Universal precautions

The rule that all human blood and certain body fluids are treated as infectious, rather than only the ones that look like a risk. It is the operating assumption behind every procedure a trained crew follows.

What kind of thing this is

Universal precautions is a rule with legal force in this field. This definition comes from a primary government source. Where the wording matters we quote the standard rather than paraphrase it, because paraphrase is where precision leaks out.

Where you will meet it

This one shows up when you ask a company how it operates — in an exposure control plan, on a waste manifest, or in the paragraph of a state statute somebody quotes at you. It binds businesses rather than households, which is the distinction most often blurred when it is cited at a homeowner.

Why the wording matters

This site defines terms in under forty words wherever it can, and attaches the practical consequence rather than leaving it implied. A definition that tells you what something is, without telling you what follows from it, is trivia at a moment when nobody has room for trivia.