Niki Taxidis¹, Jason Schreiber¹

¹Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine

Ethylene oxide (EO) is an agent commonly used to sterilise medical and surgical equipment. EO is classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, with limited evidence in humans, including breast cancer in females. EO is considered as having the capability to accumulate in air, materials, and human tissues. Clinical forensic medical staff and patients of lengthy sexual assault examinations can be exposed to EO and its chemical products, including ethylene chlorohydrin (ECH), by wearing gowns and using examination kits that have been sterilised with EO. Exposed examiners and patients are predominantly females. Concerns about safety of EO particularly in water has affected the kit configuration with a potential offset in contamination risk. The VIFM Quality department conducted a simulation test especially for EO and ECH, with sampling and laboratory analysis, using two voluntary doctor examinees. The analysis showed that all samples were negative for EO. Regarding ECH, only one sample, that is, from gown cut outs and neck skin was above the detection limit. Interpretation of this result is subject to further risk characterisation. 

Esther Schroeder¹, Sonia Chanchlani^1
1Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine

As a significant contributor to Australia's carbon emissions, the healthcare sector has an opportunity to reduce it's contributions through the appropriate handling of waste and innovative approaches to waste streams. The Clinical Forensic Medicine unit at the Victorian Institute of Medicine undertook a waste audit of it's Forensic Medical Examination Kits and Contamination Reduction Kits used in sexual assault forensic medical examinations. The audit was complimented by a co-design approach with frontline staff to generate waste management recommendations. Staff engagement in this issue was high and showed a commitment to improving the handling of waste. The audit of waste from 10 cases identified commonly unused items within the kits, and found that staff had inconsistent approaches to how the waste was disposed of after examinations. In a focus group with clinicians, recommendations were generated to educate staff around which waste streams to use, identify which items may be kept to be reused or donated, and provide the audit information to management for future design iterations of the kits. 

Kim Farrington¹, Rosie Stroud¹

¹Sexual Assault Resource Centre, Women and Newborn Health Service, West Australia

West Australia was one of the first states to introduce early evidence collection as standard practice.  Interest from the West Australian mining industry in early evidence collection on remote mine sites led to a two year review of the process for collecting this evidence in West Australia which resulted in significant changes. The results have  enabled the expansion of the scope for evidence collection beyond police and Emergency Department staff.  Changes focussed on forensic considerations and chain of custody, making the process trauma-informed as well as limiting unnecessary waste.