The critical role of effective cleaning

EFFECTIVE OR poor cleaning has a major impact on how safe people are from slips and how hygienic an environment is, particularly for vulnerable people. It can also affect the perception people have of the space; whether that’s a decision to avoid a restaurant where you’ve been unwell after visiting or feeling unsafe in a healthcare space.

With a greater need for consideration of environmental impact than ever before, understanding how to clean and care for your floors to keep them in tip top condition, and to minimise the products needed is more important than ever. 

That’s why, as well as designing in features such as Altro Easyclean technology, we’ve worked with cleaning experts such as Delia Cannings to thoroughly test all our suggested methods and recommendations. We can also provide expert guidance on selecting the right products for the right places, for example, Altro Suprema safety flooring is developed with stain resistance to iodine and poster paints, and could save time and money on cleaning in environments with those contaminants present.

Safety first

Correct and thorough cleaning is an essential part of floor maintenance to ensure your slip-resistant floor is kept safe and clean throughout its life. Providing a clean and hygienic environment is one thing, but effective cleaning also has a vital role to play in ensuring your floor continues to perform to the expected standards.

If a risk assessment shows you need a slip-resistant floor, it’s because there is a high, or very high, risk of a slip. The surface profile of slip-resistant flooring ensures that foot and floor connect even when surface contaminants, mud or a spilled hot drink for example, are present. Kept clean, the surface aggregates are of sufficient size and number to break through the contaminants, thereby reducing the risk of a slip to one in a million. If incorrect cleaning procedures are followed, a hazardous level of dirt and contaminant build-up can accumulate on the surface of the flooring, potentially increasing the risk of a slip to as high as one in two.

Hygiene matters

Of course, safety is not only about preventing slips, it’s also about hygiene. Protecting users from infection risks associated with poor hygiene is obviously best practice generally but in hospitals, and other areas where vulnerable users visit and work, it could be a matter of life or death. This applies to both floors and walls. After all, we often put our health and safety in the hands of others, and if you’re responsible for building maintenance in any way, others put their health and safety in your hands.

The good news is that effective cleaning is simple to achieve. We know that how teams clean depends on what time is available, what equipment and detergents they are able to use, and the size of the spaces they clean.

Identifying contaminants

Cleaning is easier and more effective if you identify what contaminant is on the floor and can choose the right equipment and detergent to get rid of it. 

Material, or matter, is either organic or inorganic, and organic matter is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria. This includes:

• material that is alive such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa (tiny animals). This will be most common in kitchens and canteens where there is food waste, or in bathrooms, changing rooms and hospital wards where there is human waste such as skin, body fats, faeces and blood
• material that was part of a living thing which includes food, but also sawdust and rubber shavings. This is found anywhere where food is produced or consumed, such as cafés, bars and restaurants 
• ‘man-made’ material including plastic fragments, mineral oil and paints and glues. These are common where manufacturing takes place but also anywhere that decorating or repair work is done

Inorganic contaminants have not been part of a living thing and do not contain carbon. They include glass, salt, rust and brick dust.

Whether organic or inorganic, soil behaves in a certain way when you try to clean it. Soluble contaminants dissolve in water, for example sugar, salt and detergent powder. Because they dissolve, they are generally easy to deal with. It is common where food is sold, prepared or consumed such as cafes, school dining rooms and hospital kitchens.

You are most likely to come across insoluble contaminants; these won’t dissolve in water so will need detergent to remove them. Examples include oil and skin, so they are found in many environments, including kitchens and wet environments.

Insoluble soil can be greasy or particulate.

• Greasy contaminants stick to surfaces and smear when touched. Examples are oil, fat and grease. This is likely anywhere food is present but also, as vehicles leave behind oil and grease, it will regularly be carried on foot into communal areas.
• Particulate contaminants are powdery, examples being sand, skin, washing powder and broken fibres, so they will be found in a wide range of environments.

It is very likely that you will find greasy and particulate contaminants together as the powdery soil will stick to any grease it comes into contact with.

Abrasive soil may scratch a surface, for example, glass. Stubborn/tacky contaminants may stick to a surface, for example, syrup, wax or glue.

So, materials belong to more than one of the categories based on what it is made of and how it behaves: salt spilt from a container is an inorganic, particulate soil which can be swept, or vacuumed, up; salt spilt onto a wet surface is an inorganic, soluble soil that can be washed away.

Equipment and cleaning methods

Using the right equipment in the right order to clean your floors will help ensure cleaning is effective. To maintain equipment and prevent transferring dirt and bacteria onto the floor, it’s vital to clean it after each use. This needs to be part of the overall regime.

Choosing the right kit isn’t just about the size and type of room, it’s about the right equipment for the contaminants you are dealing with.

The first step is to sweep or vacuum up particulate and/or abrasive contaminants. Then on to the cleaning method:

• Manual cleaning: using a mop, twin bucket and/or deck scrubber and clean water rinsing. This is most effective on day to day, walked-in soil, and when cleaning needs to be done immediately, for example, where there is a spillage in a restaurant.
• Mechanical cleaning: using a cleaning machine. As the machine scrubs the floor evenly and with pressure, it cleans stubborn and greasy soil very well. If space and availability allow, mechanical cleaning is preferable to manual cleaning as this will help reduce the amount of time spent.
• Steam cleaning: using a mechanical steam cleaner. This is very effective for cleaning organic soil as the temperature of the steam helps remove most bacteria. It is ideal for areas where hygiene is important such as hospital wards, bathrooms and kitchens.

Each method is effective for cleaning both soluble and insoluble soils. The choice will depend more on whether that soil is stubborn, tacky or greasy and whether hygiene is of paramount importance in the area being cleaned, for example, an operating theatre.

Demystifying detergents

The properties within detergent lift and hold contaminants so that they aren’t redistributed during cleaning. It is important to leave detergent on the floor, according to the manufacturer’s instructions, to give it time to do this.

What makes one detergent different from another is how acidic or alkaline it is. This is measured using the pH scale which runs from pH0 (most acidic) to pH14 (most alkaline).

We appreciate that if cleaning multiple areas your team may only be able to use one type of detergent. If that’s the case, a neutral detergent (pH7) is effective on everyday levels of contaminants while a combined detergent/cleaning sanitiser is good for areas where food or human waste is common, as it reduces bacteria growth.

It is essential to dilute according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Not enough detergent means a less effective clean. Too much detergent can leave a film on the floor that reduces slip-resistance and attracts contaminants, encouraging bacteria growth. It is also a common cause of staining/discolouration and problems associated with chemical damage such as shrinkage.

Common types of detergents include:

• Alkaline: a detergent measuring above pH9.5 works by dissolving fat and emulsifying soils. So an alkaline detergent such as AltroClean 44 is ideal for greasy and organic soils. The more alkaline the detergent, the more effective for removing grease but the more corrosive it becomes, which can damage paintwork so thorough rinsing is very important.
• Acidic: a detergent measuring less than pH5 is acidic and a good option for inorganic soils such as limescale.
• Neutral: neutral detergents (pH7) are less aggressive and contain fewer chemicals. This makes them more user-friendly, with less environmental impact. They are effective on everyday levels of contamination across a range of surfaces, but will not cope as well with heavy soiling. They are also not as effective for greasy dirt and fats where an alkaline detergent would be more suitable.
• Combined disinfectant detergent/cleaning sanitiser: when cleaning organic soil such as food or human waste, this reduces bacteria growth, which is important when maintaining hygienic standards.

Adam Buxey is Altro’s European technical services manager

For more information, visit www.altro.com