Correct Information Helps Keep the "Bug" From Finding You
MRSA,
Swine flu, or the Common Cold
A
Pragmatic Response from a Cleaning Professional
The message may be applied to any building... Home, School, Church, Office, Gym, Restaurant, etc.
A Few First-Response Ideas:
General Procedure:
Wash with detergent (soap) and water and rinse
well.
(Dry hands with a clean, dry, absorbent, wiping material.)
Do the Procedure OFTEN. And,
make sure that people around you do the same.
If you are wiping a surface dry, always do so with clean, dry,
and absorbent wiping material.
Where wiping dry is not practical, remove as much water as
possible. (e.g. floor mopping)
1. Hands... Yours, Theirs, and even Pets—Paws, that is.
2. Working (and dining) Surfaces...
Tables, Counter Tops, Desk Tops, Telephone
Handsets, etc.
(If possible.... Wash dishes, utensils, etc. in a
dishwasher.)
3. Restroom Fixtures, Counter Tops, etc.
If you are using a disinfectant-detergent to remove
soil...
READ Container Label Directions.
It is against Federal Law to apply the product to a soiled surface. (also read
below)
Bottom Line: Focus on removing soil because Germs MUST live in soil to survive. If you remove the soil well, you are removing germs.
Setting out to kill Germs is not the first path to take ... Here's Why:
Many cleaning chemical sales
people seem to portray disinfectant-detergents as awesome, almost magical, germ
killers—i.e. apply a disinfectant or sanitizer solution onto a surface and all
germs die... the surface may no longer be an infection peril. Almost like a fairy
tale—"And the surface
remained sterile forever after."
Nature uses millions of
different microorganism for recycling "things" back into the earth for future use by plants,
mining, etc. Germs are select microorganisms that can make a living
thing sick.
1. Microorganisms must live in soil in order to sustain life. (Soil being anything a microorganism can digest.)
2. Because germs do not have stomachs, they cannot store food which would allow them to separate themselves from their host (soil) and live on a clean surface—a clean surface is without germ food.
3. When soil is removed from a surface, my logic tells me that germs go with the soil. (and the medical people with whom I have spoken, agree)
Bottom line...
To minimize the availability
of germs, cleaning practices need to focus on washing away soil
rather than leaving a "disinfectant" film (residual) on a surface to
"kill" germs...
Because germs live in soil, if there are germs on a surface after washing, soil was
left behind—symptoms of
incomplete cleaning.
If a disinfectant-detergent was the cleaning solution, the disinfectant residual
film was contaminated and rendered ineffective by soil it was trying to remove. The
ineffective disinfectant residual then takes on the roll of a binder (glue) and
securely holds on to "left
behind" as well as the newly-collected soil to cause unnecessary and
unhealthy soil buildup.
To ensure
optimum sanitation when there is a heightened risk of influenza outbreaks, a cleaning staff should be required to
perform a fresh CLEAN cold water rinse step after they wash or mop anything. Rinsing, as in rinsing washed dishes, ensures that any
remaining soil is effectively removed. Once the surface is clean, it is sanitary
and safe.
Today's quality cold water detergents are free rinsing and do not require a fresh water rinse... Under Normal Conditions
But... And, a HUGE BUT... Only if the cleaning solution is changed when the bottom of the container can no longer be seen. NEVER allow your washing solution to become filthy... To ensure best soil removal, apply a light amount of solution to the soiled surface, let the solution set a few seconds, and then pick up the solution and soil thoroughly using a clean mop, cloth, etc., or wet vacuum. "Any Old Way" of performing the task will heighten the risk for infections! To deal with any germs that may remain in "left behind" soil, add ½ ounce of household chlorine bleach to a washing/mopping solution or, more preferably, to a cold water rinse solution. e.g. Chlorine is used in drinking water to kill any germs that may remain after filtration.
If you
subscribe to using a disinfectant, the disinfectant must be applied to a truly
clean surface—"pre-cleaned"
is how an EPA-registered bottle label is required to say it. When a disinfectant
solution or spray is applied to a
clean surface, it's only effective until the first contamination from
landing airborne germs... First
contamination may also come from the soil that is to be removed or from the touch of a hand
onto a treated surface—either
will introduce more germs than a disinfectant solution residual film can handle. Once contaminated, the
effectiveness of the disinfectant
solution's
germ-killing residual film is over or severely compromised at best. The contaminated area needs to be washed and
rinsed well and re-treated with a disinfectant solution or spray in order to
leave a residual film that remains active for a few hours—as
with hospital operating or emergency room surfaces being protected while waiting
for the next patient.
Think about the ineffectiveness of a disinfectant solution when it is used for
floor mopping...
