maintenance matters Cleaning High-tech Equipment Maintaining hygienic cleanliness in the built environment often means coming into contact with sensitive electronic equipment that requires regular dusting and disinfection. By: Evelyn Pearce I In nearly all commercial buildings, the use of various technologies and the presence of electronic equipment is ubiquitous. Computers, monitors, scanners, laptops, smartphones and other technologies are now found everywhere. When it comes to building service contrac-tors (BSCs) and in-house janitorial staffs, this rise in technology poses problems. As with other surfaces and items inside a building, electronics require regular clean-ing and maintenance. However, few BSCs or in-house profes-sionals are trained to care for such sensitive circuitry, which often results in these devices getting either neglected or becoming dam-aged through improper cleaning techniques. The average computer keyboard harbors more germs than a public toilet seat and, because more than one person often uses the same computer console, dirty keyboards can lead to cross-contamination and the spread of infectious pathogens. In many healthcare settings, specially designed medical keyboards, which are made from bacteria-resistant silicon and are designed to be easily cleaned, are com-monplace. But, regular keyboards are still commonly found, and they also require regular clean-ing and sanitization. It is not just healthcare settings where the cleaning of technological offerings poses problems; offices, educational facilities and industrial plants are all full of myriad elec-tronic equipment. And, if sensitive electronics are not regu-larly cleaned and maintained, they can fail, become damaged or require frequent and often expensive replacement. Computing Cleanliness Computers are arguably the most common piece of technology in modern commer-cial buildings, and cleaning them requires understanding a few basic rules. First, cleaning any part of a computer sys-tem, whether it is the keyboard, the mouse, the monitor or the central processing unit (CPU) — what many call the computer tower — should never be done with the computer switched on. Doing so could not only cause a shock hazard, but cleaning a keyboard while the computer is on could also lead to unintended inputs or inadvertent deletions. Allowing dirt, dust and other particles to accumulate on high-tech equipment can be as damaging to the devices as utilizing the incorrect cleaning tools and procedures. 40 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • January 2013
CMM – Archives Jan 2013: 40
