Whitewater

Whitewater Environmental can help you create a cleaning regimen that can help protect your employees and customers from viral, bacterial or fungal infection. Here, we provide some basic advice to get you started.

THE ROLE OF CLEANING OPERATIVES IN PREVENTING CROSS CONTAMINATION.
Cross contamination occurs when bacteria is spread between people, food, surfaces and equipment. Cross contamination poses a health threat in any environment including offices, factories, shopping malls, schools and other buildings.

In addition to negatively impacting the health of building occupants and visitors, cross-contamination costs employees, employers and building owners valuable lost income every year.

There is no doubt that responsible cleaning practices help avoid cross contamination, thereby minimizing the incidence of illness and disease.

Effective cleaning regimes reduce bacteria on equipment and surfaces that people come into contact with every day, such as keyboards, phones, doors and washroom touch-points. While it might sound like a straight-forward solution, health-conscious cleaning actually requires detailed processes, thorough training, and strict quality control.

In addition, a cleaning programme should be approached holistically: All areas of a facility are interconnected through building automation, heating and ventilation systems and even foot traffic that spreads internal and external pollutants. Employees come to work sick; workers bring food into the building or prepare food in break rooms; cleaning products themselves put contaminants into the air. Dirt, pollutants and allergens cannot be readily seen but can drastically affect cross contamination and health.

Any plan for eradicating cross contamination should consider all these factors.

COMMON CAUSES OF CROSS CONTAMINATION.
Probably the most common culprits of cross contamination are hands, tools, equipment, cloths, and door handles, or food that comes in contact with them.

Though common sense, many people do not wash and dry their hands;

• after using the toilet;
• after blowing their noses;
• before touching or eating food;
• after touching raw meat, fish, chicken or unwashed vegetables; or
• after touching a pet.

Workers often eat at their desks and, even if they clean up afterwards, food particles remain to breed bacteria and attract pests that can further spread disease.

Another common mistake is to clean multiple areas with the same tools and equipment and to store washroom cleaning supplies together with items used in other areas. Cloths, sponges and mops are sources of concentrated bacteria that can cross-contaminate anything with which they come into contact.

STEPS TO AVOID CROSS CONTAMINATION.
There are a number of steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of cross-contamination; examples include issues, such as the following;

Capture pollutants and remove them; don't just move them around.

• Focus on entrances. Are special mats in place that traps dirt and pollutants to prevent spreading throughout the building?
• Use of micro-fibre systems generally outperforms traditional dusting and mopping materials by capturing dust and dirt. They can be cleaned and reused for minimal waste.
• For carpets, ensure proper vacuuming, extracting, rinsing and drying. Carpets can be a host for moisture problems and mould growth. Empty vacuum bags when full and clean filters.
• Cleaning operatives should wash hands frequently and keep equipment clean to avoid cross contamination. Be sure cleaning cupboards/storerooms are kept clean to prevent dirt from travelling throughout a building on equipment.
• Cleaning operatives should avoid touching their faces, skin and hair. Or wiping hands on cleaning cloths.
• Focus cleaning efforts on touch-points; e.g. door handles, touch plates, bright work and other areas where people come into contact with the facility or its fixtures.

Storage and segregation of tools, equipment and chemicals:

• Use tools and processes that are colour coded according to the cleaning job. This way, operatives can see at a glance which equipment should be used for cleaning floors, washrooms, kitchens and general office areas, so that such areas are protected from cross contamination.
• Store like items together and separated from items used for other purposes, e.g. avoid storing washroom mops/cloths with kitchen mops/cloths.
• Colour coding is used to ensure that cross contamination from one area to another does not occur.
  Unless different site specific colour coding exists, the following must be used;
  RED = Toilet and urinal areas
  GREEN = Food and drink areas
  BLUE = General and washroom areas
• Ensure tools and equipment are cleaned, rinsed and dried after use and stored tidily, ready for use the following day.

Implement training and communication programs

• Properly train staff in all healthy cleaning procedures. They must also wear the proper personal protective equipment when performing their cleaning tasks.
• Communicate to building employees that you have implemented a healthy cleaning plan for their protection. Ask that they also follow procedures to help prevent cross contamination (washing hands, cleaning up after themselves in the break room, not taking food to their desks, use of sanitizing wipes for keyboards and phones etc.)