Spill Response: BioHazards

A biohazardous spill occurs anytime there is an unintended release of a potentially infectious material (including blood or blood products, body fluids and stock cultures) into the environment. Proper response to such incidents ensures worker and student safety while reducing environmental contamination concerns. Proper response includes adopting a spill response plan, assuring that spill materials are available for use, and verifying that all personnel and students are aware of and understand the requirements of the response plan.

If a spill occurs and the appropriate spill materials are not available, or if the spill occurs outside of the lab environment, contact EH&S at 7-2273 for assistance. Refer to the following pages for spill categories and recommended response protocols and equipment.

Biohazard Spill Kits

Each area should have sufficient spill cleanup materials available to respond to the largest anticipated spill for that area. In lab environments, this may be addressed by one centrally located and easily accessible kit for a department or group of labs. If a centralized kit is used, a person may be designated to take a regular inventory of the spill materials and order replacements as needed or, as part of the response procedure, anyone who takes materials from the kit can be responsible for replacing used items. A biohazardous spill kit should include the following items:

• Gloves: nitrile or double latex (multiple pairs & sizes recommended for central kits)
• Safety goggles (face shield strongly recommended for maximum protection against biological and chemical contact hazards)
• Protective smock or gown to protect clothing
• Absorbent towels
• Household bleach (to prepare fresh bleach solution if needed) or other suitable disinfectant
• Forceps, tray, dust pan and squeegee (constructed of autoclavable materials if to be reused)
• "Sharps" disposal container
• Autoclavable bags, regular trash bags and biohazard tags

Spill Categories and Response

Although most spills will fall into one of the following general categories, each work area should develop its own response plan to address its specific needs. At a minimum, a response plan should incorporate the following principles:

• Minimize the spill responder's risk of exposure to both biological and chemical hazards. Eliminate unnecessary handling of the disinfectants (particularly in concentrated form) and spilled material. Use personal protective equipment properly.
• Be prepared. Provide training for all affected personnel regarding your spill protocol. Assure that spill materials are available and accessible.
• Follow prescribed contact times and concentrations for disinfectants. These two parameters are critical to the effectiveness of these products. This information is provided for bleach solution throughout the general protocols. If a different disinfectant is chosen, follow the manufacturer's recommendations for these parameters as well as safe handling instructions.

Droplet Spill

This protocol is for extremely small quantities (less than 5 milliliters or barely enough material to flow) of low-risk materials such as stock microbiological cultures of known origin and risk. Lab analyses that involve droplet quantities of blood/body fluids or surface contamination resulting from first aid situations also fall into this category.

1. Notify others working in the area of the hazard present. Notify your supervisor or principal investigator so that he/she may supervise and assist with spill response if needed.
2. At a minimum, wear gloves and eye protection (safety goggles) for spill cleanup activities. If gloves are defective or become visibly contaminated, replace them immediately before proceeding with cleanup activities. Remember: Wash your hands after removing gloves for replacement or disposal.
3. If applicable, using mechanical means, pick up any contaminated sharp items (syringes, broken glass, etc.) and place them in the "sharps" container for disposal. Cover the spill with absorbent disposable paper towels. This will minimize the aerosolization of the spilled material during bleach treatment.
4. Starting with the outer edges of the towels and working into the center of the spill, soak the area with 10% household bleach solution (1 part 6% sodium hypochlorite to 9 parts water; must be prepared fresh daily for maximum effectiveness).
5. Allow the soaked paper towels to stand a minimum of 20 minutes. Then, collect the treated towels and place them in a regular trash bag for disposal in the lab trash. This means of disposal is limited to low-risk droplet spills only. Note: Use forceps to collect the towels if there is any risk of sharp particles (such as glass slivers) present in the spill.
6. Wipe down the entire area of the spill with clean towels and additional bleach solution and allow to air dry.
7. Place all disposable personal protective equipment and cleaning materials into the waste spill materials bag. Tie the bag and discard it in the lab trash. Wash your hands following any spill cleanup.

