Infection Control, Sanitation, Disinfection and Safety
The four levels
Cleaning removes visible debris with soap and water. Sanitizing reduces the number of microbes on a surface. Disinfecting destroys most pathogenic organisms on a nonporous surface using an EPA-registered product. Sterilizing (autoclave) destroys all microbial life and is not part of routine nail salon practice.
What decides the level
Any nonporous implement that has touched a client's skin or nails must be cleaned, rinsed, dried, then fully immersed in an EPA-registered, hospital-grade disinfectant labeled tuberculocidal, for the full contact time on the label. Porous items - files, buffers, wooden pushers, cotton, foam toe separators - cannot be reliably disinfected. Use them once and discard or give them to the client.
Traps that show up in questions
- The words sanitize and disinfect are swapped to see if you catch it. Implements that contact skin are disinfected, not merely sanitized.
- A UV cabinet or a jar of blue liquid is only a disinfectant if the liquid is an EPA-registered product mixed at the correct dilution and used for the correct contact time.
- Disinfectant must be changed per the label and monitored with test strips; cloudy or debris-filled solution is not working.
- Cleaning comes first. Debris shields organisms from the chemical.
- No double dipping, no sharing implements between clients without processing, and hand hygiene before and after every service.
Rule of thumb
If you cannot submerge it, you cannot disinfect it. Anything that cannot be immersed gets used once and thrown away.