Emergency Procedures
In an emergency situation involving blood or potentially infectious materials, you should always use Universal Precautions to minimize your exposure by wearing gloves, splash goggles, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation masks, and other barrier devices. However, if you get blood on your skin, mucous membranes or in your eyes you should:
- Wash the exposed skin thoroughly with soap and running water. Use non-abrasive, antibacterial soap if possible.
- Flush mucous membranes and eyes with running water for at least 15 minutes.
- Report the exposure to your supervisor as-soon-as possible.
- See a Licensed Health Care Professional as-soon-as possible, preferably within two hours to ensure that appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis treatment is started in time. Contact HRS to facilitate receiving any treatment assigned by the License Health Care Professional.
You supervisor will provide the required information to the Licensed Health Care Professional as described in your site specific Bloodborne Pathogens Exposure Control Plan.
The Licensed Health Care Professional’s written opinion will be provided to WSU and the employee within 15 days of the completion of the evaluation. Apart from the circumstances surrounding the exposure itself, all other findings or diagnosis by the health care professional(s) will remain entirely confidential.
- Fill out a WSU Incident Report form. Include the following information if exposure involved a sharps injury.
- The type and brand of device involved in the incident
- The department or work area where the exposure incident occurred
- An explanation of how the incident occurred
In the event of a spill, inform your supervisor of the incident. Take steps to block off the area to keep people away from the spill but do not attempt to clean it up unless you are properly trained and equipped to do so. Refer to your site specific Bloodborne Pathogens Exposure Control Plan for specific emergency procedures.