Policies and best practices
Last updated on September 2, 2026Provincial policies and best practices to prevent infections and promote safe care for patients and residents, as well as healthy workplaces for health care workers.
On this page
- Communiqués
- Routine practices
- Personal protective equipment
- Additional precautions
- Medical device reprocessing
Communiqués
Find policy communiqués from the Ministry of Health.
- Infection Prevention and Control Measures for Preventing Viral Respiratory Illness - November 2025 (PDF, 165KB)
- Environmental cleaning best practices - April 2016 (PDF, 276KB)
- Management of Clostridium difficile Infection Cases and Outbreaks - March 2013 (PDF, 437KB)
- Hand Hygiene - January 2013 (PDF, 71KB)
- Provincial Reprocessing Policy - December 2011 (PDF, 154KB)
Routine practices
Read about essential IPC practices that health care workers need to take for all patient, resident and client interaction.
IPC tools
Environmental cleaning and disinfection
- Policy Communiqué: Environmental cleaning best practices - April 2016 (PDF, 276KB)
- Best Practices for Environmental Cleaning in All Healthcare Settings and Programs (PDF, 2MB)
- Housekeeping Audits in Health Care (Provincial Infection Control Network of British Columbia - PICNet)
Hand hygiene
Learn about hand hygiene and how to protect your hands.
- Policy Communiqué: Hand Hygiene - January 2013 (PDF, 71KB)
- Best Practices for Hand Hygiene Guidelines - July 2012 (PDF, 1.7MB)
Personal protective equipment
Find training standards for health care workers to use PPE effectively and resources on managing PPE supplies during public health emergencies.
Additional precautions
Learn about supplementary IPC measures to prevent the spread of specific pathogens in health care settings.
- Additional precaution signs
- PPE: Additional Precautions Infection Prevention and Control Audit Tool (PDF, 231KB)
Medical device reprocessing
Get familiar with requirements and recommendations for cleaning and reusing medical devices.