Sanitation and Sterilization
Domain 2 is the highest-yield section of the Florida exam and the leading source of salon violations. Items ask you to distinguish cleaning from disinfection, name what must be single-use, and sequence a pedicure spa or blood-spill cleanup correctly.
The four levels of decontamination
- Cleaning: soap and water remove visible debris and many microbes. It must happen before any disinfectant, because organic soil inactivates the chemical.
- Sanitizing: reduces bacteria to a level judged safe by public health standards (an EPA-labeled sanitizer).
- Disinfecting: destroys most pathogenic organisms except bacterial spores. Use an EPA-registered hospital disinfectant, and a tuberculocidal product when blood or body fluid is present.
- Sterilizing: destroys all microorganisms including spores (autoclave, dry heat). Not required for routine implements.
Implements
- Nonporous items (shears, nippers, metal pushers, glass, hard plastic, combs): scrub, rinse, dry, then completely immerse in disinfectant for the label contact time, commonly 10 minutes. Wiping is not disinfection.
- Porous or single-use items - emery boards, files, pumice stones, orangewood sticks, cotton, wooden spatulas, wax strips - are discarded or given to the client.
- No double-dipping in wax; one spatula, one dip. Do not dip fingers into creams; use a clean spatula and never return product to the jar.
- Electrical tools: unplug, remove and disinfect the bit or blade, wipe the housing with approved disinfectant.
Pedicure spas
Drain the basin; remove and clean the screen or filter; scrub walls with soap and water; refill and circulate an EPA-registered disinfectant at label dilution for the label contact time; drain, dry, and reinstall a clean screen. This happens after every client, not once a day.
Blood and body fluids
Stop the service, glove, absorb the spill with a disposable towel, clean with soap and water, then apply a tuberculocidal hospital disinfectant. Seal contaminated waste in a labeled bag, wash hands, and document.
Worked example
A nail technician has clients booked back to back and, after a pedicure, drains the water and sprays the basin. Reasoning: spraying without scrubbing and without circulating a correctly diluted disinfectant for the full contact time does not meet the standard. Correct sequence is screen out, scrub, circulate disinfectant, drain, dry.
Traps
- Topping off, over-diluting, or mixing disinfectant brands.
- Dropping a towel-dried, unwashed tool into the jar.
- Believing a UV cabinet or antibacterial soap replaces disinfection.