Procedures

  1. The use of gloves during the body piercing procedure is mandatory.


  2. The body piercing environment is divided into three zones: CLEAN, NEUTRAL, and CONTAMINATED.
    • The CLEAN zone includes the working surface before the procedure begins, the counter top, the stored instruments and supplies etc. This zone is protected from contamination by blood-borne pathogens. Nothing in this zone is ever touched by gloves.


    • The NEUTRAL zone includes the client, and the working surface after the procedure has begun. The only blood-borne pathogens in this zone will have originated with the client. Once the procedure has begun, nothing in this zone is ever touched without gloves.


    • The CONTAMINATED zone includes the floor, waste storage, the bin for storing used tools, any furniture, anything outside of the body piercing area, and anything below the site of the piercing. Nothing in this zone should ever be touched during a procedure, unless the gloves are changed immediately.


  3. The working surface for each client is covered with a dental bib, with the absorbent side up. The plastic surface is a moisture barrier preventing spills on the top surface from soaking through to the table surface underneath. Anything which is to be used on the client is placed on the bib at the beginning of the procedure, and anything which has been used can be discarded onto this surface.


  4. Spray bottles, pens, flashlights, measuring instruments, and anything which can be considered to be a tool (non-disposable) which cannot be heat sterilized after use, must be bagged with a plastic bag, and only the surface of the bag may be touched by the body piercer. The bag protects the surface of the tool from contamination by the body piercer's gloves, and presents a fresh working surface for each client on the possibility that the tool has already been contaminated.


  5. All tools which can be heat sterilized are stored in a sterilized state in tear-open packages. After use, they are stored out of the way until they can be cleaned. Before use on another client they are scrubbed free of any foreign matter, repackaged and re-sterilized.


  6. Needles are stored sterilized in individual packages. After use they are discarded in an approved sharps container. There is no unnecessary handling of the needle. Except as required by the procedure, the needle will only be picked up and moved using forceps. No attempt is made to bend, break or cut the needle prior to disposal. These theatrics are not necessary and only serve to increase the risk of needle-stick injury to the body piercer.


  7. Contaminated materials are discarded in a covered container lined with a plastic bag. The cover is operated with a foot-treadle, preferably of the press to open then press to close type. At no time must the outside of the container be touched by hand.


  8. At the end of the procedure, clean up of the working surface proceeds after there is no further need to touch the client. First, forceps are used to discard the needle into the sharps container. (At this point, gloves and the working surface are now considered to be part of the CONTAMINATED zone.) Next, all tools are discarded into a covered container for eventual cleaning. Then all plastic bags are removed from the bottles, etc, the bags being discarded into the working surface, their contents only touching the CLEAN zone. The gloves are then removed using proper technique as follows. The inside wrist surface of the first glove is grabbed by the other gloved hand, and the first glove is peeled from that hand. The removed glove is grasped in the gloved hand, and a fist is made. Two fingers of the ungloved hand are inserted into the outside of the gloved wrist, lifting the glove and peeling it from the other hand. The second glove will be inside out containing the first glove and any contamination. Gloves are discarded on the working surface. Finally the dental bib is folded from the sides to wrap all waste materials, and the bundle is discarded.

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