(Bloomberg) -- Qantas Airways Ltd.’s substandard plane-cleaning practices may have put workers and passengers at risk of catching the coronavirus, according to a workplace safety watchdog.

The airline’s method of cleaning planes that could have carried infected passengers are “inadequate,” SafeWork NSW said in a March 2 notice to Qantas that was released by a trade union Thursday. “Workers and other persons may be exposed to a risk of injury or illness,” the state government body said in its report.

An inspector “observed workers wiping over multiple tray tables with the same wet cloth with no disinfectant and cleaning unknown liquids on floors and surfaces,” the notice said. Cleaners were “required to handle wet and used tissues, used face masks, soiled nappies and the workers advised they occasionally have to clean vomit and blood off surfaces.”

A copy of the notice was sent to Bloomberg News by the Transport Workers’ Union of Australia. A spokeswoman for SafeWork NSW confirmed it issued a notice to Qantas, but was unable to comment on the contents of a document that hasn’t been publicly released. Qantas has until March 30 to comply, the watchdog said.

A spokesman for the airline said it’s considering appealing the notice. “Qantas is not known for being complacent when it comes to safety or the cleanliness of our aircraft,” it said in a statement. The plane in question wasn’t the aircraft that evacuated Australians from Wuhan in China and Japan, the spokesman said.

The safety watchdog ordered Qantas to develop a cleaning system that minimized the risk of exposure to diseases including the coronavirus, according to the notice.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angus Whitley in Sydney at awhitley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Edward Johnson, Peter Vercoe

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