Sanitation, Disinfection, and Safety Practices
What the exam tests
Nevada expects you to protect every client and worker through a consistent cleaning, disinfection, and safety sequence. Know the difference between cleaning (removing debris), disinfection (destroying most pathogens on nonporous surfaces), and sterilization (destroying all microorganisms, not a routine salon task).
Core rules
- Wash hands with soap and water before and after each client; use hand sanitizer only when hands are not visibly soiled.
- Clean implements with soap and water, dry, then immerse in an EPA-registered hospital-grade disinfectant mixed and timed exactly per label.
- Discard porous items such as cotton, paper files, and wooden sticks; never reuse.
- Keep clean and dirty implements separated; store disinfected tools in a closed, labeled container.
- For blood or body-fluid exposure, stop, glove, clean, disinfect, and report per salon policy.
Worked example
A metal cuticle nipper is dropped on the floor. The correct response is not a quick alcohol wipe. Pick it up with gloves or tongs, clean it with soap and water to remove debris, rinse and dry, then submerge it in the correct disinfectant for the full label contact time. Alcohol is not a hospital-grade immersion disinfectant for this use. Reasoning: organic matter blocks disinfectant contact, and contact time is part of the label.
Traps
Calling a UV cabinet “sterilization”; topping off disinfectant; skipping cleaning before immersion; using a disinfectant past its mix date; and treating a blood spill as routine cleaning.