Biological Spill
Important Contacts
UC Police Department (UCPD) & UCLA Fire: 9-1-1
Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S): (310) 825-9797
Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine (DLAM): (310) 825-2200
DGSOM Security: (310) 267-7100
Facilities Management (FM): (310) 825-9236
Alert
- If you are experiencing a life-threatening emergency, please call 9-1-1 immediately.
Prepare
- Ensure laboratory contacts for emergencies are up to date
- A spill kit should be readily available and should include the following items:
- Chlorine bleach or other Institutional Biosafety Committee-approved disinfectant
- Package or roll of paper towels, or other disposable absorbent
- Biohazard labeled red bags and waste containers
- Latex or Nitrile gloves, lab coat and safety glasses
- Forceps for picking up broken glass and biohazard sharp containers
- See the UCLA Institutional Biosafety Plan.
Respond
Immediately report all incidents, injuries, and potential exposures to your Principal Investigator (PI) and Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) hotline at (310) 825-9797 Option 3.
- Remove all contaminated clothing and dispose of it in a biohazard bag or decontaminate using bleach
- Ensure your shoes are not contaminated with hazardous material to prevent spreading outside of the immediate area
- Wash the exposed area thoroughly with soap and water for 20 minutes
- Obtain medical attention, if necessary.
- Immediately rinse the eyeball and inner surface of eyelid with water for 20 minutes (use faucet or eye wash)
- Hold eye open so your eyelids are washed thoroughly
- Obtain medical attention
- Report incident to your Principal Investigator (PI).
- Wear disposable gloves, lab coat and safety glasses
- Cover the spill in paper towels and absorb all the liquid
- Soak paper towels in 10% bleach or use disinfectant wipes to disinfect affected surfaces
- Place the materials you used to disinfect spill in a biohazard red bag for disposal
- Clean spill area once again with fresh towels soaked in 10% bleach or disinfectant wipes.
- A major spill is one involving an infectious agent that is airborne, or one involving more than 4 liters of an infectious agent culture
- Alert everyone in immediate area to leave the lab
- If assistance is needed to clean the spill, call 9-1-1. Notify responders that this is a biohazard spill at UCLA
- Close doors to affected area, wait 30 minutes to allow aerosols to settle
- To clean the spill:
- Wear disposable gloves, lab coat and safety glasses
- Cover the spill in paper towels and absorb all the liquid
- Soak paper towels in 10% bleach or use disinfectant wipes to disinfect affected surfaces
- Place the materials you used to disinfect spill in a biohazard red bag for disposal
- Clean spill area once again with fresh towels soaked in 10% bleach or disinfectant wipes.
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