STEPPING UP TO THE ESCALATOR PLATE
When it comes to cleaning, the rise of the escalator seems to have left many cleaning
managers and contractors behind. Don’t be daunted by the technology – and step up to the plate, says James White, MD of Denis Rawlins Ltd.
No industry is bypassed by the relentless onward march of technology. Smart buildings and materials will no doubt bring new opportunities and challenges for the cleaning industry, many of them perhaps unforeseeable now.
But in terms of floors and floor cleaning, the most hi-tech surface is already commonplace in many of our larger and busier buildings. For escalators and travelators it is most definitely a case of onward and upward. However, notwithstanding the ubiquity of the moving stairs and floor, it seems that cleaning regimes and standards are sometimes lagging behind.
Escalators constitute the most expensive flooring asset and they are as intensively used as other areas. They also pose a more serious hazard should a user slip or fall. Yet it is not unusual for escalators to be cleaned less often than other floors and to a lower standard.
Escalators and travelators are not easily integrated into routine floor cleaning plans for various reasons.
A very real concern is the risk of damaging the underlying electrics or causing corrosion of its metal parts. Using the standard cleaning equipment intended for normal flooring is a shortcut that could lead to damage to the asset or injury to the operative. We are aware of instances where operatives have tried using a string mop to potentially disastrous effect.
Dedicated machines for the cleaning of escalators and travelators can be used. But much of this specialist equipment suffers from significant drawbacks – such as being large and cumbersome to use, cleaning over-aggressively or consuming a lot of water or solution. Escalator manufacturers frown on any cleaning
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practice that puts their machinery at risk, while contract cleaners risk being judged for poor performance.
The best machine on the market does provide a highly effective deep clean but the cost of daily cleaning in this way is prohibitive. Achieving a return on investment and the associated training would be difficult, except perhaps for a specialist contractor.
While buying in such a service may be justified for a deep clean, this is not a viable solution for routine cleaning.
“If the adjacent area is cleaned daily, so should the escalator.”
Yet it remains essential. The electro- mechanical parts beneath escalators and travelators are vulnerable to corrosion from sugary drinks, excessive moisture, grit and salt, and the build-up of other material and detritus.
The level of traffic and soiling should determine cleaning requirements. Traffic and cleaning frequencies will vary between the many retail stores, transport terminals and large office blocks that rely on escalators or travelators. That may be daily cleaning for heavily trafficked escalators or weekly if usage is moderate. But if the adjacent area is cleaned daily, so should the escalator.
So it may seem ironic that the method that rises to the challenge of daily or at least regular cleaning escalators and travelators is manual, rather than a hi-tech piece of kit. And it couldn’t be simpler. Facility managers should also be relieved that the most effective way of cleaning their most expensive flooring asset could hardly be more economical.
The REN Clean system uses a precisely engineered sponge pad that fits into the treads of the escalator. It is immersed in cleaning solution, positioned against the combplate in the landing platform to receive the oncoming treads, then held in place using a pole, and removed easily – all by one person. There is no need to stop the escalator or travelator, and no power supply is required. The entire cleaning process takes no longer than 15 minutes, at a cost of £6.50 in consumables per maintenance clean. And it has been shown to work, cleaning thoroughly and improving grip under foot.
So it pays to focus on what works if we’re not to get carried away – or left behind – by technological progress.
www.rawlins.co.uk twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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