Safety Information

Protective Equipment and Disinfection solutions:

Must be maintained near all areas where biohazardous materials are handled or stored and must be readily available at all times.  A working solution (if appropriate) should be prepared regularly and dated.  Discard expired solutions on a regular basis.  Sufficient volumes (~4L) should be available to deal with the volumes of potential spills in the area and should be appropriate for the nature of the organism involved.  Stock solutions should be available in addition to the working concentrations.

Personal Protective Equipment   
there should be enough for at least two workers (never work alone doing a cleanup) and should include: 

• lab coat or coveralls
• rubber/plastic apron
• rubber boots
• heavy rubber gloves (gauntlets preferred over latex examination gloves)
• particle mask
• HEPA filter mask if infection via respiratory route is possiblerespirator with appropriate filter cartridge and HEPA filter (depends on disinfectant used)
• eye goggles or face shield

Other Accessories:

• chemical disinfectant stock solution (marked with date received and expiry date)
• dilution containers
• dilution instructions
• paper towels (or similar adsorbent material)
• moppail
• squeegee
• tongs (for broken glass recovery)
• autoclave bags (6)

Some Characteristics of Chemical Disinfectants:         back to top

Information adapted from "Concepts in Biosafety; Office of Environmental Health & Safety, University of Alberta (revised 1998)"

Definitions:

Stock solution refers to the concentrated form as received from the supplier.   Sometimes different concentrations are available so be sure to indicate this.   Note date received.

Work solution: the concentration of solution prepared from the stock by diluting it with some solvent; specify solvent (water, alcohol, etc) and details of proportions to be mixed.

Active ingredient concentration: some working solutions are described in terms of the concentration of active agent in the working solution.  If the stock solution is not 100% active ingredient, then you must calculate the concentration of active ingredient in the stock to get the correct concentration in the final working solution.

v = volume, (v/v is ml/100 ml)
w = weight, (w/v is g/100ml)

Example:  household bleach is 5% (w/v) sodium hypochlorite.  If you want 0.5% hypochlorite in the working solution, then dilute 100 ml of bleach to 1000 ml with water which is a 10% (v/v) solution of the original stock concentration.  If you had a 12% bleach stock, then would mix 42 ml of bleach stock with 958 ml water (this is a 4.2% (v/v) solution of the original stock. 

Note: Double check manufacturer's dilution recommendations for all solutions as some of the following concentrations are based on reports from other publications.   They may be wrong or the manufacturer may have altered their formulation.