Decontamination may be defined as cleaning or deactivating.

• A. False
• B. Sometimes
• C. True
• D. Unknown

Answer: (C)

Decontamination is the process of removing or inactivating hazardous substances to reduce exposure risk. In practice, this can mean physically cleaning surfaces or equipment to wash away drug residues, and it can also involve chemical steps that deactivate or neutralize residual contaminants so they are no longer hazardous. Because of this, the statement that decontamination may be defined as cleaning or deactivating is accurate. In hazardous-drug management, you perform decontamination after spills or exposure events and as part of cleaning protocols to bring contamination down to safe levels before proceeding with further steps like disinfection or disposal. The idea isn’t limited to sterilization; it’s about reducing contamination through cleaning and/or chemical inactivation.