Infection prevention and control is part of safe care and safe work every day. It helps reduce the spread of infectious diseases among residents, clients, workers, visitors, and families. 

No single action can prevent every exposure. Safer workplaces use several measures together, including risk assessment, workplace controls, hand hygiene, vaccination, cleaning and disinfection, safe sharps handling, personal protective equipment, training, reporting, and clear procedures. 

Use current guidance. Follow your workplace procedures and any direction from your local health authority, the BC Centre for Disease Control, or public health. Infection-control measures may change during periods of increased risk or an outbreak. 

What infection prevention and control helps do 

• protect residents, clients, workers, visitors, and families 

• reduce workplace exposure and the spread of communicable diseases 

• prevent or limit outbreaks 

• reduce the risk of serious illness for people who are more vulnerable 

• support safe care and a healthy workplace 

• help employers meet occupational health and safety requirements 

How infections can spread at work

Infectious diseases can spread in different ways. The controls you need depend on the infectious agent, the task, the care setting, and how exposure could happen. 

• Respiratory spread: through respiratory particles produced when a person breathes, speaks, coughs, or sneezes. 

• Direct contact: through contact with a person, blood, body fluids, respiratory secretions, or other infectious material. 

• Indirect contact: through contaminated equipment, shared objects, or surfaces. 

• Sharps injuries: through a puncture or cut from a contaminated needle or other sharp item. 

Routine practices apply to every resident or client interaction. Additional precautions may be needed when a specific infection is suspected or confirmed, or when the point-of-care risk assessment identifies a higher risk. 

Infection prevention is a shared responsibility 

Workers bring training, experience, and moment-to-moment judgement to each interaction. Employers are responsible for assessing workplace risks and providing the systems workers need to work safely. These include suitable controls, safe work procedures, supplies, equipment, education, supervision, and a clear way to report concerns and exposures. 

Safety is not an individual task. Workers should not be expected to manage an infectious-disease risk without the information, time, equipment, staffing, training, and support needed to follow workplace procedures.

Start with the hierarchy of controls

The hierarchy of controls helps workplaces choose ways to eliminate or reduce exposure. Start with the most effective controls that are reasonably possible, then use several controls together. Personal protective equipment is an important layer, but it should not be the only layer.  

1. Elimination 
   Remove the exposure when possible. Examples may include delaying a non-urgent home visit when someone is ill, using a virtual check-in when appropriate, or asking workers and visitors not to enter a care home when they are sick. 
2. Substitution 
   Replace an item or process with a safer option. Examples may include using single-use items when appropriate, choosing products suitable for the cleaning task, or replacing damaged equipment that cannot be cleaned properly. 
3. Engineering controls 
   Change the environment to separate people from the hazard. Examples may include ventilation, physical separation, safety-engineered sharps, and well-placed handwashing or alcohol-based hand rub stations. 
4. Administrative controls 
   Change how work is organized. Examples include screening, exposure control plans, safe work procedures, training, staffing or cohorting practices, cleaning schedules, and systems for reporting and follow-up. 
5. Personal protective equipment 
   Use PPE selected for the task and risk. This may include gloves, gowns, eye protection, medical masks, or fit-tested respirators when required by the point-of-care risk assessment, additional precautions, or workplace procedures. 

Use the setting-specific SafeCare BC hierarchy of controls for examples that can support an organization-specific risk assessment. 

Complete a point-of-care risk assessment 

A point-of-care risk assessment is a quick safety check before and during an interaction. It helps you consider the person in care, the environment, the task, and yourself. Use it to decide whether it is safe to proceed and which controls or PPE you need. 

Questions to ask before care 

• Does the resident or client have symptoms that may be linked to an infection, such as coughing, sneezing, fever, vomiting, or diarrhea? 

• Has an infection been suspected or confirmed? Are additional precautions in place? 

• What contact will the task involve? Could I be exposed to blood, body fluids, respiratory secretions, or contaminated material? 

• Can the resident or client follow instructions or respiratory etiquette? 

• Is the room, home, equipment, or immediate work area visibly soiled or difficult to clean? 

• Do I have the right supplies, equipment, and support to complete the task safely? 

• What PPE is required? Do I know how to put it on, use it, remove it, and dispose of or reprocess it safely? 

If the task is not safe, pause when you can. Follow workplace procedures, get help, use additional controls, and report the hazard. Do not continue with an unsafe task without the support needed to reduce the risk. 

Everyday infection-control practices 

Clean your hands at the right times 

Hand hygiene is one of the most effective ways to reduce the spread of infection. Follow your workplace hand hygiene procedure. Clean your hands before and after caring for someone who is sick, after coughing or sneezing, after using or helping someone use the washroom, and after handling shared objects. Health care workers should also follow the hand hygiene moments and practices set by their workplace. 

• Use soap and water when hands are visibly dirty or when your workplace procedure requires it. 

• When alcohol-based hand rub is appropriate, use an approved product and rub your hands until dry. 

• Clean your hands after removing PPE. Gloves do not replace hand hygiene. 

• Tell your supervisor if empty dispensers, skin irritation, workload, placement of supplies, or another barrier makes proper hand hygiene difficult. 

Practise respiratory etiquette and monitor symptoms 

• Cough or sneeze into your elbow or a tissue, then clean your hands. 

• Watch for symptoms before work and during your shift. 

• Follow your workplace process if you become sick or develop symptoms. Do not stay at work when workplace or public health guidance says you should leave or stay home. 

• Report new symptoms in a resident or client through the appropriate care and workplace channels. 

Keep vaccinations up to date 

Immunization is one part of a layered prevention approach. Vaccines can help protect against severe illness from respiratory viruses that spread most often during fall and winter. Follow current provincial recommendations and your workplace requirements for influenza, COVID-19, and any other vaccines recommended for your role or personal health needs. 

