Decontamination Room Details
As with the dental surgery, it’s important to say that pretty much anything is possible with the cabinetry. Bear in mind the need for 3 sinks in the room and that most autoclaves and washer/disinfectors are large pieces of equipment and need full depth worktops. The standard depth for the worktops is 680mm for the dirty side and 630mm for the clean side.
The cabinets can be made any width or depth. The worktops can be made to fit in any alcove or recess. The worktops do not have to be rectangular or regular in shape. Solid surface worktops can be any shape you can imagine. There is usually at least one bin cabinet at the start of the workflow. Apart from that, the cabinets are usually cupboards. If space is very limited then it is common to have space under the worktop for an autoclave(s) or washer / disinfector. We also build moisture-resistant cabinets for up to 3 autoclaves in a stack, if required.
The HTM 01-05 regulations ask for definition between the clean and dirty areas. We’ve found an effective way of achieving this is to use different colour worktops. The material joins seamlessly and provides clear guidance to the room users as to the clean and dirty areas. If the decontamination room is only serving 1 or 2 surgeries then it does not need to be very big. A minimum of about 2000mm x 2000mm is desirable although you might need more space if the room is an irregular shape, the door is in an awkward place or access to the drain causes problems.
Once the Decontamination room starts to serve 3 or more surgeries, it needs to be big enough to allow the heat from the equipment to dissipate and for 2 users to be in the room at the same time. 2500mm x 3000mm is about the minimum size, again depending on whether the room is a regular shape.