CSA Z317.12:25 ✓ Most Recent

Preface

This is the second edition of CSA Z317.12, Cleaning and disinfecting of health care facilities . It supersedes the previous edition published in 2020 under the title Cleaning and disinfection of health care facilities. It is part of a series of Standards related to the maintenance of health care facilities from an environmental cleaning perspective and sets forth preventive measures intended to protect patients, staff, and visitors from disease transmission that harmful pathogens can produce in the building environment. The major changes to this edition include the following: • The Annexes for quantitative microbial risk assessment, operational process reengineering, asset procurement, and HCF examples by class have been removed. • Annexes were added on sustainability, the role of wet and dry surface biofilm in cleaning and disinfecting health care environments, the mechanics of microorganism transmission, and environmental marking for monitoring cleaning. • The order of the clauses was changed. • The requirements for cleaning and disinfecting of specialized areas were replaced by references to best-practice documents and AHJ. • The waste management clause (Clause 10) and the annex (Annex J) on "Environmental microbial cultures during outbreaks or during ongoing microorganism transmission" were completely revamped. • The content was reorganized between the clause on innovative cleaning and disinfecting technologies (Clause 8) and its informative annex (Annex E). CSA Group acknowledges that the development of this Standard was made possible, in part, by the financial support of the governments of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Yukon, as administered by Canada’s Drug Agency. This Standard was prepared by the Subcommittee on Cleaning and Disinfecting of Health Care Facilities, under the jurisdiction of the Technical Committee on Health Care Facilities and the Strategic Steering Committee on Health and Well-being, and has been formally approved by the Technical Committee. This Standard has been developed in compliance with Standards Council of Canada requirements for National Standards of Canada. It has been published as a National Standard of Canada by CSA Group. 

Scope 

1.1 Cleaning and disinfecting of HCFs 

This Standard applies to the cleaning and disinfecting of HCFs providing health care services including, but not limited to, inpatient services or outpatient services. It applies to all facilities, public or private, that provide health care treatments, health-related services, or diagnostic testing services, regardless of type, size, location, or range of services. 

1.2 Cleaning and disinfecting practices in HCFs 

This Standard is intended to address the cleaning and disinfecting of HCFs that includes both manual cleaning and disinfecting practices and automated environmental cleaning and disinfecting systems. This includes all environmental surfaces, and the air within the HCF. 

1.3 Application to personnel performing cleaning and disinfecting in HCFs 

This Standard applies to all personnel, regardless of their departmental affiliation or professional designation (whether directly employed by the HCF or out-sourced personnel) who perform cleaning and disinfecting functions in HCFs. This Standard also applies to all other parties involved in the cleaning and disinfecting process. 

1.4 Exclusions to cleaning and disinfecting standard 

This Standard does not apply to a) cleaning and disinfecting of food services environments, except for the cleaning and disinfecting of food preparation areas (see Clause 5.3.11); b) cleaning and disinfecting of critical or semi-critical medical devices (see CSA Z314); c) plumbing installation (see CSA Z317.1); d) HVAC installation (see CSA Z317.2); e) management of health care waste materials (see CSA Z317.10); and f) laundering of reusable medical textiles (see CSA Z314). 

1.5 Terminology 

In this Standard, "shall" is used to express a requirement, i.e., a provision that the user is obliged to satisfy in order to comply with the Standard; "should" is used to express a recommendation or that which is advised but not required; and "may" is used to express an option or that which is permissible within the limits of the Standard. Notes accompanying clauses do not include requirements or alternative requirements; the purpose of a note accompanying a clause is to separate from the text explanatory or informative material. Notes to tables and figures are considered part of the table or figure and may be written as requirements. Annexes are designated normative (mandatory) or informative (non-mandatory) to define their application. 

1.6 Units of measurement 

The values given in SI units are the units of record for the purposes of this Standard. The values given in parentheses are for information and comparison only.