Should Every Workplace Adopt Hospital-Style Cleaning Measures?
By Daniel Took, Head of Professional Product Marketing
Under normal circumstances, cleaning and disinfection would be considered far more indispensable in a clinical hospital environment than anywhere else. Especially compared to other places of work, such as offices or warehouses. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, new cleaning protocols are being implemented across the board, with far more stringent measures becoming the norm. Should we be looking to hospitals to inform our ‘new normal’ workplace cleanliness?
Cleanliness is the precondition for hygiene, because dirt and dust are a breeding ground for micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses. In order to prevent the spread of germs and to ensure the recovery and good health of patients, comprehensive cleaning and disinfectant measures are fundamental to hospitals. How easy would it be for more everyday workplace environments to adopt these measures to reassure staff and to safeguard public health?
Floor cleaning in focus
Eliminating dirt is key to cleanliness and hygiene. To reduce the amount of dirt being carried into a hospital, the use of sweepers in outside areas and dirt collection mats in the entrance area is usual. For the regular vacuuming of the mats, vacuum cleaners with HEPA filters should be used for their fine filtration that prevents practically all disease-carrying germs from getting into the surrounding area. This also means that many viruses are prevented from spreading, as they adhere to other particles and are filtered out together with them.
The Robert Koch Institute recommends that the floors in entrance and common areas should not be disinfected but should be thoroughly cleaned. Depending on size, quiet, easy-to-operate scrubber dryers with very good suction are suitable for this purpose, so areas can be cleaned much faster and more thoroughly than by manual mopping.
In large operating theatre areas, floors must be disinfected. In the corridors, if a scrubber dryer is used it must be in a perfectly hygienic condition. Disinfectant is added to the machine according to manufacturer's dosage and can then be used for one working day. It must then be disposed of, the tank cleaned and filled with fresh disinfectant the next day. In the operating theatre, on account of the restricted space, wiper mops and disinfectant are more suitable for disinfecting the floor. All of these methods could be applied to other workplace environments with minimum effort, by using appropriate machines or aligning with the processes described.
Hospital kitchen hygiene
Hospital kitchens face a double hygiene challenge where food preparation itself requires cleanliness and hygiene, and all the more so in a sensitive environment. Specific cooking equipment requires specific cleaning equipment: for cleaning large tilting frying pans, for example, high-pressure cleaners are required for which the water pressure and quantity can be regulated on the high-pressure gun. It is thus possible to work with the appropriate combination without the dirt being splashed back towards the user. In addition, as with all electrical fittings, work must be carried out gently with reduced pressure in order not to damage the sensitive electrical systems.
Hygiene can be ensured for machines and kitchen utensils with steam cleaners. The steam emerges from the nozzle in very fine drops at a temperature of around 100 °C, a pressure of 3 to 4 bar, and at a speed of around 170 mp/h. The steam thus gets into all crevices and rubber folds where it is difficult for brushes or cloths to penetrate. In this way, the edge areas of the front panels of dishwashing machines, the On/Off switches of ovens or ribbed surfaces can be cleaned hygienically and thoroughly. Freezers can be defrosted in much less time if steam is applied between the ice and the inner wall. In addition, professional steam vacuum cleaners provide the option of using chemicals for pre-treatment in event of heavy dirtying and remove the dirty water via a return suction line. Furthermore, they have self-flushing programs for suction hoses and tubes in order to remove residual dirt and prevent cross contamination.
Food contact surfaces should always be disinfected only when they have been cleaned. In kitchens, it is important to flush surfaces with clean drinking water after disinfecting in order to eliminate any residual disinfectant or cleaning agent on the surfaces.
It is likely that professional kitchens in ordinary workplaces will already be using hospital level hygiene, but office kitchens where staff prepare their own meals are unlikely to be cleaned with such precision. While professional equipment might not be required in these circumstances, steam cleaners can easily be used to safeguard hygiene.
Given the additional measures we are all already adopting to try to be COVID secure, taking steps toward hospital level hygiene doesn’t seem so alien in the current scheme of things. With the right equipment and commitment to processes there is no reason why every workplace couldn’t adopt hospital hygiene to ensure a safe and healthy workforce.