Once the mop with soil in it is placed into the bucket of solution, the solution
in the bucket becomes contaminated. The condition worsens each time
the soiled mop is placed into the bucket. Flat mops containing
disinfectant solution are contaminated as soon as the clean mop meets the soiled
floor. Think logically and thoroughly before embracing sales pitches or the
innuendos of product literature.
Disinfectants or sanitizers are not "Holy Water"...
Indiscriminately spreading
a solution or spray over soiled or partially cleaned surfaces
does not work... It sets the
stage for germs resistant to the disinfectant or sanitizer to live on and
reproduce in whatever soil that
may have been left behind.
It would come as no surprise to learn that the proliferation of "super germs" is
accelerated under these conditions because they have no
competition
for soil space from the germs that were killed—germs,
that if alive, our
immune system would normally have handled.
Since it is impossible for everyone using a facility to be followed around and have everything they touch washed, rinsed, and disinfected immediately after contact (to ensure that the next person gets a disinfected surface), it makes every bit of sense to wash surfaces with a quality cold water detergent solution (grease holds soil particles and floats in cold water) and rinse well with clean tools and fresh cold water on a schedule commensurate with the number of contacts—degree of usage.
Our immune systems are designed to control the unsafe proliferation of germs in our bodies. If we do our best at washing away soil (especially hands), our immune systems will be able to do their job effectively—the human immune system has been doing an excellent job since the first human arrived on earth. Mankind has to rethink the way disinfectant manufacturers have been allowed to teach us about germ warfare... The way they have us thinking and practicing is profitable for them but mighty dangerous for us. Louis Pasteur and Grandma had it right—wash (nothing antibacterial) and rinse well and use clean hand towels, mops, wiping cloths, etc.
I would not put blind faith in hand sanitizers. I have an e-mail from a leading brand of hand sanitizers saying that the product does not work if hands are soiled or contain oils (body oil included)—they say that hands must be washed if they are soiled because the soil will contaminate and void the affect of the sanitizer. They go on to say that oils, fat, grease, etc. may prevent the sanitizer's ethyl alcohol from reaching the germs. Yet, nowhere on their product labels or packaging do they mention what they told me in an e-mail!
Contrary to what you may view or hear
in a TV or radio commercial... Cleaning "any old way", practicing "one-shot"
aerosol spray germ
killing, or applying a disinfectant-detergent solution onto a soiled or
partially cleaned surface to
kill germs can prove to be extremely dangerous...
Each
year, 100,000+ US hospital visitors die from Nosocomial infections.
Think about it this way: You can see soil but cannot see germs. Put
your faith in your eyes and not so much in a sales person trying to make a sale of a
disinfectant product. When you see the soil being removed, the water gets
dirty and you can be assured that in the "dirty water" are germs that were on
the surface being washed. Your immune system can take over after you
provide a normal clean surface. If it makes you feel better, apply a
disinfectant detergent solution or aerosol spray to a CLEAN surface. But,
remember, when the next round of soil is deposited on your clean surface, the
surface is no longer a disinfected surface and needs to be washed and rinsed
well as soon as possible... And, then retreated.
Facility managers need to direct their housekeeping/custodial personnel to wash
all surfaces,
using "soap and water", and add a follow-up step of rinsing with fresh cold water...
The facility manager needs to be unrelenting with a mandate for changing wash and rinse water frequently.
Most important, we need to keep reminding each other to wash our hands often—especially
after using toilet facilities, shaking hands, returning home from shopping, or before handling food....
And, the list goes on.
In schools,
airports, etc., restroom washing frequencies should be stepped up during
heightened risk of influenza outbreaks. Also, a program should be set up
so that before the end of a class, desk tops be sprayed with a simple detergent
washing solution and each student be given two or three new paper wiping towels
to thoroughly pass over the wetted desk top. When finished with the desk
top, the student should us the damp towels for wiping their hands prior to
throwing the towels away in the wastebasket. At airports, public waiting
areas, etc, tables and counters should be washed, rinsed, and dried with a clean
absorbent cloth many times throughout the day.
Healthy cleaning is not more difficult...
It just needs to be done correctly. Healthy cleaning does not even
require more labor... If cleaning is done properly, healthy results will be
achieved in less time. Our customers tell us that they can get
about double the work done when they do their work correctly using products that
work quickly and thoroughly.
Removing soil removes germs... If it's clean, it's healthy.
Thank you.
Please call our
Technical Service Department with any questions. Again, what you have read is
the humble opinion of veteran cleaning professionals using basic common sense.
If you have a question, please feel free to
contact me at
gabesr@gabrielfirst.com or call me at 800-873-2000
Gabe Zanche, Sr. - Co-Founder of Gabriel First Corp.
Copyright © 2009 Gabriel First Corp.
Click here to See the Gabriel Straight Talk List of Essays.