By Robert J. Posch
We are quickly approaching the much dreaded “Flu” season once again.  Normally, the “flu” targets citizens over 65. However, the new H1N1 virus, or Swine Flu primarily spreads among the high risk population indiscriminately targeting any age group.  This makes any building vulnerable to the Swine Flu, especially facilities with multi-tenant offices and public restrooms. 

Your first line of defense to defeating the spread of Swine Flu, and other disease, is effective on-site sanitation.  You want your restrooms, phones, door handles and all skin contact areas to be disinfected by trained people.  The President et al cleaner for washing but if the faucets are merely “cleaned” rather than hand disinfected you are only spreading germs (does your school disinfect?).  Then you must insure that your cleaning personnel are completely trained and are utilizing a hospital grade disinfectant (with proper kill claim for H1N1 influenza).

If you are directly involved in the oversight and compliance of your buildings green cleaning program, you should consider making sure your there is a committed true green agenda, which is maximizing the health of each green community – in this case, tenants, visitors and staff.

What You Don’t Want:

 Business as usual approach with no focus on new threats
 No serious effort made to disinfect high areas of bacteria concentration passed from each building occupants (as well as others, if open to the public)
 Over the counter cleaners with little to no disinfecting power in high touch areas such as bathrooms, cafeterias, etc.
 Old fashioned bleaches, etc. that are highly toxic and don’t have the Influenza A and/or Avian Flu claims.
 The old dirty bucket of mop water

Since cleaning is not a core competency but an allocation of resources, has your facility managers done what efficient businesses do – outsource this critical cleaning function to a reputable cleaning company? Reputable is the operative word; Companies who have heavily invested in upfront training for improving health and indoor air quality for every building occupant, their customers and visitors.

Issues important when considering the overall health of your building:

 Training Costs – Does your current cleaning program have a formal training and disinfection protocol for all personnel including OSHA compliance and Blood borne pathogen training?
 Are your cleaning personnel using hospital grade disinfectants designed to kill a broad spectrum of bacteria and viruses?
 Is there a process in place at your building occupants to address safety issues regarding the cleaning agents being used?  For example, are all of the cleaning products in the school properly labeled? Are there Material Data Safety sheets (MSDS) for every cleaning product in case of eye/skin contact, ingestion or other accident? How about an OSHA-approved plan for blood borne pathogen exposure?
 Are your cleaners using the most advanced technology? Back Pack vacuums for example which filter to .3 Microns providing cleaner, fresher air; or micro-fiber technology which literally eliminates cross contamination of harmful bacteria and viruses in your facility.

With professional cleaning, you’ll save money and improve the health of all building occupants.

What A Concerned Parent or Other Building Occupant would like to see

Green is defined by Presidential Executive Order 13101 as a “product that reduces the impact on health and the environment compared to similar products.”  We can take the analogy as to the processes used (trained versus “are they trained?”) in the proper mixture, utilization, etc. of these chemicals.

I would like to review with you the following touch points to reduce your exposure to Avian or Swine Flu, as well as have an integrated plan for you to consider.

RESTROOMS: These are high-contact areas and bacteria/virus havens, which are often improperly cleaned/disinfect.  A hospital grade disinfectant effective against antibiotic resistant bacteria and rated as a Staphylocidal-Pseudomonidal- Salmonellacidal-Virucidal is recommended.

                        To find out which products have been tested and approved for killing viruses, including the H1N1 “swine flu” model, check out the Environmental Protection Agency’s page on registered antimicrobial products.
 

OFFICES: A green cleaning program which minimizes harmful chemical usage by interchanging micro fiber cloths for complete dust removal while cleaning drier and greener.

 Try to have accessible – hand sanitizer stations beyond the bathroom as hand washing is an important defense against cold/flu.

 A vacuuming program that filters out 99.9% of harmful bacteria and viruses; and leaves fresh healthy air quality, reducing the risk of respiratory illness.

 Encourage anyone who may have cold or flu symptoms to work from home.

How A Good Commercial Cleaning Company Will Help Provide a Green, Healthy Environment

    A reputable commercial cleaning company with a commitment to promoting a healthy school environment.

1.      Knows Restrooms. They understand that a clean classroom begins with a clean restroom, so we clean and disinfect all counters, stall walls, fixtures, fittings, light switches or push plates, and floors with hospital-grade disinfectant. 

2. Knows Carpets. Carpets act like filter inside a building, trapping dirt and other contaminants that would otherwise be airborne – similar to the air filter in your car. You want multiple cleaning processes to keep carpets fresh and clean. This is an important factor in helping to prevent respiratory diseases (especially for little children who are a lot closer to the carpet!).  Regular thorough vacuuming of this nature has been shown to be even more essential than carpet cleaning when it comes to reducing the amount of pollutants in the area (and extending the life of the carpet as well). You should have carpet cleaning experts trained in the most effective methods of extracting the remaining dirt and contaminants from your carpets and area rugs.

3. Knows Green Cleaning. Your children are in an enclosed classroom/school much of the day.  Indoor air quality is essential. In addition to the benefit obtained by using the proper vacuuming you want to improve indoor air quality by avoiding toxic chemicals, and by using the greenest and most effective chemicals. (If the products aren’t effective, then ‘green’ is only a feel-good term.) The chemicals you want are approved by the EPA and the proper use of the chemicals is a must in a good training program for the professionals cleaning and sanitizing your school. Proper products and proper result in the use of less product and achieve better results. Fewer chemicals also mean a healthier environment for staff and children. 

4. Cleans Smarter. In the case of Jan-Pro franchise owners and their employees are trained in the use of color-coded micro fiber cloths to prevent cross contamination (you won’t see a pink microfiber cloth used to disinfect a toilet being used to clean a telephone receiver!). We clean, disinfect and sanitize all drinking fountains, dispensers, showers, etc. Out MSD sheets are available for review for each chemical used – and our professional staff can explain their use. 

5. Trains Better. The people acting as an essential firewall in school health should receive intensive training over five weeks, including training in OSHA Exposure Control Plan & Compliance, Blood Borne Pathogen Standard, Label and MSDS Compliance and Chemical Handling. The training Program should teach specific steps to disinfect surfaces outlined by the Center of Disease Control (CDC).  There is specific DWELL TIME for disinfectants. Even if you are using proper disinfectants you are negating their effective value to your students if you’re in -house people aren’t allowing the disinfectant to dwell for the proper amount of time.
Are We Doing Our Best to Protect Our Students, Teachers and Staff in a Cost-Effective Way?

As a parent ask yourself the last time your child’s school audited:
 Procedures for integrated sanitation to protect your child;
 Training of staff entrusted with sanitizing your child’s school;
 Full costing of your tax dollars to make sure funding a non-core competency makes financial, environmental and health/safety sense in the 21st Century.

The threat of a serious outbreak of swine flu and other health – related issues is a good time to get involved and see if your school has maximized its ability to protect your child at school in the most effective manner. Please give me a call if you’d like to discuss any of these issues further.

Robert J. Posch
Chief Operating Officer
Jan-Pro of Southern Colorado
(719) 264-1117
bob.posch@jan-pro.com

Tags: Green, Health, Health Issues, warnings

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 11:21 am and is filed under Health & Healing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.