Disinfection Insights You Can Use Today
PART 1 OF 3: ENSURING THE EFFICACY OF DISINFECTANTS
According to a recent Time Article, “The world is not ready for the next pandemic … From Ebola in West Africa to Zika in South America to MERS in the Middle East, dangerous outbreaks are on the rise around the world. The number of new diseases per decade has increased nearly fourfold over the past 60 years, and since 1980, the number of outbreaks per year has more than tripled.”
Waging war against deadly germs, a recent article from Facility Cleaning Decisions reported the following.
A recent announcement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) might make the job of cleaning and disinfecting much more difficult for those in the business of providing clean and sanitary public spaces. Managers in the know may have already read the report, but not all realize how it relates to a hospital, medical facility, ambulatory, or long-term care center.”
It is common knowledge that antimicrobial pesticides are designed to destroy or suppress harmful bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms on inanimate objects and surfaces in healthcare settings.
Most managers also know that the EPA has a testing program — the Antimicrobial Testing Program (ATP) — which has a purpose to ensure that EPA-approved hospital disinfectants and tuberculocides in the marketplace continue to meet stringent efficacy standards. Products found to be effective are reported to the public on the EPA website, and those that do not meet the ATP efficacy standards need to be brought into compliance.
“But according to the Office of Inspector General for the EPA, there are flaws in the process of ensuring the efficacy of hospital-grade, hard-surface disinfectants. The findings were revealed in a report titled “EPA Needs A Risk-Based Strategy To Assure Continued Effectiveness Of Hospital-Level Disinfectants” on September 19, 2016.
The Inspector General (IG) report concluded that the EPA’s Antimicrobial Testing Program, “does not assure that hospital disinfectant products continue to be effective after they are registered,” and that some products listed as effective on the EPA’s website, “could now be ineffective” due to inconsistencies in the manufacturing, product degradation or improper quality assurance.
Ensuring The Efficacy of Disinfectants. Reproduced and used with permission from CleanLink – Facility Cleaning Decisions. Copyright 2017 by CleanLink.
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