01/16/2007

Disinfectant Survey Please Participate!

By Barb Garrison, M.S., CHMM, CET

Is the disinfectant you're using in the prep room appropriate? Maybe, maybe not. In more than half of the funeral home safety audits I conducted this year, the embalming staff was using an inappropriate chemical to disinfect embalming tables and other contaminated surfaces. According to OSHA, appropriate disinfectants include:

* Diluted bleach solutions (household bleach diluted 1:10 to 10:100 parts water);
* EPA-registered tuberculocides;
* Sterilants registered by the Environmental Protection Agency (List A);
* Products registered against HIV/HBV(List D); and
* Sterilants/ High Level Disinfectants cleared by the FDA.

The lists of the EPA Registered Products* are available from the National Pesticide Information Center on its web site at http://npic.orst.edu/ or at (800) 858-7378. The sterilants and high level disinfectants cleared by FDA can be found at http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ode/germlab.html.

You are welcome to navigate through the websites to determine whether your disinfection product is appropriate OR , You can participate in a survey and Safex will do the research for you!

If you'd like us to do the research for you, please e-mail Barb at bgarrison@safex.us with the following information:

* The name of the product you are using
* The name and telephone number of the manufacturer
* Any EPA registration numbers found on the container

We will compile the results and publish them in an upcoming issue of the newsletter.
If you have any questions about this survey or any other health, safety or environmental issue, please contact me at bgarrison@safex.us or by phone, toll-free at 866-723-3987.

*NOTE: The EPA lists contain the primary registrants' products only. The same formulation is frequently repackaged and renamed and distributed by other companies. These renamed products will not appear on the list, but their EPA Registration number must appear on the label. Products cleared solely by the FDA will not have an EPA number.