Cleaning Services, Housekeeping and Bloodborne Pathogens Training: What You Need to Know

Are you curious about cleaning services and bloodborne pathogens training?
In this article we’ll tell you everything you need to know about housekeeping and cleaning services and how they relate to bloodborne pathogens. If you work as a cleaning professional, ensure you have the right training and experience to keep you safe at work. HIPAA training for business associates could help.
Read on to learn more!

Cleaning Services and Bloodborne Pathogens Training

Whether you are a cleaning professional or are looking to hire one, it’s important to understand the role that cleaning services play in the control of bloodborne pathogens.
Thorough cleaning services are essential in order to avoid passing bloodborne pathogens between people and keep your employees, or yourself healthy. So, training to understand the risks and precautions is essential.
Bloodborne pathogens are harmful and found in human blood. If they are not avoided through correct cleaning procedures and come into contact with humans, they can cause infectious diseases. An individual can become sick from bloodborne pathogens at work while eating or working at a contaminated desk, or by using a tool which is contaminated or even while using an infected toilet seat.
There’s a high risk of becoming infected among people who are routinely exposed to blood and bodily fluids due to their job. For example, workers in hospitals and cleaners or housekeepers in some sectors are exposed to human bodily fluids. If you’re a worker in an industry where regular exposure could occur you should seek the correct training to remain safe and keep your working environment clean.
Common bloodborne pathogens include: HIV, Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B. If you or your work area is exposed to blood or bodily fluids you will need to clean the area thoroughly as soon as you possibly can.
Cleaning activities should ideally be undertaken by cleaning professionals and signs should be put in place to indicate the area contains a potential health risk. By taking fast action and understanding the risks, you can reduce the risk of infection dramatically. There are a lot of situations in life when blood can be shed due to accidents involving sharp objects so first aiders should also be made aware of the risks associated with bloodborne pathogens.

Dangers of Bloodborne Pathogens

Bloodborne pathogens are most likely to be a risk to people who are exposed to bodily fluids on a regular basis. That means training is especially important for EMTS (EMTs), firefighters, housekeeping personnel who dispose of hygiene waste and employees who handle medical waste.

We recommend following the bloodborne pathogens best practice guidelines set out by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in order to stay safe. The OSHA guidelines include control plans for those who are exposed. They also set out universal precautions. You can visit the post-exposure follow-up section on their website to learn more. They also provide training to personnel in sectors that are at risk.

Bloodborne Pathogen Risk Mitigation

Avoiding bloodborne pathogens in the workplace is much easier with an exposure control plan (ECP) in place. An ECP Should include a list of jobs in which employees could become exposed, a list of specific tasks that could expose them and procedures for how to evaluate any incidents of exposure. It should also detail compliance methods such as practice controls, cleaning procedures and more.

Stay Safe With The Right Training

We hope you learned a lot by reading our guide to bloodborne pathogens.
If you work as a cleaning professional, ensure you have the right cleaning services and bloodborne pathogens training to keep you safe at work.
Take a look at all our HIPAA courses to learn more about this important topic.