Since when are diapers "Bio hazards?"?

You can spread all kinds of nastiness from bodily fluids. Preschoolers pass hepatitis A around the school because they go to the bathroom and don’t wipe. There are also babies with HIV—which is probably the big thing people worry about. Then there are all the great things you can get from feces alone—pinworms, ecoli poisoning.. you name it.

Just because it’s baby pee doesn’t make it less of a biohazard. All bodily fluids are treated like biohazards now. That’s why the thermometers in the hospital are disposable. That’s why dentists wear rubber gloves. It’s just part of being more aware of pathogens.

So why not just provide a plastic bag to put it in and a convenient trash can as well so that no-one but the person brave enough to actually change the diaper and come into contact with the fluids has to worry about it? Especially in an office that deals specifically with woman who have, or will have, or have had babies. If they had just given me a plastic bag, heck, I would have stuck it back in the diaper bag and thrown it away later.

It was ridiculous.

@Dutchess_III: “Especially in an office that deals specifically with woman who have, or will have, or have had babies.”

People who have babies generally have a system for dealing with their babies’ diapers and waste. I always traveled with a diaper bag (backpack), and it always contained plastic shopping bags for such occasions. I never left my kids’ diapers anywhere.

Well, good for you @tom_g.

Thanks.

I know you want us to all go, “That is crazy! How dare they!?”, but in this case I think you’re wrong. Why should these people have to smell baby diapers? Why can’t people just do what they usually do and be responsible for their own babies?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupational_Safety_and_Health_Act

Because not everyone comes as prepared as you. If my daughter had plastic bags in the bag, I didn’t see any. It’s also possible to run out of bags if you happen to usually carry them. If you wrap it up no one has to smell anything.

The last time I had to change diapers consistently was in the 80’s. I have never experienced this before.

I will suggest to my daughter that she carry the bags. That’s a good idea.

Since always imo. Feces in an open wound or anything is a big deal.
Although expecting anyone to leave children with strangers is weird and not cool.

@Dutchess_III: “Because not everyone comes as prepared as you.”

…And they accommodated you. But that wasn’t good enough. You didn’t want the diapers placed in the bin that they have specifically for such things.
What exactly is your complaint?

I didn’t care what kind of “bin” they put it in. I just didn’t want to walk away, thorough a door, to another part of the building leaving the twins unattended (and crying, which they started to do when I disappeared) in the waiting room.

Look, I’ve been thinking about this. You guys are right. I should have had plastic bags in my diaper bags and I should have packed any dirty diapers out and disposed of them….some place else (leaving, ultimately, sanitation workers to deal with the final solution.) My daughter should have too. It has just never, ever been a problem before. There was no hesitation on anyone’s part to provide a bag, to take the diaper and toss it into the nearest trash can.

My girlfriends would come over, I didn’t hesitate to provide a bag and a trash can, and vise versa. I wouldn’t hesitate to actually change their baby’s diaper either, or anyone else’s baby for that matter. Ran a daycare, was the teacher in the infants room at church, not a problem.

It was just a strange reaction to me. It seemed an over reaction to me.

But I shall make sure everyone has plastic bags in their bags from now on, which they’ve never had before. It just makes sense.

@Dutchess_III There is such a thing as insanity. I get the blood borne pathogens thing, but as you mentioned, people toss diapers in the trashcans everywhere every day. The trash men have to deal with it every day. Dirty diapers end up in city dumps everywhere every day.

And at the same time, babies innocently visiting doctors’ offices have suddenly become biohazard machines. It’s a good thing that diaper wasn’t poopy! They might have had to call the swat team on you!

I think you had a narrow escape.

Thank you @snowberry! That’s how I felt! But I see the point. For all they knew one of the kids was HIV positive and the other had hep, and I had both diseases because I wasn’t using gloves when I changed their diapers.

Oh, I have had so many, many narrow escapes in my life dealing with bio-hazardly babies.

