Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) recently identified that the chemical integrator 3M Comply™ SteriGage™ used for steam sterilization of biohazardous waste is no longer manufactured or available for purchase by the 3M company or other vendors. The University of Washington (UW) received approval from Public Health – Seattle & King County to use four other chemical integrators.
The four newly approved chemical integrators are:
- 3M Attest Steam Integrator 1243A
- 3M Attest Steam Integrator 1243B
- Steris VERIFY™ STEAM Integrating Indicator
- Crosstex STEAMPlus™ Class 5 Sterilization Integrator
The University is still approved to use the following integrators:
- 3M Comply Thermalog-S
- Steriscan
- 3M Comply™ SteriGage™ (Note that these are no longer manufactured but existing integrators can be used until the expiration date is reached.)
Integrators can be purchased from Fisher Scientific, other scientific supply vendors, or directly from the manufacturer websites. These chemical integrators meet the specified criteria of recording each complete autoclave cycle to ensure the attainment of a minimum temperature of 250°F or 121°C for 30 minutes or longer, to achieve sterilization of the entire load as required by Seattle Municipal Code and the King County Board of Health.
The 2023 UW Biosafety Manual, UW Biohazardous Waste Management Plan, EH&S Biohazardous Waste webpage, and Autoclaving Biohazardous Waste Guidelines have been updated with the new chemical integrators. For questions, contact EH&S Biological Safety at 206-221-7770 or ehsbio@uw.edu.