REGULAR
From Tried To Tested
We’ve made a lot of progress in the cleaning industry, not least in how cleaning is valued as an essential, professional service by more and more clients and public. This is borne out, for me, by two recent examples.
The first was the inspiring and humbling experience of interviewing the shortlisted nominees for the ABCD British Cleaner of the Year award. Denis Rawlins Ltd is backing this new award because we are committed to raising the profile and professionalism of cleaners, and with it, the levels of respect and appreciation they command. What’s more, the dedication and quality of customer service provided by these cleaners is up there with the best from professionals in any sector or organisation you care to mention.
The second example is the recent research by Mindlab International, which confirmed that consumers overwhelmingly see the cleaning industry as an important sector providing an invaluable service to society. Commissioned by Ceris Burns International for its ‘The Future of Cleaning’ report, the survey also produced some other interesting findings. Not least is the recognition by “78% of participants…that machinery is more effective than a mop”.
What’s striking about this statistic is not the relatively high proportion of people that recognise this fairly self-evident truth. It’s the mismatch between much of today’s cleaning and
twitter.com/TomoCleaning
Most of the public now recognise that cleaning is another essential and increasingly professional service. So why are so many who should know better holding back progress, asks James White, Managing Director of Denis Rawlins Ltd.
this no-brainer. The best estimates are that 70% of flooring is still ‘cleaned’ by hand mopping. This is enough to make one think that the progressive professionalisation of cleaning has stalled, or at least bypassed large swathes of our built environment.
For at least 300 years, mops have been shown to be very good at spreading – swabbing a ship’s deck with sea water or laying down chemical stripper on flooring – but not removing dirt. The advent of mop pads and microfibre was a step forward, but if reason and observation are not sufficient to convince facilities managers and contract cleaners, then the scientific evidence is readily available to show that mopping is ineffective as well as inefficient.
Some method of capturing and removing the soils in water after cleaning is essential. I’ve cited studies in this column before that showed that a no-touch cleaning system combining precise chemical application, pressure washing and wet vacuuming was between 30 and 60 times more effective at eliminating bacterial contamination than, respectively, microfibre and traditional mopping. These tests have also shown that mopping is twice or three times as time-consuming and laborious, making the switch to more advanced cleaning methods more cost-effective in most instances.
So excuse me if I labour the point with another scientific study. The previous
tests used a relatively sophisticated, self-contained cleaning system designed for wet rooms. To prise away those in the UK who show an adherence to mopping, Denis Rawlins Ltd has sourced a lower-cost modular general cleaning system that allows clients to advance in stages to a self- contained system with wet vacuuming capability, whatever their budget or building type.
The cleaning performance of this crossover system on hard flooring was tested by independent scientists using both ATP metres and bacteria plates. These tests showed that bacteria levels fell by more than 99%, whereas mopping achieved a reduction of 51% at best. Furthermore, the bacteria plates showed that mopping dragged the E. coli back into clean areas, so the mop’s overall effectiveness dropped to 24%.
That is why we must press on with our campaign to 'Chop the Mop' in favour of cleaning that is science-based, effective and more professional.
www.rawlins.co.uk/tcexpert
So, if 78% agree that using machines is a better way to clean and this is backed up by test results, what is it going to take to convince all cleaning professionals to clean the right way? Let us know your thoughts and the challenges you currently face to ‘Chop the Mop’ either on our Facebook or Twitter page.
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