Servitech Training Ltd.: Cleanliness, health and safety are not the sole responsibility of custodians

By Brent Bourne, Servitech Training Ltd.

Everyone who uses the school building – including the students, teachers, administrators, the union and outside contractors – must play a role in maintaining a healthy environment.

Schools facility maintenance officials’ experiences implementing green cleaning programs throughout Canada show that promoting stewardship and increasing institutional commitment are critical to both short- and long-term success of the custodial department.

While modern, efficient equipment plays a critical role in accomplishing the mandate set by the school district managers, the critical component is the dedication and skills of the staff. To maintain this level of daily personal motivation requires great supervision skills, regular meaningful training, and recognition of services provided.

The science of dirt removal is a new one; we learn continually what actually works and what does not. Several ideas have worked in the lab but failed when subjected to the rigours of the daily grind, or have proved redundant or environmentally hazardous as technology moves forward.

Examples of this factual process of change are many: • Burnishing floor finishes that powders and releases micron-sized particles of plastic into the air being replaced by new flooring that needs no sacrificial wear-coating to be burnished on a routine basis. • Two- or three-part epoxy-type floor coatings or coatings that are “cooked” by UV light. • Battery back-pack vacs that cut the time spent handling cords, and bend and stretch muscle and joint damage. • The process of using microfibre materials for daily damp or wet soil removal by a combination of friction and mini-micron-sized dirt removal, which replaces many potentially hazardous chemical combinations. • The controversy over using “ionized water” to clean rather than using a “chemical” surfactant to release the dirt. Some swear by this process, some swear at it. What it does prove is the fact that TACT (Time, Agitation,

Chemical Process, and Temperature) remains part of the science of cleaning. Try cleaning your hallways with a good auto-scrubber and a soft brush, making sure to remove all the loose dry dirt first. and look at the results that just water and agitation and wet dirt removal can accomplish.

Yes, we still need good, safe chemistry to help solubilise and remove various types of dirt, but the day of relying on “juice” to accomplish cleaning should be drawing to a close.

People clean – not chemicals or equipment. People are your greatest resource and headache.

One firm has developed a cleaning system that supersedes mop and bucket methods. According to research done by Dr. Jay Glasel, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Microbial, Molecular and Structural Biology at the University of Connecticut Medical/Dental School, the company has proven by scientific experiment and data that it works sig-

one of the major reasons that equipment is so much better than traditional mopping methods is because it enables cleaning or removal of dirt without recontamination of the next surface.

nificantly better in removing dried and liquid floor surface contamination in restrooms.

The development is a “no-touch” method that uses pressurized application of water containing an EPA-registered disinfectant or other approved cleaner to contaminated surfaces, followed by vacuum suctioning that removes the applied liquid along with the suspended solids and dissolved contaminants that have soiled the surface.

It has been known for thousands of years that effective cleaning requires liquids, turbulence, and cleaning aids (traditionally, soaps or detergents) to dislodge contaminating solids and dissolvable materials. Mops, brooms, water and soaps for performing this type of cleaning are probably nearly as old as mankind.

One of the major reasons that equipment is so much better than traditional mopping methods is because it enables cleaning or removal of dirt without recontamination of the next surface.

Studies show that the grout between tiles is a place where contamination collects and where mops of any design have the most difficulty reaching: mop strings or microfiber applicators don’t enter the narrow grouted gaps between tiles efficiently. On the other hand, the self-contained washroom cleaning unit method works efficiently in cleaning both grout and tile, because the turbulent liquid scours both grout and tile surfaces.

That’s smart science at work. Remove, don’t just move, the dirt and contaminants.

There is an additional advantage that smart equipment has over traditional cleaning/mopping methods. In the more advanced mopping methods, a dual-compartment bucket is used. One compartment is used for cleaning solution; the second for rinsing and/or receiving most of the dirty solution wrung out of the mop after it has passed over the floor surface. This mopping cycle is designed to minimize the amount of contamination returned to the floor by the mop.

The amount of minimization depends upon operator proficiency with the mop and wringer, the freshness of the liquid in the compartment(s), and other factors based on effective workplace training.

The three primary parameters in this form of cleaning are agitation (provided by mop action), chemical (provided by the cleaning compounds), and time of application of the liquid on the surface. These parameters form the familiar TACT acronym that describes conventional cleaning.

In contrast, the smart science cleaning method can be described by two additional parameters: fresh cleaning solution is always applied in proper quantities to the surface, agitated as needed, then cuctioned away from the surface. This means that instead of just minimizing recontamination of the surfaces by a mop, fresh cleaning solution is always supplied to the surface and then removed.

The smart cleaning system expands the conventional cleaning acronym from TACT to TACTS (while also maximizing the dwell time of the solution) and has been factually shown to work extremely well.

Whether we are using microfibre textiles, two-compartment buckets, enviro-chemistry, modern equipment or surfaces, the key is where the rubber meets the road – or should we say where the cloth meets the dirt – the key component is your trained, motivated and well-supervised cleaning staff.

For more information, visit www.servitechtraining.com or call 250-920-9619. b