SAFETY PROCEDURES
FOR CONTAMINATED SPECIMENS.
DRAFT COPY ONLY.
(Procedure 37).
http://www.netautopsy.org/axsop/axsop037.htm


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United States Government Work, uncopyrighted, public-domain, DRAFT COPY ONLY. This document does not necessarily represent the views or policies of any United States Government agency. This document is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. In no event shall the authors be liable for any claim, damages or other liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from, out of, or in connection with the document or the use or other dealings made with the document.



PRINCIPLE OF THE TEST.


To control chemical hazards and biohazards.



SPECIMEN REQUIRED.

      All human tissue excised at surgery, outpatient clinics, and postmortems, fresh or in fixative, along with a filled-out Tissue Examination Form (U. S. Standard Form 515, USSF515).



REAGENTS, INSTRUMENTATION.

      Disinfectant. Clean instruments.



STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION.


1. Spills are to be kept to a minimum. Those that do occur are to be cleaned promptly.

2. All working surfaces are to be thoroughly cleaned with disinfectant immediately after dissection.

3. All tissues that are to be discarded will be placed in "DISPOSIT" double bags and incinerated at the end of the day or within 24 hours.

4. All contaminated tissue that are to be saved are to be placed in formalin.

5. All needle punctures and cuts sustained during procedures should be cleaned immediately with disinfectant, dressed properly and reported to the immediate supervisor.

6. Handwashing is a most important procedure to prevent spread of disease.

7. All protective garments worn during dissection are to be disposed of as in number 3.

8. All instruments used for the dissection should be disinfected by soaking in disinfectant soap solution immediately.

9. Tissue slices cut by a cryostat microtome are collected by adhering to a warm glass slide, which then is disposed of following immersion in 10% buffered formalin solution.

10. Used glass slides, needles, knives, and other sharps are placed in red plastic SHARPS CONTAINERS. These sharps containers are periodically emptied by environmental management.



REFERENCE.
1. Prophet EB, Mills B, Arrington JB, Sobin LH.
Laboratory Methods in Histotechnology, pp. 3-8.
1992: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC. 20306-6000.
ISBN: 1-881041-00-X 1992.