Workplace Safety, Hygiene, and Infection Control
Domain 3 tests standard precautions in a touch-based service: hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection, linen handling, spill response, and therapist body mechanics.
Core rules and concepts
- Perform hand hygiene before and after every client, after removing gloves, and after handling soiled linen.
- Wear gloves when contact with blood, body fluids, or non-intact skin is likely. Gloves do not replace handwashing.
- Change linens for every client. Launder used linens on a hot cycle and store clean and soiled items separately.
- Clean the table, face cradle, stool, and lotion bottles between clients. Use the correct disinfectant contact time; a quick wipe is not disinfection.
- Avoid double-dipping: dispense lotion from a pump or a single-use portion, not from a communal jar.
- Practice body mechanics: adjust table height, stand close, use legs to lift, and avoid twisting with a client's limb.
- Keep floors dry, secure electrical cords, label containers, and know the location of first-aid supplies and exits.
Worked example
A client arrives with a ring-shaped, scaly patch on the upper back. Reasoning: this may be a contagious fungal infection. Postpone massage, refer to a physician, disinfect the table and face cradle, launder linens separately, and perform hand hygiene. Do not simply avoid the patch and continue, because contact and shedding can spread infection.
Traps
Using alcohol-only wipes when a validated disinfectant and contact time are required, reusing towels, storing oil in unlabeled bottles, and ignoring a wet floor. Another common error is wearing gloves for a whole session to avoid handwashing.