WAC 296-823-18020   Make sure these special practices for personal protective equipment (PPE) and other safe guards are followed.  

     You must:

     • Make sure appropriate personal protective clothing is used in work areas and animal rooms. Examples of appropriate personal protective clothing include:

     – Laboratory coats

     – Gowns

     – Smocks

     – Uniforms.

     • Decontaminate protective clothing before it is laundered

     • Make sure employees remove protective clothing before leaving their work area

     • Take special care to avoid skin contact with other potentially infectious materials (OPIM)

     • Wear gloves when handling infected animals and when you can not avoid making hand contact with OPIM

     • Conduct all activities involving OPIM in biological safety cabinets or other physical-containment devices within the containment module. No work with OPIM must be conducted on the open bench.

     – Appropriate certified biological safety cabinets (Class I, II, or III) or personal protection or physical containment devices must be used for all activities with OPIM that pose a threat of exposure to droplets, splashes, spills, or aerosols. Appropriate personal protection and physical containment devices include:

     ▪ Special protective clothing

     ▪ Respirators

     ▪ Centrifuge safety cups

     ▪ Sealed centrifuge rotors

     ▪ Containment caging for animals.

     – Biological safety cabinets must be certified when installed or moved, and at least annually.



[Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.010, 49.17.040, 49.17.050, and 49.17.060. 03-09-110, § 296-823-18020, filed 4/22/03, effective 8/1/03.]