Matching any particular facility's restroom hygiene challenges with appropriate products requires managers to answer some critical questions.
Using disinfectants to meet hygiene challenges requires knowing the germs that are present and their locations. These products also require a careful reading of each product's label and discussion with the supplier to ensure the product can deliver the desired protection from the specific hygiene threats.
Managers can uncover hygiene threats using in-house instruments or by bringing in an outside testing laboratory. Managers use test results to discover hygiene challenges and, after treatment, to see if the products and methods used were effective.
When using chemicals to address restroom hygiene issues, housekeepers must take precautions, including wearing proper personal protective equipment. Some chemicals are corrosive in their undiluted forms, so workers should not allow concentrated spills to enter the drain piping. High temperatures can cause them to vaporize and produce fumes that are harmful when inhaled, so it is important for housekeepers to understand proper use and disposal.
Housekeepers also must be aware of two important steps in the cleaning process — discussions with the manufacturer's representative regarding product applications and a careful review of the material safety data sheet (MSDS) for each chemical used, which can contain technical terms, physician notes, and chemical names that might be unfamiliar.
Housekeepers should use disinfectants only after a knowledgeable product representative has fully explained proper handling. Proper training for all supervisors and housekeepers is essential.
A manufacturer's representative can play a role in the training program by providing training materials, videos, demonstrations of good cleaning methods, and by interpreting the MSDS and other technical information about their products.
Touchless flush-valve conversions can be made simply by switching the flusher without replacing the entire valve if the flow rate of the old valve meets low-flow objectives. Otherwise, if the fixture predates the 1997 introduction of commercial low-flow technology, it might be more cost-effective to replace the entire valve and gain the advantages of improved hygiene and water savings.
Thomas A. Westerkamp is a maintenance and engineering management consultant and president of the work management division of Westerkamp Group LLC.
Restroom Hygiene: Not All Challenges Are Visible
Using Technology to Eliminate Cross Contamination
Identifying Hygiene Challenges