@Dutchess_III I’m glad to see you and I made it safely through those hazardous diaper changes. The truth is, the biggest threat to these people is their peace of mind. If you are changing a diaper in public, you now have to wear gloves, and follow extreme measures to protect everyone around you from the same stuff they might encounter on the next toilet seat.

I ran a cleaning business for 30 years. I can assure you that most of the people who clean our bathrooms (think biohazard rooms) are among the most illiterate and poorly educated in our population. They neither know nor care about bio-hazard issues. Most of them have never ever been educated about how to properly deal with blood or other bodily fluids other than wipe it up and make it look clean.

Now stack that up against the extreme measures you had to take in that doctor’s office, and you get the extent of the insanity.

So much of it is all in our minds, @snowberry. I agree. We encounter shit everyday, but don’t know it so it’s OK.

The most frustrating thing was following the second woman, who was just moseying along, who turned down a long hallway as though she was simply showing me to my exam room, taking her time, and the twins are starting to wail behind me somewhere. I stopped when I saw the closest red can, as she continued on down the hall. I got rid of the diaper ASAP and hurried back to the waiting room in time to intercept the twins, who had crawled almost to the doorway of the door I had disappeared behind. The receptionist who had looked at me in horror when I originally asked for a trash can, was holding the door open, talking baby talk to the twins to keep them distracted while I was on my journey. She had another look of horror on her face as she saw the disease ridden bugs approaching her. I scooped them both up (not an easy task, especially for someone not used to it) and got us back to our little corner, just in time to avert a total catastrophe.

@Dutchess_III I’m sorry, people like that have no excuse to be working in a doctor’s office, or anywhere with the public.

I would think someone in that capacity, having to deal with babies every day, would be more understanding. But…maybe she’s never had children, just indoctrination on the horribleness of the human condition.

BTW…I took it as a real compliment when she said, “Oh, you have a baby over there?” It told me she not only didn’t realize I had a baby, I had TWO babies, and I’d been there over an hour. :) Must have done something right. Or maybe they’re just special babies and laugh and examine things more than they cry.

wow

@Dutchess_III
Between the time you and I had children and now A LOT has changed about how people handle body secretions.
When I was a housekeeper in a hospital I didn’t even wear gloves. We were just hearing about AIDS but thought it was transmitted by anal sex. Hand sanitizers weren’t even invented, nor were anti bacterial dish soaps.
We didn’t even consider blood a biohazard unless someone was known to have an infectious disease.
It’s a whole new world. Get used to it.

@Judi. We’re the same age. I remember when AIDS came to the forefront, with Rock Hudson. I remember when it was believed it was the “Gay disease.” I came through all of the education since then. And I can’t believe your last sentence. As far as infectious diseases go, you, of all people, have been infected with the Fluther disease of “I can have a bad attitude ‘cause you won’t see me in the grocery store, so you can just get over it.” You of all people. Pretty sure it’s related to cyber bullying, but, granted, not at its most destructive.

Ya’ll have fun bitching at each other, trying to one up, making problems where there are none.

I’m out.

@Dutchess_III,
I’m sorry if my tone sounded like I was somehow bullying. I wish we were not living in such a fear driven society. I was just recognizing the changes. I know we are the same age. I wasn’t directing my comments at you. I was just observing the changes that some of the younger jellies may not even realize. I hope you haven’t stopped following.

She has left the building.

Not only has she stopped following the question, she’s gone. Hope she comes back. I like her.

I sent an apology via Facebook. I hope she comes back. :-(

It’s bodily fluids and this is 2013. If she’s going to go out on her shield over this it’s her decision.

I’ve read this thread over and over and I don’t understand at all how someone would leave over it. I didn’t think @Judi got that nasty at all. Am I blind? It seems pretty civil and then she just left—for good—over this. I don’t get it.

There wasn’t anything I saw @keobooks .
@Judi You have nothing to worry about. You stated a fact. Life is different these days now. We have AIDS, MRSP, Hepatitis, etc. Plus why should the staff sit next to a trash can with a stinky diaper in it for 8 to 10 hours?

