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FLOORCARE & MAINTENANCE


RESETTING THE CLOCK


This month, Tomorrow’s Cleaning Editor Matt Waring went out on a mission to see Traffik’s Oztek machine in action as they carried out a full carpet restoration on a Crewe care home’s carpets.


Carpeting in a care home environment can be susceptible to a wide range of spills, from drinks, to medicine, to bodily fluids.


Floorcare cleaning and maintenance specialists Traffilk have been working with one care home company to revitalise the carpeting in their six ‘care villages’ across the North West, and having heard a lot about their new Oztek machine, we paid a visit to the Crewe site to find out more about how to clean these delicate environments.


With many residents suffering from dementia, it is important that any maintenance is carried out quickly, with as


little disruption as possible, which is where the Oztek machine comes in.


The care home in question encompasses 12 self-contained private apartments and six supported ‘households’ with 66 modern en-suite bedrooms and open plan lounge and kitchen areas for residents in one large, communal ‘village’. With many residents suffering from dementia, it is important that any maintenance is carried out quickly, with as little disruption as possible, which is where the Oztek machine comes in.


Even observing the cleaning process for just a short time period, it was clear to see the affect that the Oztek was having on the carpets, as contaminants were removed, colour was restored, the pile was lifted, and more life was generally given to these formerly compressed carpets.


52 | Tomorrow’s Cleaning November 2015


And Hayleigh Nicholls, Front of House Manager at the facility, is delighted with the results so far. She said: “For us, it’s all about making sure that our residents are as unaffected as possible, and the whole process has been fine.


“The team that have been carrying out the work have been doing it really efficiently, and communicating with us greatly too, and that’s been key for us. The results have been great as well. I went up to one of the houses after it had been finished and I was amazed at the effect it has had compared to what it was like originally.”


Traffik has been working with this care home provider for almost two years now, and Howard O’Brien, Managing Director of Traffik, told us how they had tried a number of different methods, before landing on the Oztek.


He said: “When we started working with the homes, we used hot water systems, dry systems, all the systems you’d expect to use for carpet cleaning, but recognised quickly the limitations of these systems, especially in these really demanding environments.


“But this [the Oztek machine] has transformed our business. It’s given us the scope to take on work that we never would have taken on before, because cleaning with it is so much faster.”


And Howard added that, in using this new, more efficient system, the company is able to offer a more comprehensive package, not just in the first instance, but in the long run as well.


“What we’re doing at Traffik now is offering a service to reset the clocks on carpets, to allow the care villages to maintain them very easily, with the right systems in place. This ultimately


means that homes do not have to replace their carpets prematurely, but can maintain them effectively so they can last 15 to 20 years,” he explained.


“We try to work in partnerships; we don’t like to work on one-offs, particularly in this environment. We’re not trying to just sell a machine or a service; we’re trying to resolve a problem.”


This partnership has paid off for the Crewe care home, who was facing the expensive prospect of replacing its carpeting, but thanks to Traffik and its Oztek machine, no longer has to, as Hayleigh explained: “At the end of the day, we were talking about replacement carpets – and the cost of replacing carpets is quite significant – but we can see now that it isn’t necessary.


“We’re five years in with this village and we’ve now got carpets that look fantastic, so it’s really good, we’re very pleased.”


www.traffik.uk.com


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