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Hello, I am wondering if there are any historic sites out there that have a cleanup protocol for biohazard spills (vomit, blood, etc.) in your public spaces on historic or sensitive material. We have been testing various products that have been registered with the EPA to be affective against bloodborne pathogens, list S, but also do minimal harm to historic wooden or stone floors, carpets, etc. Our most promising product has been discontinued by the manufacturer so we are looking for some alternative products to bleach.

Thank you in advance for any thoughts on this topic or even sharing your experiences, I know it is thrilling!

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Olivia Bascle
Manager of Preventive Conservation, Historic Area
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Williamsburg
United States
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Hello!

Not entirely sure what the answer is, but I think using a 70% Isopropyl or ethanol solution with DI water might be a good place to start when looking for the next best fit for your institution. I recommend sourcing your isopropyl from a lab and not a drug store. The drug store kind comes already diluted, but it isn't always clearly marked on what its diluted with. It's probably fine in a pinch, but you want to have control over what's in your solution.

As you already know, always test on a discreet spot. On wooden floors I'd use sparingly, and then dry immediately and thoroughly, don't let it sit.

Hope this helps kick start your search!

Cheers,

Annabelle

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Annabelle Nolasco
Conservation Technician
Toledo Museum of Art
Toledo
United States
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Hi Olivia,

Great question! I don't have an answer for you but I will reach out to our list of experts to see if anyone can chime in.

Sincerely,

Melissa

Connecting to Collections Care Monitor

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Melissa King
Preventive Conservator |
VP of Customer Experience
Conserv
Portland, ME

www.conserv.io
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Hi again! I posted your question in a different community and someone did respond.

You can check out the post here to click the links and to follow-along in the event that anyone else chimes in there!

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Melissa King
Preventive Conservator |
VP of Customer Experience
Conserv
Portland, ME

www.conserv.io
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-22-2025 14:07
From: Melissa King
Subject: Biohazard Cleanup in Historic Sites

Hi Olivia,

Great question! I don't have an answer for you but I will reach out to our list of experts to see if anyone can chime in.

Sincerely,

Melissa

Connecting to Collections Care Monitor

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Melissa King
Preventive Conservator |
VP of Customer Experience
Conserv
Portland, ME

www.conserv.io
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Good morning Olivia, 

I do not have personal knowledge but here are some suggested links:

Bio Spill Cleanup Procedures 

Biohazard CleanUp  

Craig

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Craig Deller
FAIC
FIIC
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Thank you all for your thoughts and for looking into this further! We do have a biohazard cleanup procedure, the question is, what chemical or solution (besides bleach) would be registered with the EPA to kill bloodborne pathogens and is readily available and less harmful for different material types. Annabelle, I will look further into using alcohols, thank you for this good suggestion. I found on this CDC webpage that it can be quite effective for many things, but the main con would be that it may not kill bacterial spores. There are many products on the EPA's registered list S that use Isopropyl and/or Ethanol as the effective ingredient and I will look more into those. I appreciate everyone's suggestions and would love to hear more stories if anyone has them! 

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Olivia Bascle
Manager of Preventive Conservation, Historic Area
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Williamsburg
United States
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