EDUCATION & SCHOOL FACILITIES


CLEANING GOES TO THE NEXT LEVEL


Contingency plans should provide for infectious outbreaks. But preventive


cleaning is the more prudent course, argues Ashley White, Commercial and Safety Manager of cleaning and FM services specialist Nviro.


Facilities managers, and their cleaning teams, are well versed in planning and providing routine cleaning and


regular deep cleans. But


there’s another level of cleaning that tends to be overlooked.


Any organisation that suffers the effects of an infectious outbreak will understand. From norovirus in nurseries to meningitis in universities, the education sector has proved more vulnerable than most. But schools and colleges are not alone in learning the lesson that investing in preventative cleaning is a better use of a budget than the costs of decontamination – on top of the harm to students’ health, disruption and reputational damage. The increased focus on wellbeing – of employees, students and generally – paves the way to enhanced cleaning.


Educational establishments and enlightened clients are beginning to see the value of moving hygienic cleaning from the contingency plan to the cleaning plan. Just as sterilisation techniques have moved from the industrial clean room and food factory into the classroom and the canteen.


There are various preventive measures that should be considered. Wiping down touch points with microfibre cloths and anti-bacterial solution will curb the transfer of potentially harmful pathogens, depending on the frequency. Hand sanitisers are increasingly common in washrooms and communal areas as


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a seasonal or permanent measure to suppress bacterial levels and transfer.


Some clients, on our recommendation, have installed wall- mounted sanitisation units that use UV light and ozone to decontaminate air. They destroy airborne pathogens and re-circulate clean air. Because this also removes odours, they are more often seen in toilets, but the units can be deployed in communal areas or any space.


Steam cleaning has been used in industrial and commercial kitchen applications for many years. Today’s highly efficient machines generate ‘dry’ steam vapour from small volumes of water. Superheated steam leaves behind minimal moisture and hygienically cleans surfaces and crevices. An advantage is that this method may be used for soft materials such as upholstery and mattresses, as well as floors and other surfaces.


Another method that has come into the mainstream from manufacturing ‘clean rooms’ and food factories is fogging. With modern biocides, chemical fogging no longer entails major disruption or health risks from potentially toxic substances.


Nviro use a water-based anti- microbial that is non-hazardous, odourless and non-corrosive to materials. However, as a precaution against coughing or allergic reactions, fogging is done at weekends or during the holidays by cleaning staff equipped with the right PPE.


Sprayed as a fine mist, the fog’s particles remain suspended in the


air long enough to kill airborne viruses and bacteria. These particles also spread through the classroom, gym or lecture theatre, settling on surfaces, including walls and ceilings, furniture and floors.


We recommend using a solution with four different biocides to combat any resistant bacteria – will eliminate a very wide spectrum of microbes and pathogens. These include E. coli, MRSA, C. difficile, listeria, salmonella and Legionella pneumophilia.


This ‘dry’ fogging is a highly cost- effective sanitisation technique. It needs to be preceded by a thorough deep clean because dust and debris will hamper its effectiveness. We can measure the effectiveness of cleaning with a hand-held luminometer. This gives an accurate reading for the number of living cells on a surface by measuring adenosine triphosphate (ATP).


Readings taken before and after fogging show dramatic reductions in ATP levels, and for weeks afterwards. Chemical suppliers claim that fogging agents have residual efficacy against contamination that can last for months.


Managing the risk of contagion in nurseries, schools and colleges should begin with contingency planning. But we need to educate all clients that preventive cleaning techniques have a valuable part to play in a prudent cleaning regime for any higher-risk environment.


www.nviro.co.uk twitter.com/TomorrowsFM


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