Healthcare Associated Infections
Environmental Cleaning
Effective environmental cleaning of healthcare facilities is an essential part of NSW Health’s initiatives for the prevention and control of healthcare associated infections.
Policy
The Environmental Cleaning Policy identifies the functional areas in healthcare facilities that require cleaning and/or disinfection and outlines the frequencies to achieve the minimum cleaning standard for those areas. It also outlines key performance indicators for measuring cleaning service performance in achieving a uniform approach to environmental cleaning.
It is the responsibility of each local health district to identify all functional areas within each facility and to ensure that the cleaning and auditing of those functional areas is in accordance with Policy.
- PD2012_061: Environmental Cleaning Policy
Environmental Cleaning Standard Operating Procedures
Healthcare facilities should comply with the Environmental Cleaning Standard Operating Procedures, which contain detailed best practice procedures for environmental cleaning in healthcare facilities.
The Standard Operating Procedures are divided into modules that cover processes required to implement a comprehensive environmental cleaning program.
The Environmental Cleaning Standard Operating Procedures are periodically reviewed and updated. Users should check that they have the most recent version.
- Introduction - Definition of Terms PDF ~93 KB
- Module 1 - Frequency of cleaning PDF ~94 KB
- Module 2 - Personal protective equipment PDF ~40 KB
- Module 3 - Work procedures for cleaning - Overview PDF ~29 KB
- Module 3.1 - Building PDF ~361 KB
- Module 3.2 - Fixtures PDF ~399 KB
- Module 3.3 - Patient related equipment PDF ~58 KB
- Module 3.4 - Environment PDF ~63 KB
- Module 3.5 - Operating theatres PDF ~68 KB
- Module 4 - Work procedures for cleaning in specialised patient conditions PDF ~131 KB
- Module 5 - Cleaning equipment PDF ~53 KB
- Module 6 - Cleaning agents PDF ~61 KB
- Module 7 - Evaluation of cleaning PDF ~29 KB
- Module 8 - Supporting documents PDF ~102 KB
- Chart - Colour coding reusable cleaning equipment PDF ~37 KB
Environmental Cleaning Audit Tool
The Environmental Cleaning Audit templates have been developed to support internal audits of cleaning services in all functional areas across all risk categories.
The templates outline the basic requirements for auditing, and can be adapted to local needs. However the core functional areas, the acceptable quality level and frequency may not be changed.