SCHOOL GERM HOTSPOTS HIGHLIGHTED
Here, Rentokil Specialist Hygiene uncover a school’s microbiological landscape to help stop the spread of infection.
A new study undertaken by Rentokil Specialist Hygiene highlights the areas of a school classroom which harbour the most bacteria. The company swabbed 130 points across a primary and an infant school to uncover common areas that could unwittingly be home to high levels of microbiological activity. Although a surface may look clean it could be full of pathogens and in the event of an illness outbreak, these pathogen reservoirs can increase the chances of cross contamination, and the spread of colds and other viruses across the school.
To help educational facilities and other businesses (such as care homes, offices, leisure and hospitality) break the cycle of virus and bacterial outbreaks, Rentokil Specialist Hygiene has launched Hygiene Healthcheck (HHC). As part of this service, specialist consultants use Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) swabs and an ATP bioluminescence reader to detect levels of biological life not visible to the human eye. This swabbing activity can then be used to produce a visualisation of the microbiological landscape of the premises which have been swabbed, allowing for a strategic cleaning plan to be produced, by identifying the areas that require different frequencies or types of cleaning.
Across the two schools, the top five areas that hosted the most bacteria were:
1. Play equipment: An average of 2,857 units.
2. Door handles: An average of 985 units.
3. Radiators: An average of 743 units. 4. Stationery: An average of 675 units. 5. Chairs: An average of 669 units.
A reading of over 500 units from an object indicates a high level of contamination (200-500 is the normal
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range, and under 200 is low). One ‘play’ dinosaur registered a reading of 7,760 units, which is 15 times higher than what is considered a ‘normal’ reading for an object, and was in fact 41 times higher than the average reading for the toilet door handles in that school.
“Items that are shared and
used by multiple children appear
to be harbouring the most germs.”
Luke Rutterford, technical manager at Rentokil Specialist Hygiene, explained: “The findings show there are less obvious areas in schools that registered high readings of microbiological activity that were not being routinely cleaned. For example, a children’s communal water bottle tray in one classroom registered high ATP readings, illustrating how poor hygiene from one child can quickly contaminate other items or areas that all other children and staff encounter. Items that are shared and used by multiple children appear to be harbouring the most germs. Play equipment and shared items such as pens and pencils, are used regularly throughout the day but rarely cleaned, providing lots of opportunity for cross contamination.”
As part of Rentokil Specialist Hygiene’s HHC service, several swabs are taken in each classroom as well as comprehensively across
other key areas of the school (dining hall, corridors etc), so that germ hotspots can be accurately detected. These results can then be overlaid onto a floorplan of the school to produce a heatmap.
The top five areas of high bacteria recorded in one reception classroom were:
1. Cloakroom sink: 3,885 units, almost eight times higher than what is considered a ‘normal’ reading for an object.
2. The class mascot teddy bear: 2,492 units.
3. Door handle: 2,271 units. 4. The ‘play’ table: 1,305 units. 5. A ‘play’ oven: 1,043 units.
These top five data points, along with multiple other touch points were then put into Rentokil Specialist Hygiene’s HHC heatmap tool, which clearly identified areas in the classroom that were harbouring high levels of microbiological activity.
Luke Rutterford, technical manager at Rentokil Specialist Hygiene continued: “Heatmaps help us to visualise which areas need a specialist ‘manual’ deep clean, compared to other areas where an ultra low volume fogging treatment may suffice. Accurately heat mapping a school’s microbiological landscape enables informed decisions to be made on where and how to clean. In turn, this could ensure that any outbreaks of highly contagious illnesses such as Norovirus are contained sooner and significantly reduce the levels of pupil and teacher sickness. Hygiene Healthcheck helps schools to manage their cleaning budget, as it ensures that cleaning is delivered in the right place, and that a school’s regular cleaning staff are capturing all the areas that should be serviced routinely.”
www.rentokil.co.uk EDUCATIONAL & SCHOOL FACILITIES | 39
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