Sanitation, Hygiene, and Safety Standards
Standard precautions
Sanitation is assessed by observing routine practice, not by how clean a room looks between clients. Wash hands before and after each session and after contact with bodily fluids. Use clean linens for every client; place soiled linens in a closed hamper and do not reuse them. Disinfect tables, bolsters, face cradles, and nonporous tools between clients with an EPA-registered disinfectant used per label contact time. Keep oils, lotions, and gels in closed, labeled containers; do not scoop with fingers or top off a container.
Blood and illness
Treat blood and potentially infectious fluids with standard precautions; wear gloves for cleaning blood and use a sharps-safe disposal method. A therapist with an active infectious illness that poses a transmission risk should not work. Launder linens per rules and keep clean and soiled items physically separated.
Worked example
A therapist wipes the table with a dry towel after a client and reuses the same oil bottle, dipping fingers into it. The dry towel does not disinfect; the oil is contaminated. Correct practice: remove linens, disinfect the table for the label contact time, discard or launder linens, and dispense oil from a clean container without finger contact.
Traps
It looks clean is not disinfection. Gloves are not a substitute for handwashing. Do not store clean linens beside soiled ones. Do not use a disinfectant at a weaker dilution or shorter contact time.