Diseases from Exposure to Bodily Fluids

It is critical nowadays to be cautious when dealing with bodily fluids and faeces due to the risk of infection and exposure to diseases.

Direct exposure to body fluid spills do not result in infection. In general, the risk of human infection from spills is very low. However, risk of contracting a disease from direct contact to blood, urine, vomit and faeces is based on many factors, including but not limited to the following:

• The infectious agent involved
• Amount of body fluids/faeces involved in the exposure
• Duration and type of exposure
• The amount of infectious agent in the body fluids/faeces at the time of exposure

The 3 main diseases that can be transmitted by exposure to body fluids are:

Having the correct procedure for cleaning body fluids can be subjected to a legal requirement under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. Employers have a legal duty to protect the health and safety of their employees and anyone else that may be on the premises.

Employers must also have a procedure in place for reporting an incident involving a biohazard as part of their health and safety plan. This plan should evaluate the risk of infection from exposure and state the company’s procedure for disinfection of the contaminated area.

Organising the clean up after an incident involving biohazards is down to the person responsible for the premises. If left unattended, bodily fluids such as blood, urine, vomit and human faeces can seep into porous materials and areas which are not visible to the untrained eye. This can make cleaning, using standard cleaning methods, difficult. The risk of exposure and infection is also much greater if a professional deep cleaning and disinfection do not take place.

When we say we are the experts we mean it. All of our Rentokil Specialist Hygiene technicians are trained with industry leading RSPH qualifications, making them specialists in all types of hygiene cleaning and disinfection environments. We are always on hand to provide expert advice and recommendations on all manner of cleaning and disinfection services - alternatively you can book a FREE appointment with your local Rentokil Hygiene specialist by contacting us online.