Hydrogen
Peroxide Sterilization
Whether you work in a surgery center
with a single or a hospital with multiple
low temperature sterilizers; Sterile
Processing Professionals play a vital
role in patient safety. And the job
is not easy, you must work hard and
smart, balancing competing priorities:
-
Efficacy vs. Material Compatibility:
Infection control is increasingly
a high profile concern, yet you
have to ensure that delicate instruments
are not damaged during reprocessing.
-
Productivity vs Safety:
there is increased pressure to reduce
costs and cycle time, but you must
also be concerned for your own safety
and that of your coworkers.
Most likely, all these issues are
taken into consideration when selecting
low temperature sterilization equipment
and developing work practices, but:
Are
You Really Safe? How Do You Know for
Sure?
All chemical sterilants are toxic,
that’s how they achieve their
target kill rate. The perceived safety
of a familiar chemical like Hydrogen
Peroxide is misleading because many
chemicals are relatively harmless
in diluted form yet extremely hazardous
in concentrated form. When was the
last time you received a burn and
bleach mark on your skin when using
household products containing Hydrogen
Peroxide? Yet you are required to
wear PPE and follow strict safety
precautions if a Hydrogen Peroxide
sterilization cycle is aborted because
the Hydrogen Peroxide
used in a sterilizer can bleach or
blister your skin. The difference
is concentration – Hydrogen
Peroxide used to sterilize instruments
is 50%-90% concentration, much more
than the 3% found in the brown bottles
you purchase at the grocery store.
Did you know that Hydrogen Peroxide
is odorless at toxic concentrations?
Have you thought about what happens
when this strong oxidizing agent is
vaporized and leaks into the air that
you breathe?
The fact is that the very high concentrations
of Hydrogen
Peroxide used in sterilizers are
quite toxic and pose a risk of personnel
injury if handled improperly or if
there is a leak due to equipment malfunction.
There is significant risk if the liquid
contacts your skin and an even greater
risk if the liquid contacts your eyes
or the vapor enters your lungs. Long
term affects include permanent lung
damage. Did you know that Hydrogen
Peroxide is a known animal carcinogen?
Most Sterile Processing workers are
so busy meeting deadlines and looking
out for patient safety that they are
unaware of the potential hazards to
their own health. That is until symptoms
are felt by one or more of the workers.
When concerns arise how will you know
if those symptoms are caused by the
chemicals around you and how will
you know to what level you are exposed?
Hydrogen
Peroxide has no odor and is undetectable
by human senses until well above the
OSHA permissible exposure limit of
1 ppm.
With continuous area monitoring you’ll
always know what’s in the air
that you breathe (your breathing zone).
Better yet, when there is a situation
where your breathing zone is being
contaminated, you’ll have an
early warning so that you and your
coworkers can take measures to protect
yourselves before you experience symptoms.
Click
Here for more information on how you
can protect your breathing zone
Resources
Toxicity,
Regulations & Health Hazards Summary
In
the United States occupations safety
is regulated by the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA),
interlaced with states laws. In addition,
there are several organizations that
issue standards for workplace safety
in the workplace including healthcare.
A summary of the laws and some of
the standards is provided below:
Regulatory
Agencies
Hydrogen Peroxide Resources from
Regulatory Agencies
- Medical Management Guidelines
for Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). Agency
for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry, (part of the CDC) http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/MHMI/mmg174.html
- NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical
Hazards – Hydrogen Peroxide;
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0335.html
- OSHA’s Occupational Safety
and Health Guideline for Hydrogen
Peroxide; http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthguidelines/hydrogenperoxide/recognition.html
- The Registry of Toxic Effects
of Chemical Substances (a NIOSH
database) Hydrogen peroxide, 90%;
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/rtecs/mxdbba0.html
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