WASHROOM HYGIENE


Keeping washrooms hygienically clean in commercial spaces


Washroom hygiene and maintenance is a crucial part of commercial cleaning and facilities management, explains Gill Ireson, Head of Sales at Robert Scott.


High-use areas like washrooms are natural harbourers of germs and bacteria, with a large number of frequent touchpoints, hard to reach areas and high footfall.


It’s critical from a reputational and customer care point of view that washrooms are checked, cleaned and disinfected regularly during business hours to maintain cleanliness and hygiene levels. This will generally require thorough cleaning once per day, plus regular spot checks throughout the day to ensure surfaces are clean and clear, and that the room looks and smells fresh.


The best approach


Due to the nature of their use, washroom facilities naturally require significant cleaning. It’s important to try to minimise the risk of cross-contamination between washrooms and other spaces, so cleaning processes should allow for separate kit to be used in these spaces. Colour coded items – such as buckets and mop handles – can be a valuable visual indicator to help ensure nothing strays from its designated space.


To effectively contain the spread of germs, washrooms should be cleaned top to bottom and back to front – that means starting with the ceiling (including vents) in the furthest corner from the door and working your way downwards and out. This helps prevent recontamination of surfaces as you work.


Good cleaning requires a two-step process – first to clean the area of dirt and debris, and then a second application to disinfect the surface.


Maintaining air freshness


Ensuring a supply of clean, fresh air helps maintain hygienic washrooms. Air fresheners will only mask odours and give an impression of freshness, but new developments in air care allow for the decontamination of air in the room.


The BSG AirCare range offers a chemical-free way to improve air quality, remove odours and germs, and also disinfect air and surfaces. These units effectively remove germs and odours using chemical-free UVC light technology. They simultaneously produce purifying ozone-based photoplasma disinfection, to improve overall air quality and reduce organic matter – both on surfaces and in the air.


The AirCare range was specifically designed for washrooms but can be used anywhere, and is available in different specifications to cover spaces of any size.


Another option for cleaning businesses looking for modern ways to ensure air supply cleanliness is PowerZone. This environmentally-friendly odour and germ control system


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also uses UVC light, but the difference between this and AirCare is that PowerZone is portable and can therefore be moved around a site.


Using cleaning products responsibly


For many cleaning businesses, ESG (environmental, social and governance) demands are shaping their product sourcing and implementation decisions. A huge number of cleaning businesses say that ESG is important – four in five businesses surveyed by Robert Scott said sustainability was important to their business, with 34% saying it was the year’s biggest cleaning trend.


With 78% of cleaning businesses ranking sustainability as being much more important to customers in 2023, compared with 51% who said the same in 2022, the growing importance of this trend is clear to see.


Choosing eco-friendly cleaning solutions is a natural way to support a business’s ESG ambitions, and the BSG AirCare range is a clear fit. Significantly more sustainable than traditional cleaning methods, this natural solution has been shown to deliver a 70% reduction of microorganisms in the air and can destroy viruses including influenza, E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella, as well as bacteria, mould and other microcontaminants.


Post-pandemic, public expectations for washrooms to be safe and hygienic have understandably increased. Meanwhile, the effort to improve sustainability in all areas of our lives and specifically in business, has been placed under a spotlight.


Encouragingly, as the future of washrooms looks to become smarter and more high-tech, the opportunity for businesses to improve the effectiveness of cleaning and reduce the spread of germs, all while gaining green credentials, becomes a much greater possibility.


To find out more about washroom hygiene, contact our Clean Team on +44 (0) 1457 819400, or by email on info@ robert-scott.co.uk.


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