All plans contain four essential elements:

• Personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Assessment of the extent and nature of the spill
• Disinfection and methods of disinfection
• Disposal

As with any hazardous biological spill care must be taken to avoid aerosolizing the material. In addition, care must also be taken to avoid percutaneous exposures that may be present in the spilled material i.e. needles, broken glass, scalpel blades, etc. To that end the following plan is provided as a template only. You can use information in this template to construct your own biological spill response plan. Remember an emergency response plan is only as good as the ability of the person to understand it therefore it should be concise.

1) Don appropriate PPE for the potential infectious material encountered. This could include gloves, lab coat, face shield, goggles, dust mask, HEPA mask, etc. Think exposure routes and protect yourself accordingly. If the spilled material can be transmitted via the inhalation route then clear the area and warn others of the spill. Wait a period of time and then enter the area. This will allow most of the aerosol to settle or be captured by the building exhaust. Keep in mind that the fact that there was a spill means that aerosolization has taken place.

2) Assess the spill! Is it a large spill or a small spill? A large spill is generally defined as sufficient quantity that if spilled tends to seek its own level. In other words it runs to a low point. The main concept that would cause one to treat the large spill differently is with containment in mind. One would want to make sure the spill did not spread and contaminate other areas.

3) Cover the spilled material with absorbent towels and carefully pour a suitable disinfectant on the area. When pouring the disinfectant start at the edge and spiral in toward the center of the spill. When selecting a disinfectant for the kinds of material used in the lab one should make sure the label indicates that it is tuberculocidal. This designation indicates that the disinfectant has received an EPA approval and can be used on a myriad of agents. However, the testing that is conducted for disinfectants does not take into account soil load and therefore one must take that into account when using the disinfectant on the spill. Remember two factors are associated with proper disinfection: concentration of the disinfectant and contact time. Follow the manufacturer's directions for mixing disinfectants.

4) After the area has been thoroughly disinfected carefully place all the materials in the proper medical waste container. Any contaminated glass should never be handled with hands (even gloved hands)?. Use only tongs, dust pan and broom, hemostats, etc. and carefully place the broken glass in an approved sharps container. The rest of the spill clean up can then be placed in red bags for proper disposal as you normally would any other medical waste. Then place all disposable PPE in the medical waste container and complete the spill clean up by carefully washing hands with soap and water. Report incident to lab manager or PI as soon as possible and if warranted to OH&S as directed by lab manager or PI.