CM/Spotlight: Restroom Care re-grout the floor. Another solution is to use a cylindrical scrubber instead of a mop to clean the floors. Unlike mops, cylindrical scrubbers have the ability to recover the solution applied to the floor during the cleaning process along with the soil on the floor. Additionally, a cylindrical scrubber does a much better job of removing soils from grout lines because it has the ability to lift the soils out of the grout during the clean-ing process. Micro-scrubbers make this kind of clean-ing possible in virtually every restroom. This was a decent concept, except when the only restroom in the area is “closed for service,” which tends to make for rather unhappy patrons. When maintaining restrooms, we need to balance the “needs” of building occupants with the need to create a safe and hygienic environment. We must keep in mind that proper dwell time will not only kill all the germs a product claims to, but it also helps eliminate odor issues caused by those germs. In years past, some custodians used bleach for disinfection and typically did not measure chemicals. Sometimes, chemicals were even mixed together, creating a very dangerous situa-tion for custodians and building occupants. Today, the utilization of metered dilution systems precisely mixes super-concentrat-ed chemicals with water to create a usable product. This not only saves money by not wasting product, but it also creates a more effective product as well. Furthermore, properly mixed chemicals are safer for custodians and building occu-pants. Today, instead of bleach, we use much safer disinfectants such as quaternaries (quats) that kill a wide variety of germs, won’t harm most surfaces and are more stable in solution. Better still are the hydrogen peroxide-based disinfectant cleaners that kill germs much faster, have a health rating of zero and clean as well as a general purpose cleaner. With a shorter dwell time, a better kill rate and good cleaning efficacy, hydrogen per-oxide-based products have been revolu-tionary in the evolution of a clean restroom. Disinfection Understanding how a disinfectant works, properly mixing and providing adequate dwell time have always been a challenge. Years ago, custodians were taught to spray the toilets down with disinfectant first and clean the rest of the restroom to allow for proper dwell time. Air Care Remember the days when an aerosol can on the back of the toilet was an industry standard? Today’s technology has taken that aero-sol can and put into a metered system for automatic dispensing. In the past, there were a number of chal-lenges associated with these systems. Some of the main challenges were the level of difficulty to program the unit and the fact that they required batteries, which were often stolen. Today’s air care systems have a power source built right into them that lasts a rea-sonable amount of time. Additionally, much of the guesswork has been taken out of the programming. People value air care, as it is often the first thing they notice when entering a restroom. It is recommended that you change the fragrances occasionally because when people get used to a certain fragrance they will not be able to smell it anymore. Changing fragrances on occasion will keep your restrooms always smelling fresh. Other ideas such as automated faucets, hand soap and paper towel dispensers have become industry standards in a restroom. Touch-free technology continues to lead the way in safety and comfort for patrons. Combined with chemical and equipment technology, our restrooms have come a long way indeed. CM Circle Product Information no. 213 on page 32 36 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • September 2011
CMM – Archives Sept 2011: 36
