Driving down dust levels

New cleaning methods are the only way to combat what is described as 'the devil in the dust.' The importance of these new methods cannot be emphasised enough if organisations want to achieve professional, effective cleaning, says Brian Boll, director of Jigsaw Cleaning Systems.

Invisible dirt can consist of micro organisms which are distributed via dust particles.

Dust should not be underestimated because 80 per cent of any dirt in a building consists of dust.

'Nearly all known microorganisms are contained in dust and find their nutrients there,' says Boll. 'Dust is dispersed through air-born movements and so bacteria can spread easily in this way.

'Floors, therefore, often help the spread of micro-organisms, especially when dust is dispersed into the air. The most effective cleaning techniques can achieve up to an 80 per cent reduction in the amount of dust - or the number of microorganisms - present in a typical room.' In comparing sweeping and dust-binding, Jigsaw found that after sweeping, the average dust particles in a room per cm3 was 85,000 particles. With dust-binding, this figure dramatically reduces to 7,500 particles per cm3. The reason for this is that bacteria need food, water, air and the right temperature to multiply.