• Use the Get Vaccinated system or speak with a health care provider, pharmacist, or public health unit for current eligibility and timing. 

• Keep your immunization record current and follow your workplace process for providing records when required. 

• Vaccination does not replace hand hygiene, risk assessment, staying home when sick, or other workplace controls. 

Clean and disinfect safely 

Follow your workplace cleaning schedule and safe work procedures. Clean and disinfect shared equipment and high-touch surfaces using products that are suitable for the task. Follow the product label, required contact time, ventilation instructions, and PPE requirements. 

• Clean visible soil before disinfecting unless the approved product is designed for both steps. 

• Pay attention to shared equipment and high-touch items such as door handles, call bells, mobility equipment, keyboards, tablets, phones, pens, and ID badges. 

• Follow manufacturer instructions before using cleaning products on electronics or medical equipment. 

• Never mix cleaning or disinfecting products unless the product instructions specifically direct you to do so. 

Handle sharps and biohazardous materials safely 

• Follow safe work procedures for using, handling, and disposing of sharps. 

• Place disposable contaminated sharps in an approved sharps container as soon as possible after use. 

• Use safety-engineered devices when required and provided. 

• Report needlestick injuries, splashes, spills, and other possible exposures right away, then follow the workplace post-exposure procedure. 

Use personal protective equipment correctly 

Choose PPE based on the point-of-care risk assessment, the task, the route of transmission, additional precautions, and workplace procedures. Put PPE on and remove it in the correct order to avoid contaminating yourself, your clothing, equipment, or the environment. 

• Check that PPE is available, fits, and is suitable for the task before you begin. 

• Use a fit-tested respirator when one is required. 

• Replace a mask or respirator if it becomes wet, soiled, damaged, or difficult to breathe through, according to workplace guidance. 

• Dispose of single-use PPE and reprocess reusable PPE according to workplace procedures. 

• Clean your hands at the required points during removal and after all PPE is removed. 

Report exposures and take part in training 

• Report possible exposure incidents, unsafe conditions, and missing or damaged supplies promptly. 

• Follow the workplace process for first aid, medical assessment, documentation, and follow-up after an exposure. 

• Attend required infection-control education and practice skills such as hand hygiene and PPE use. 

• Ask questions when a procedure, precaution, or responsibility is unclear. 

What changes between care settings 

Long-term care 

Long-term care brings many people together in shared living, care, dining, and work spaces. An infection can move through a home quickly if several layers of control are not in place. 

• Use screening, signage, and visitor guidance that reflect current public health and workplace direction. 

• Support workers and visitors to stay away when ill, according to current guidance. 

• Keep hand hygiene stations stocked and easy to reach. 

• Clean and disinfect shared equipment between residents and increase attention to high-touch areas when risk is elevated. 

• Use room placement, physical separation, dedicated equipment, staffing approaches, or cohorting when directed and appropriate. 

• Follow outbreak guidance from public health, BCCDC, the local health authority, and the workplace infection-control team. 

Home and community health 

In home and community health, the workplace changes from visit to visit. Workers may have less control over ventilation, space, household members, pets, cleaning supplies, and the home's condition. Planning before arrival is an important control. 

• Ask before the visit whether the client or anyone in the home has symptoms, when this is part of workplace procedure. 

• Use virtual care or reschedule non-urgent work when appropriate and permitted by the care plan and workplace process. 

• Carry the supplies and PPE needed for the planned task and possible changes in risk. 

• Complete a point of care risk assessment at the door and again if conditions change. 

• Choose a clean area for supplies and prevent clean items from contacting used equipment or contaminated surfaces. 

• Follow workplace procedures for transporting, cleaning, disinfecting, or disposing of equipment and waste after the visit. 

• Contact a supervisor when the environment, household illness, missing supplies, or another condition makes the visit unsafe. 

Exposure control plans: actions for employers and leaders 

Under section 6.34 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, an employer must develop and implement an exposure control plan when a worker has or may have occupational exposure to a biological agent. The plan must be based on a workplace risk assessment and developed using the precautionary principle. 

A plan is useful only when workers understand it and can follow it in real working conditions. Employers and leaders should: 

• identify the infectious-disease hazards and work activities that could expose workers 

• complete a risk assessment with a qualified person and involve the joint occupational health and safety committee or worker representative, as applicable 

• select controls using the hierarchy of controls and document safe work procedures 

• provide the staffing, equipment, supplies, training, supervision, and time needed to use the controls 

• explain the plan to workers, including how to report a hazard or exposure and what follow-up to expect 

• review the plan at least once each year and update it when work, hazards, guidance, or controls change 

• monitor whether controls work in practice and address barriers raised by workers 

Plan for changing risk. A workplace may need additional measures during an outbreak, a period of increased community transmission, or when public health issues new direction. Keep roles, decision points, supplies, and communication steps clear before risk increases. 

If a possible exposure happens 

A possible exposure can include a needlestick or sharps injury, a splash to the eyes, nose, or mouth, unprotected contact with blood or body fluids, or another incident identified in the workplace exposure control plan. 

• Stop the task safely and take immediate first-aid steps in the workplace procedure. 

• Tell your supervisor or the designated contact right away. 

• Get medical assessment as directed. Some exposures need urgent assessment. 

• Document the incident through the workplace reporting process. 

• Take part in follow-up while protecting the worker’s privacy. 

Employers should make post-exposure instructions easy to find and should not leave workers to navigate an exposure on their own. 

Build prevention into everyday work 

Use the SafeCare BC tools on this page to assess risk, strengthen workplace controls, practice key skills, and build or review your exposure control plan. When conditions change, pause, reassess, and follow current workplace and public health guidance. 

Infection prevention and control FAQ