Environmental cleaning is a critical element of standard precautions and should be a feature of every health service organisation’s infection prevention and control program. Over the past year, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (ACSQHC) has produced a suite of environmental cleaning resources to support health service organisations in this important infection prevention and control activity. Two new resources have recently been added to the existing suite of environmental cleaning resources.
- Environmental cleaning principles for small health organisations has been developed to support the unique needs of small health service organisations to develop environmental cleaning programs. The target audience for this resource includes small health service organisation, such as, but not limited to rural and remote settings, aged care facilities, general medical and dental practices, outpatient or day only procedural services and rehabilitation services.
- Environmental cleaning: Information for cleaners was developed to highlight the importance of cleaners in health service organisations and provide cleaning staff with basic information on the principles of environmental cleaning in health service facilities. The target audience is cleaning staff in all health service organisations, aged care and disability services, clinics, and general medical and dental practices.
These resources are available from the Commission’s website at safetyandquality.gov.au/environmental-cleaning.
All resources in the environmental cleaning suite support the recommendations for environmental cleaning from the National Safety and Quality Health Services standards and the implementation of the environmental cleaning requirements of the Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare. Please feel free to contact HAI@safetyandquality.gov.au if you have any enquires in relation to these resources.