To clarify, this commentary is in no way directed at APPA, ISSA, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), the Cleaning Industry Research Institute (CIRI) or other organizations with leadership standards in the marketplace or hopper, but was intended solely to highlight a fun-damental issue with aligning the cleaning industry around a single standard for clean or healthy environments. This should not discourage the develop-ment of laudable standards, but serves to highlight the challenge of achieving wide-spread acceptance based on the fragment-ed market situation that exists. Still, an industry must start somewhere and, therefore, we support credible efforts to create improved or benchmark stan-dards. Our main point is you must work hardest at changing thinking; a “standard” can help do this. But, it is only the beginning of — rather than an end to— successful change. CM Infection Control Q&A Because we greatly appreciate the time that everyone took to attend our Infection Prevention Strategies for Commercial Facilities webinar on March 3, we wanted to ensure that any questions had by audience members were promptly and thoroughly addressed. And, understanding the potential damage of misinformation, author of Infection Control for Dummies Darrel Hicks was willing to offer advice in his field of expertise. Below is one of the informational responses Hicks provided via e-mail to Alan Goytowski from the University of West Virginia. Goytowski: “We have an athletic facility that has a busy schedule of student, staff and athletic events, practices and exercise pro-grams. What is the best practice for cleaning gyms, weight rooms, locker rooms and pool surfaces?” Hicks: Due to the fact that pools, locker rooms and weight rooms are reservoirs for mold, fungi and bodily fluids, I believe you need an aggressive program of daily termi-nal cleaning and, at the same time, provide both hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes for the patrons. My idea of daily terminal cleaning would be using a spray-and-vacuum machine that will blast soil and contaminants from surfaces, then vacuum them up. This would be in locker rooms, showers After our no-cost webinar on March 3, guest speaker Darrel Hicks was kind enough to continue correspondence with some of our audience members. are ways of measuring the efficacy of your cleaning processes, chemicals and tools — my favorite being the ATP meter. ATP measurement has been used in food processing for years, but until now, the clean-ing industry lacked precise, portable and cost-effective devices. By providing feedback in less than 30 seconds, ATP meters enable cleaning pro-fessionals to verify how clean surfaces are with respect to organic matter, and to carry out continuous improvement programs to enhance overall performance. Other measures of clean include devices and measurement platforms that detect fun-gal enzymes, particles, airborne dust mass-es, moisture and more. These systems are becoming increasingly available, portable and affordable. I hope this answers your question. and pool areas. For anything that is touched by hands, I would use a two-step approach. 1. Thoroughly clean the surface and measure the results. After cleaning, use an adenosine triphos-phate meter (ATP) meter to measure the level of soil removal. ATP is the energy molecule inside all living cells and can provide a rich food source for pathogens. 2. Apply a “shield” product on the high-touch surface. There are products that leave a protective shield on surfaces for up to 90 days. The shield has nano-spikes in it that impale and kill the microorganisms that fall on it. It’s kind of Star Trek stuff, but very inter-esting. Another question was asked by Bonifay Manahan from the Southeast Alabama Medical Center. Manahan: “Is there a way to determine how effective microfiber is after it has been laundered several times?” Hicks: I believe the best way is to use an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) meter after cleaning has been performed. As I stated during my presentation, there Get involved CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management Online ™ viewers as well as CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® magazine readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor on topics of interest to the professional clean-ing and maintenance industry. Send letters to the editor to [email protected]. CM www.cmmonline.com 7
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