Although most cleaning professionals concentrate on high-touch areas when disinfecting facilities, they should not overlook the importance of keeping floors clean and healthy as well. If there are problems, it is not necessarily the floor cleaning procedure that must be changed. Instead, more care must be taken to keep the tools and equipment we use for floorcare clean and sanitary.
Some steps cleaning professionals can take to help make the floor cleaning process healthier and more sanitary include these:
• Change and clean the mop as often as possible. In some facilities, mop heads are changed after each use and laundered daily. However, we all know other facilities where the mop heads are used and reused scores of times and can go days without laundering.
• Wash mop frames and buckets daily—more often if necessary depending on the facility type—with cleaners and disinfectants. If these items get cleaned at all, it’s often just a quick rinsing at best. A thorough washing/disinfecting followed by time to air dry is necessary.
• Change the solution frequently. Many cleaning professionals believe that disinfectant will keep the cleaning solution bacteria free. However, disinfectant loses its efficacy rather quickly with use, and bacteria counts can start rising rapidly. Further, as the solution is used and the floor cleaned and mopped, contaminants can actually be spread onto other floor surfaces.
• Clean carts. Often mops and buckets are transported on carts. Just like the mops, mop frames, and buckets, carts must be cleaned and disinfected regularly.
• Maintain automatic scrubbers and other floorcare equipment. The machines we use must be kept clean and disinfected. Keeping them clean looks more professional, and, just as with all the other tools used for floorcare, they can become contaminated and foster cross contamination.
Daniel Frimml is Technical Service Representative at Tornado Industries.
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