umf CORPORATION Infection Prevention Spills To Hard Floors A clean floor is great; a healthy floor is even better. F Floors are the windows into a facility, as has been said before — and with good reason. After all, hard surface floors are virtu-ally the first thing patients and visitors see when there’s a need for health care — be it the floor of a hospital lobby or the entrance to an emergency room, hospital room, extended care or ambulatory surgi-cal center. Likewise, parents, when they’re bring-ing their children to school for the first day of class, look down at the long hallway floors before they look around for their child’s classroom. Are the floors clean? Patrons of fast-food restaurants, before looking up at the menu board, get a gen-eral sense of the experience to come by looking down at the floor. Are the floors clean? Guests, when they enter the hotel lobby, look for every streak, spot and stain on the floor in front of them as they walk to the front desk to check in. Are the floors clean? First impressions are lasting impressions, so if you’re charged with cleaning and main-taining hard surface floors, your number one goal has always been to provide the shiniest, squeaky-clean floors possible. And, certainly, there are innovations and technologies available today that make the cleaning and maintaining of hard surface floors easier, more envi-ronmentally responsible and more cost effective without sacrificing results. But, is having the shiniest, squeaky-clean floors enough? Clean Beyond Shine In recent years, the health and safe-ty aspects of cleaning and maintaining hard surface floors have become even more paramount as community-acquired infections (CAIs), just like healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) in hospitals, have emerged as a serious public health concern. Germs and contaminants threaten the health of everyone who visits your prop-erty. The relevance of this issue is readily apparent in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines regarding surface disinfection in hospi-tals: “…Floors become contaminated with microorganisms from settling airborne bacteria: By contact with shoes, wheels and other objects; and occasionally by spills. The removal of microbes is a com-ponent in controlling HAIs.” The truth is that this can be said about the need for infection prevention in the cleaning of any floor in any kind of facility — healthcare, educational, foodservice and hospitality alike. In fact, it is with infection prevention in mind that many leading hotels, resorts and schools are adopting methodologies developed to reduce HAIs in hospitals. For example, Starwood Hotels & Resorts is placing a high priority on guest safety and satisfaction by ensuring that infection prevention levels of cleaning be used in their guest rooms. These hospital-grade environmental hygiene practices include: Room specific color-coded products and one-per-room product use, which includes a clean mop for every floor in every room; an empha-sis on high-touch surface cleaning; and a rigorous training and education regimen for relevant staff — after all, your environ-mental services staff is your “first line of defense” in reducing HAIs and CAIs. All of these practices help ensure safe environments for students, patients, guests and customers. Clearly, without infection prevention as part of the equation, merely having a squeaky-clean hard surface floor is a job unfinished. CM Circle Product Information no. 152 This content was provided by umf CORPORATION as part of a paid advertisement. For more information, please contact umf CORPORATION at (847) 920-0370 or www.PerfectCLEAN.com. www.cmmonline.com 23
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