School Infection Control Handbook - 2010

Chapter 3: Development of Protocols

Occupational and Safety Administration (OSHA) requires employees to make a reasonable effort to clean the surface with regular carpet detergent/cleaner products. 5 x Products: An EPA-registered non-food-contact surface sanitizer may be used. Check the label to determine whether it is effective on wool carpet. Products are designed and labeled to be one of the following: o Sanitizers for precleaned carpeting o One-step cleaner/sanitizers (the label will specify the amount of organic matter for which it is effective; because carpets tend to be reservoirs for dirt, best practices would require cleaning first) o Carpet detergent that is rinsed thoroughly and dried within 24 hours to prevent the growth of microbes. o Steam cleaning/vapor technologies that sanitize carpets without added chemicals. ƒ Laundry items contaminated with blood that can be washed should be washed separately using an EPA-registered non-food-contact surface sanitizer as an additive in laundry detergent. 6 The following EPA requirements apply to antimicrobial products that have label claims for sanitizing activity for fabrics and/or laundry water. x The directions for use of laundry additives will specify the o Machine cycle in which to add product, the water level, the temperature range, and the treatment time o Products compatibility with other common laundry additives such as soaps, detergents, bleach, starch, bluing, sours, and fabric softeners x Label claims must distinguish between products for soaking treatments prior to laundering and product additives in laundry operations: o Presoaking treatment products are used for soaking soiled fabrics prior to routine laundering. Product directions will specify rinsing of the items to remove dirt prior to soaking, followed by immersion in an adequate volume of soaking solution at the recommended-use dilution (at least 5:1 weight per weight [w/w] solution-to-fabric ratio; e.g., half a wash load in a 3-gallon pail) for a specified contact time prior to the laundering operation. o Product directions for laundry operation additives will distinguish between products designed for household and coin- x Alternatives to sanitizer products:

operated laundering and those designed for commercial/industrial/institutional laundering:

27