Small Quantity Spill

This protocol is for small quantity spills (less than 250 milliliters or about 1 cup) of low-risk materials such as microbiological cultures of known origin and risk. Most of these spills will occur in the lab environment either on the bench, in the biosafety cabinet or during transport of materials.

1. Notify others working in the area of the hazard present. Notify your supervisor or principal investigator so that he/she may supervise and assist with spill response if needed.


** If your clothing or skin comes in contact with the spilled material, take appropriate action before proceeding with cleanup. Remove contaminated clothing articles and place them in a designated biohazard bag for decontamination processing. Thoroughly wash any area of your skin that may have been in contact with the spilled material with soap and water for about 5 minutes.

2. Wear gloves, safety goggles and a protective smock as minimum personal protective equipment. Using a face shield is strongly recommended for the highest level of protection against both biological and chemical hazard contact. Replace personal protective equipment that is damaged or becomes contaminated before proceeding with cleanup.
3. Isolate the spilled material. If the spill occurs in the open lab or during transport, evacuate all unnecessary people from the area. Allow the spill to stand for 20 minutes (if possible) to minimize aerosolized material. Using forceps, carefully remove visibly contaminated items that can be autoclaved and reused (containers, racks, etc.) and place them in an autoclave bag for treatment. Place a biohazard tag on the bag. Remove items that cannot be reused (e.g., broken glassware too large to fit in a sharps container) and place them in a separate, tagged bag to be autoclaved and disposed of. To assure containment if this bag should become torn, place it in an autoclave tray prior to use.


** If the spill occurs in a biosafety cabinet (BSC), the risk of exposure to personnel in the area is minimized. However, the BSC may require a specific decontamination procedure. Refer to your area biosafety procedures and manufacturer's instructions for more information.

4. Cover the spill with absorbent disposable paper towels. This will minimize the aerosolization of the spilled material during bleach treatment.
5. Starting with the outer edges of the towels and working into the center of the spill, soak the area with 10% household bleach solution (1 part 6% sodium hypochlorite to 9 parts water; must be prepared fresh daily for maximum effectiveness).
6. Allow the treated towels to stand a minimum of 20 minutes. Then, using the squeegee, dust pan and forceps, collect the treated towels and place them in the autoclave bag containing unrecoverable items.
7. Wipe down the entire area of the spill, including articles in close proximity that were not visibly contaminated, with clean towels and more bleach solution and allow to air dry.
8. Place reusable spill response items in the autoclave bag for recoverable items. Sterilize items prior to further processing for reuse.
9. Place all disposable personal protective equipment and cleaning materials in the other autoclave bag to be treated and disposed of. Autoclave the bag, remove biohazard tag and enclose the treated waste in a regular trash bag prior to disposal as unregulated waste.
10. For additional assistance, call EH&S at 7-2273.

Significant Quantity/Moderate Risk Spill

This category includes spills of potentially infectious materials in excess of 250 milliliters or any quantity of a material that presents a moderate or high risk to personnel or the environment (generally BSL3 organisms). Follow the same procedure as prescribed for small quantity spills with the following provisions:

• Notify EH&S for assistance and incident documentation.
• A number of BSL3 organisms are capable of airborne transmission. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that a HEPA respirator be worn when responding to spills involving these materials. (Refer to applicable biosafety protocols.)

Combined Hazard Spill

In laboratories, a spill of potentially infectious material may also have other hazardous characteristics. A common additional hazard in is radioactivity due to the widespread use of isotopes markers.

1. Evacuate the area and notify the radiation safety department at 7-2227 or EH&S 7-2273 (backup) for response. Do NOT initiate any cleanup activities on your own before radiation safety personnel have arrived.
2. Radiation safety personnel will survey the affected area to determine the appropriate method of treatment and disposal of the spill materials. Be prepared to assist responders if needed.
3. Following spill response activities, radiation safety responders will again survey the area to verify that radiation decontamination has been achieved. Make sure that all unnecessary personnel stay out of the area until the responders have determined that it is safe to reenter.