Why Cleaning for Health Matters

One obvious benefit of cleaning is that a facility simply looks better when it's clean and tidy. Yet, better health for building occupants is another benefit that's often overlooked. When properly designed, a cleaning program safely removes and reduces harmful dirt, dust, bacteria, viruses, mold, and other contaminants found throughout a facility.

Benefits of Cleaning for Health

• Reduces health problems associated with allergens, exposure to toxic chemicals, and harmful contaminants like mold, viruses, and bacteria.
• Helps to reduce business operating and building maintenance costs, including costs associated with sick leave and productivity loss.
• Enhances an organization's image as perceived by employees, customers, and other stakeholders.
• Extends the life of a facility while reducing its environmental impact.
• Increases worker satisfaction and morale, reduces absenteeism, and promotes productivity, efficiency, and retention.

Cleaning for Health Doesn't Happen By Chance

Reaping the healthy benefits of cleaning doesn't happen by chance or by using outdated cleaning methods. To the contrary, it takes a carefully designed cleaning program that focuses on health and safety from the start. Here's how we do it:

Products:   Whenever possible, we use certified Green Cleaning products that are engineered to reduce health risks and environmental impact.

Equipment:   We use modern equipment that is proven to clean effectively, efficiently, and safely. For instance, our vacuums have special filtration systems that trap particles up 0.3 microns in size, which is about 70 times smaller than the thickness of a strand of hair. Consequently, more dirt is removed from a building and indoor air quality is improved.

We also use high-tech microfiber flat mops where possible since they are much more effective at removing soil and bacteria than traditional cotton string mops. And we use microfiber cleaning cloths for the same reason. By design, modern microfiber products have fibers that are split to 1/100th the thickness of a human hair so they effectively remove and hold onto soil. And microfiber products can be laundered and reused up to five hundred times, which means less landfill waste when compared with traditional cotton and paper based mops and cloths.

Processes:   Simply using the right products and equipment is not enough to realize the full health benefits of cleaning. To do so, cleaning processes should be designed with health and safety in mind. Here are some of the procedures we use to protect your health and safety:

• Using spray bottles for cleaning solutions rather than prepackaged products in aerosol cans avoids releasing propellants into the environment and reduces landfill waste.
• Spraying microfiber cleaning clothes directly with a cleaning product rather than spraying surfaces reduces product use and exposure.
• Using microfiber cloths to polish metal and wood surfaces avoids unecessary use of and exposure to cleaning products.
• Using color coded microfiber cloths and mops helps to prevent cross contamination between areas.
• Limiting the use of EPA approved disinfectants to criticals areas such as restrooms and high frequency touch points like door handles, light switches, etc., reduces product use and exposure.
• Vacuuming and damp mopping hard floors rather than sweeping or dust mopping improves indoor air quality since more dirt is trapped and removed.
• Using high quality floor finishes and properly maintaining them with periodic buffing, scrubbing, and recoating, extends the intervals between floor stripping procedures which require using more chemicals and labor.
• Periodically deep cleaning carpeting not only improves its appearance, but it also extends its life and removes soil which is ground into the fibers by traffic.
• Stopping dirt before it enters a building via proper matting and more frequent cleaning of entrance areas prevents soils from being spread to other areas within the facility.
• Unclogging toilets, urinals, and sinks with plungers and snakes avoids the need to use toxic drain cleaners.