3.4 Blood Exposure Incidents & Universal Precautions

A blood-exposure incident is any contact with blood or OPIM — a nick from a razor, a cuticle nip that goes too far, a shear that catches skin, a client's open lesion that soils a towel. Oklahoma does not ask you to guess who is "high risk." OAC 175:10-7-20(a) requires universal precautions: treat blood and other body fluids/materials as if infectious. Federal OSHA and EPA paperwork, SDS binders, and hazard communication continue in the next chapter. This section covers what you do with your hands, gloves, astringent, and the service in an Oklahoma establishment when blood appears or when a communicable condition is sitting in the chair.

The NIC outline lists "apply blood exposure procedures" as a Scientific Concepts skill. Oklahoma writes the local non-negotiables: soap and running water, disposable towels, no styptic pencils, no lump alum, gloves that are never reused, and stop-and-refer language for suspected disease. Learn the sequence as clinic habit, not as a slogan.

Hand Hygiene and Skin Integrity

Before and after performing a service, wash your hands and carefully examine the integrity of the skin (OAC 175:10-7-18(a)). If any abrasion, cut, scratch, open lesion, or infection is evidenced on your hands, wear protective or disposable gloves while performing services to reduce transmission risk. An uncovered hangnail on the licensee is a blood-exposure plan waiting to happen.

All licensees must wash hands prior to any service, and after eating, smoking, or using the restroom. Hands must be washed with running water and soap and then dried with a disposable towel. Antibacterial soap is not recommended (OAC 175:10-7-18(b)). That sentence surprises candidates who grew up thinking antibacterial is automatically better. Oklahoma prefers plain soap and running water plus a disposable towel — not restroom bar soap (prohibited under OAC 175:10-7-19) and not a shared cloth towel that becomes a fomite. Alcohol gel is not a substitute for the running-water-and-soap rule before a patron service.

Gloves and OPIM

If you can reasonably anticipate contact with blood or other potentially infectious material from a cosmetology or barbering service, use universal precautions and wear protective disposable gloves while performing the services. Gloves shall not be reused and shall be disposed of properly immediately after use (OAC 175:10-7-18(d)). Anticipated contact includes tweezing, shaving, cuticle work, services near broken skin, and any procedure where nicks are common. Washing gloves and putting them back on is contamination, not thrift. After removal, wash your own hands again with soap and running water and dry with a new disposable towel.

Stopping Bleeding the Oklahoma Way

Styptic pencils and lump alum are prohibited (OAC 175:10-7-18(c)). Those old shared sticks are multi-client blood sponges. Liquid or powdered astringent shall be used to check bleeding and shall be applied with separate, clean, sterile gauze or cotton which shall be disposed of immediately after use. One gauze, one client, then trash. Do not dip a used cotton back into the astringent bottle. Do not "save" a styptic pencil in the drawer because a senior stylist still likes it. It is banned.

A practical blood-exposure sequence OpenExamPrep teaches for Oklahoma theory and clinic habits:

1. Stop the service. Do not keep cutting just to finish the section.
2. Put on disposable gloves if they are not already on.
3. Apply pressure with sterile cotton or gauze.
4. Use liquid or powdered astringent on fresh sterile gauze or cotton; discard that dressing immediately.
5. When bleeding has stopped, bandage the injury if needed. Never use a styptic pencil or lump alum.
6. Discard contaminated single-use materials in a covered, lined trash container. Do not leave bloody cotton on the workstation.
7. Clean visible debris from implements, rinse, then disinfect with an EPA-registered disinfectant for full contact time — or discard if the item cannot be disinfected.
8. Clean and disinfect contaminated station surfaces, including neck rests and arm rests, keeping surfaces visibly moist for full contact time.
9. Remove gloves without slapping contaminated surfaces, dispose of them, and wash hands with running water and soap; dry with a disposable towel.
10. Recommend medical evaluation when appropriate. Document the incident according to school or establishment policy.
11. Continue only if the wound is covered, the area is disinfected, and the service is still appropriate. If you now have reason to suspect a communicable disease — or the surface to be worked is inflamed or has open lesions — discontinue and refer (OAC 175:10-7-20).

When the Problem Is Disease, Not Only a Nick

Universal precautions cover blood. Oklahoma's communicable-disease rule covers what you can see or reasonably suspect. If you have reason to suspect a patron is suffering from any communicable or infectious disease, wash and disinfect your hands, discontinue services, and refer the patron to a physician. No person in charge who is knowingly infected shall work, nor permit an infected person to work, in the establishment or school. Do not massage a surface that is inflamed or has open cuts, lesions, or infection.

Head lice remains the named protocol (OAC 175:10-7-7): stop; wash and disinfect hands; refer to a physician or health clinic; require a physician statement that the person is no longer infected and free from a communicable episode before performing services; wipe exposed areas with an EPA-registered lice-killing product; seal exposed towels and linen in a plastic bag until laundered. The same referral applies to a licensee, student, or apprentice with lice or another communicable condition. The owner/manager who knows and still allows services risks license revocation or suspension.

Putting the Chapter Together

Infection control is a chain. Microbiology tells you what can move. Cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization tell you how completely you interrupt that movement — and Oklahoma's wet sanitizer / dry sanitizer names tell you which pans and cabinets the inspector is looking for. Single-use versus multi-use rules tell you which objects may return to the clean container. Blood-exposure and universal-precaution rules tell you what to do when the barrier fails: soap and water, gloves you throw away, astringent on sterile gauze, EPA disinfectant for full contact time, and referral when disease is in the chair.

OSHA and EPA label-reading, SDS, and hazard communication continue in the next chapter. You already must use EPA-registered disinfectant and treat blood as infectious because Title 175 said so, not because a later federal chapter has to finish before you may wash your hands.

Independent OpenExamPrep study note: you are learning Oklahoma Board sanitation duties and the scientific concepts the NIC theory exam tests. That is the combination Oklahoma candidates actually sit for — Prov-administered NIC theory plus Board sanitation law — not a claim of official approval or partnership.