I think that this was just the straw that broke the camels back for her. Fluther is not for everyone. If it stopped being fun for her I respect her decision to leave.
@Adarondakwannabe, there are so many chemicals in disposable diapers these days that they really don’t stink if its only pee unless it’s really soaked.

Bleah… Disagree on that one @Judi. When I worked at the library some parents would just change their babies on the floor right next to the desk. Then they’d dump the diaper in the trashcan nearest my desk. I COULD smell it… It would linger after the bag was changed too.

It STANK somethin’ awful!

Must have been the cheap diapers or your powerful nose. :-)
FYI, @Dutchess_III and I have worked through any personal issue. I don’t know if she will come back but there is no problem between us.

In businesses, particularly healthcare, waste disposal (as with many other things) is highly controlled and numerous laws have to be complied with. Anything that could potentially spread disease has to be dealt with as a biohazard no matter how innocuous you personally perceive it be.

@snowberry . . . I ran a cleaning business for 30 years. I can assure you that most of the people who clean our bathrooms (think biohazard rooms) are among the most illiterate and poorly educated in our population. They neither know nor care about bio-hazard issues. Most of them have never ever been educated about how to properly deal with blood or other bodily fluids other than wipe it up and make it look clean

You ran a cleaning operation for thirty years and never thought to at least try and educate those most illiterate, poorly educated members of our population about what they might do to limit their exposure to pathogens?

@Blondesjon Oh, for heavens sake, talk about making assumptions! OF COURSE I educated the ones who worked for me, but those people were very few! I have met HUNDREDS of janitors in my life who did not work for me, people I have passed in the hall, friends, people I have known, etc. If I tried to educate every one of those janitors who were not my employees as you suggest, they or their employers might just get a bit angry.

It’s not my place, but perhaps you could take that on. Let me know how it goes for you when you butt in and start telling them how to do their job (some of them are kind of tough, so you’d better be on your toes). I’ll be interested to see what happens.

In addition, many of these people do not speak English. Try explaining how to deal with blood borne pathogens to someone who does not share your language and who isn’t interested in someone who is not their boss telling them what to do. Again, maybe YOU should try it.

Please keep me posted!

@snowberry . . . Telling a person how to protect themselves when they are working is a far cry from telling them how to do their jobs. I guess I forgot that, besides being kind of tough, janitors are also the most illiterate and poorly educated in our population.

As far as explaining, to a non-English speaker, what steps to take when dealing with pathogens?

I would start with pantomiming a person washing their hands and go from there. Just because you don’t speak English doesn’t mean you’re stupid.

@Blondesjon OK, go ahead. You’ve got a whole country to eddikate!

Edit: By the way, I teach English as a second language. I know more than most people (in the USA anyway) how intelligent non-English speaking people are.

In a medical setting (especially), any bodily tissue/fluid is considered a biohazard.

What is the extent of “bodily fluids”? Blood, feces, urine, sweat?

^All of the above, plus saliva.

@syz What is transmitted through sweat and saliva? They seem much less dangerous to me. You don’t see people getting diseases from kissing.

The Dutchess said she sees y’all’s point and wanted me to make sure you know that we’re good.

^ Will she come back, then?

@dxs . . . sneezing and coughing come to mind. i hear they’re pretty good at transmitting disease.

@longgone, I don’t know. Probably not for a while I would guess.

@Blondesjon That’s mucus, another possible “bodily fluid”.

@dxs . . . you might want to do some googling before you make that and ‘you don’t see people getting diseases from kissing’ your final answer.

Yes, as a teenager I got an ear infection from passionate facial kissing.

@dxs Mononucleosis also known as the “kissing disease”.

@Judi You were doing it the wrong way. :-)

@Judi I have had my tonsils searched, but it never got to my ears. Wow.

I probably should’ve said I don’t hear people getting diseases from kissing. At least not AIDS or anything. Well it’s a good thing I don’t have any relationships then.