5.2
General information
Dried or affixed surgical residues can make cleaning more difficult or inef-
fective and lead to corrosion. Therefore the time interval between appli-
cation and processing should not exceed 6 h; also, neither fixating pre-
cleaning temperatures >45 °C nor fixating disinfecting agents (active
ingredient: aldehydes/alcohols) should be used.
Excessive measures of neutralizing agents or basic cleaners may result in
a chemical attack and/or to fading and the laser marking becoming
unreadable visually or by machine for stainless steel.
Residues containing chlorine or chlorides e.g. in surgical residues, medi-
cines, saline solutions and in the service water used for cleaning, disinfec-
tion and sterilization will cause corrosion damage (pitting, stress corro-
sion) and result in the destruction of stainless steel products. These must
be removed by rinsing thoroughly with demineralized water and then dry-
ing.
Additional drying, if necessary.
Only process chemicals that have been tested and approved (e.g. VAH or
FDA approval or CE mark) and which are compatible with the product's
materials according to the chemical manufacturers' recommendations
may be used for processing the product. All the chemical manufacturer's
application specifications must be strictly observed. Failure to do so can
result in the following problems:
■
Optical changes of materials, e.g. fading or discoloration of titanium or
aluminum. For aluminum, the application/process solution only needs
to be of pH >8 to cause visible surface changes.
■
Material damage such as corrosion, cracks, fracturing, premature aging
or swelling.
►
Do not use metal cleaning brushes or other abrasives that would dam-
age the product surfaces and could cause corrosion.
►
Further detailed advice on hygienically safe and material-/value-pre-
serving reprocessing can be found at www.a-k-i.org, link to Publica-
tions, Red Brochure – Proper maintenance of instruments.
5.3
Preparation before cleaning
►
Keep the product separate from the power supply
►
Remove accessories
5.4
Cleaning/disinfection
Product-specific safety instructions for the reprocessing procedure
Risk of electric shock and fire hazard!
►
Unplug the device before cleaning.
DANGER
►
Do not use flammable or explosive cleaning or
disinfecting solutions.
►
Ensure that no fluids will penetrate the product.
Damage to, or destruction of the product caused by
mechanical cleaning/disinfection!
►
Only clean and disinfect the product manually.
CAUTION
►
Do not sterilize the product under any circum-
stances.
Damage to the product due to inappropriate clean-
ing/disinfecting agents and/or excessive tempera-
tures!
CAUTION
►
Only use cleaning/disinfecting agents approved
for surface cleaning. Follow the manufacturer's
instructions for the respective cleaning/disin-
fecting agent.
►
Observe specifications regarding concentration,
temperature and exposure time.
Validated cleaning and disinfection procedure
Validated procedure
Special features
Wipe disinfection for
–
electrical devices with-
out sterilization
Reference
Chapter Wipe disinfec-
tion for electrical devices
without sterilization
13