Personal Protective Equipment for Remote Workers (SOP)
Version: V1
Ratified by: Infection Prevention and Control Group
Date ratified: 17/07/2024
Job Title of author: Head of Infection Prevention and Control
Reviewed by Committee or Expert Group
Infection Prevention and Control Group
Related procedural documents IPPOL21 - SICP
Review date: 17/07/27
It is the responsibility of users to ensure that you are using the most up to date document template – i.e. obtained via the intranet.
In developing/reviewing this procedure Provide Community has had regard to the principles of the NHS Constitution.
Version Control Sheet
Version
Version
1. Introduction
IPC preparedness
Guidance for remote / lone workers
2. Purpose
To ensure any staff member is aware of the type of / and appropriate PPE and hand gels to have access to / carry with them to manage IPC compliance
3. Guidelines
These guidelines are to support and advise all staff, who are working away from a clinic base, or are in a non-clinical role or may work in an environment without access to hand hygiene products or personal protective equipment.
Hand hygiene
Clean your hands before and after contact with someone, after exposure to blood or body fluids, before handling food or drink and before any clean or aseptic procedures.
You should help the people you care for to keep their hands clean.
Hands should be washed for 20 seconds, with all areas of the hands and wrists cleaned.
Hands should be washed with liquid soap and warm, running water and dried using paper towels.
You can clean your hands with alcohol-based hand rub instead of soap and water if your hands are not visibly dirty and there has been no risk of exposure to blood or body fluids.
When caring for someone with vomiting or diarrhoea you should make sure you wash your hands using soap and water. These illnesses can be caused by germs which are not destroyed by alcohol-based hand rub.
See World Health Organisation posters on:
• Your moments for hand hygiene, healthcare in a residential home (pdf, 781kb)
• How to handwash
• How to handrub
Respiratory hygiene
Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when sneezing, coughing, or wiping or blowing your nose. Dispose of all used tissues into a waste bin.
If you do not have a tissue, you should sneeze or cough into the crook of your elbow.
Clean your hands after coughing, sneezing, using tissues or after contact with respiratory secretions such as saliva or mucus.
You should support the people you care for to follow this advice as well.
Personal protective equipment
Think about whether you need personal protective equipment (PPE) before you start a task and make sure you know what PPE is suitable.
Wash your hands before putting on PPE and after taking off and disposing of used PPE.
Wear gloves and aprons if you expect to come into contact with non-intact skin, mucous membranes, blood or body fluids.
Always wash your hands after taking off gloves.
You should only wear gloves and aprons for one task. You should dispose of them if they get contaminated and when you are finished with your task.
You may need to wear additional PPE such as face masks and eye protection on some occasions, such as where there is a risk of being splashed by blood or body fluids.
Additional PPE may also be recommended because of particular diseases, such as the recommendation to wear face masks while COVID-19 is circulating.
See the quick guide for putting on and taking off standard PPE
See the SICP policy IPPOL21 SICP for wider information and advice on types of PPE
Cleaning
Where your role includes cleaning, make sure you know which cleaning products to use and where and how often you need to clean.
Any spillage of blood or other bodily fluids should be cleaned up immediately. You should make sure you know how to do this.
Laundry
If your role includes doing laundry, make sure you know how to deal with laundry from people with infections or which is contaminated by bodily fluids. This may include using a pre-wash or sluice cycle and/or loading laundry into the washing machine inside a watersoluble bag.
Keep clean laundry separate from dirty laundry, including using different containers to carry it.
Wash your hands between handling dirty and clean laundry.
Waste disposal
Make sure you know how to deal with waste in your workplace including how to identify and handle different types of waste including used PPE and waste contaminated by bodily fluids, medicines or chemicals. This may involve colour coding of waste bags.
Make sure you do not overfill waste bags.
Dispose of waste as soon as practically possible.
Wash your hands after handling waste.