Taking the right precautions
October 1st 2008 Investing in the right industrial floorcare equipment plays a key role in workplace
health and safety.Karen James, sales and marketing director at Nilfisk-Advance,
explores the issues surrounding industrial cleaning
Inadequate cleaning of floors and other surfaces in factories,
workshops and warehouses creates a hazard to staff, can lead to
machinery malfunctions and may even cause contamination of
products during manufacture or storage. Furthermore, companies are
legally obliged to comply with The Control of Substances Hazardous
to Health (COSHH) 2004 Regulations, while the ATEX Workplace
Directive sets out standards to control potentially explosive
atmospheres, such as vehicle paint spraying, or where fine organic
dust is handled.
So there is a lot at stake when it comes industrial cleaning, and
making sure you choose the machinery package that gets the job
done in the most effective and productive way will depend on the
answers to a number of key questions, including:
How big is the area that needs to be cleaned? For larger floors, a
ride-on sweeper or scrubber/dryer can increase productivity by up to
75% compared with pedestrian models.
What type of floor surfaces are involved? Power floated concrete or
special coatings can be damaged if the wrong cleaning methods and
fluids are used.
Will both wet and dry pick-up be required?
What level of filtration is needed to comply with the health and
safety standards required in your workplace? Vacuum cleaners
equipped with HEPA filters offer 99.997% particle retention.
Alternatively, you may need an ATEX compliant model if there is the
risk of explosion in heavily dust laden atmospheres.
Do you need to remove particles at source, or would using portable
electric vacs be a potential fire hazard? If so, you could consider a
fixed vacuum system, consisting of a centralised suction unit and a
series of pipes so material can be collected as and where necessary
by simply connecting a
hose to the nearest
inlet point. Recovered
material is collected in
just one place and, if
appropriate, it can be
recycled.
Having considered
the issues that
determine the best
machine for your
specific application,
let's look at the
different types of
industrial cleaning
equipment and some
of the latest innovations.
Industrial Vacuum Cleaners this category covers a vast array of
machines in fact, our specialist industrial vac division, Nilfisk-CFM,
offers more than 500 variants when you take into account all the
options and accessories, from stainless steel versions for recovering
corrosive substances to explosion-proof models with specially
designed motors and electrical systems. Filtration technology for
industrial vacuum cleaners has also advanced to satisfy increasingly
rigorous health and safety legislation. Nilfisk's new IVB 9 machines, for
example, incorporate an innovative filter cleaning system to maintain
airflow for optimal cleaning and filtration performance.
Powered Sweepers the powered sweeper is a highly effective
solution for keeping floors clean and safe. Nilfisk's latest
developments in this field include the DustGuard dust suppression
system and UltraWeb filter, which both come as standard on our SR
1900 ride-on sweeper.The DustGuard system's misting nozzles
produce a fine moisture spray to the front and side brushes to control
airborne dust during sweeping.The UltraWeb dust filter captures
even microscopic
particles and is cleaned
automatically during
operation to maintain
optimum filter efficiency.
Scrubber/Dryers and
Combination Machines
faster and more efficient
than manual mopping,
scrubber/dryers clean
floors and leave them dry
and safe to walk on.
Alternatively, you could
invest in one of the new
combination machines,
which provides a
scrubber/dryer and
sweeper in a single rideon
machine.The most
recent addition to
Nilfisk's combi range is
the CR 1000, which has a
brush pressure up to 90kg
and a theoretical cleaning rate of 7,500m2/h.The machine's double
vac squeegee system leaves floors dry after cleaning, and the
squeegee swings out on turns to
pick up any excess water. More articles from Nilfisk: | 
