Donning and doffing a disposable coverall without contaminating yourself

How do you take off a disposable coverall?

The CDC poster is written for a gown, and OSHA’s sequences are written for an abatement decontamination unit, so this is those two sources read onto a one-piece hooded coverall. The principle from the CDC poster carries straight over: the outside is contaminated, the inside is not, and the garment comes off by turning the inside out over the outside. The order below keeps the respirator on until the suit is in the bag, which is what both the CDC poster and 1926.1101(j)(1)(iii)(C) require.

1. Clean the outside first. Wipe, wet-wipe or HEPA-vacuum gross contamination off the suit before leaving the work area; for asbestos this is a rule, not a preference. Tape over the glove and boot cuffs comes off now, folded onto itself.
2. Take off outer gloves if two pairs are worn, peeling each glove off inside-out with the other gloved hand, as the CDC poster shows. Keep the inner pair on for the suit.
3. Open the storm flap and the zipper down to the crotch, touching only the flap and the pull. A large pull tab and a colored pull are there for gloved hands.
4. Push the hood back by reaching inside the hood at the forehead and peeling it back over the hard hat or head, so the outside of the hood folds onto the outside of the shoulders.
5. Peel the shoulders back by pulling the suit away from the body at the inside of the collar, then work each arm out. With thumb loops, the loop stays on the thumb until the sleeve is inside-out past the wrist; the sleeve then takes the inner glove off with it.
6. Roll the suit down inside-out to the ankles, step out of the attached boots or boot covers one at a time onto the clean side of the line, and let the suit go straight into the bag. Do not shake it out.
7. Eye protection next, respirator last, by the strap or ties, not the front. Then wash hands, or shower where the standard requires it, before touching street clothes.

How do you put a disposable coverall on?

Backwards from the above, and with more care about the seals than people give it. Suit up in the clean room or at the clean side of the line, in the order the CDC poster gives: the body garment first, then the mask or respirator secured at the middle of the head and neck with the nose band shaped and a fit check done, then eye protection, then gloves pulled over the cuff. For a coverall that means: step in with boots on and the legs pulled up, arms in, zipper to the chin, hood up over the hard hat and around the respirator, then the storm flap sealed over the zipper, then gloves over the sleeve cuff with the thumb loop inside the glove, then tape at the wrist and ankle if the job is wet or the dust is fine. Size up if the crotch or the back pulls when you squat; a suit that splits at the seam on the first bend was never on. A hooded suit sized for a hard hat and a full-face respirator is one size larger than the chest alone says.

Which coverall features matter for doffing?

They are the ones the manufacturers added after watching people take suits off. International Enviroguard’s ViroGuard 2 sheet lists a sealable storm flap over the zipper, thumb and middle finger loops at the cuff that keep sleeves from riding up, double-sided tape at the wrists that the product page says helps keep gloves in place during donning, a mandarin collar with hook-and-loop closure, and a red fabric pull tab on the zipper so it can be found in gloves; the catalog says six features were added to the suit from healthcare workers’ input to aid donning and doffing. ChemSplash 2 carries a storm flap with pressure-sensitive tape, attached thumb loops and a large zipper pull. The sterile GammaGuard CE bunny suit CE11019CIS has thumb loops, ankle ties on the attached boots and a storm flap, and ships in the manufacturer’s Sterile-Don packaging, described as protecting against contamination during donning. The MicroGuard MP 8104 and 8106 boot covers have ankle ties and a non-skid sole; the W2561 hood closes with hook and loop and the 8002 hood with elastic and a tie. A vend-pack version of the hooded MicroGuard MP coverall, 8015VPK, is vacuum sealed one per pack so a clean suit comes out of a dispenser at the line.

Where does the coverall come off on an abatement job?

On a Class I asbestos job over the 25 linear or 10 square foot threshold, in the equipment room of a three-stage decontamination unit built next to the regulated area, in series: equipment room, shower, clean room. The employee enters through the clean room, leaves street clothes in a locker, puts on the coverall and respirator there, and passes through the equipment room into the work. Leaving, the employee removes gross contamination before stepping out of the regulated area, takes the coverall off in the equipment room into the labeled impermeable bag supplied there, keeps the respirator on, showers, and only then enters the clean room and dresses. Smaller Class I jobs and Class II and III work over the exposure limit use an equipment room or area next to the regulated area with the same bagging. Lead work uses a change area with separate storage for street and work clothes and a closed container for the clothing. None of these rules name a product; they name a place and a sequence, and the disposable coverall is what makes the sequence end in a bag instead of a laundry.