What is Body Fluid?

Body fluids are liquids originating from inside the bodies of living humans and play a vital role within our bodies. They are made up of proteins and are excreted or secreted from the body. Bodily fluids and tissue such as blood or faeces are known to be a vehicle of transmission so can pose significant health risks if left without proper clean up and disinfection. Exposure to bodily fluids can happen anywhere from incidents involving biohazards, to traumatic incidents such as a road accident. Rentokil Specialist Hygiene provide professional specialist disinfection services to help remove associated risks that body fluids pose to public health.

Bodily fluid includes the following:

Body fluid can contain pathogens, bacteria and viruses, and coming into contact with these pose a risk of transmission and spread of infection or infectious diseases such as colds, flus, norovirus, AIDS, Hepatitis and HIV.

• The risk of contracting a disease from direct contact with blood, urine, vomit and faeces is based on many factors, including but not limited to:
• 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
• Which precautions have been taken, such as wearing PPE and washing your hands

Having the correct procedure in place when 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 feces can seep into porous materials and areas which are not visible to the untrained eye. This can make cleaning using standard methods, difficult. The risk of infection due to exposure is also much greater if a professional deep clean and disinfection does not take place.