed with water

- be careful with ethanol because it is very flammable (even when mixed with
water)

All areas within the laboratory should be kept clean and free from dust. Dust can
become airborne and contaminate samples and cultures. Also insects such as flies,
should be kept out of the laboratory as they have the potential to contaminate testing
procedures.