Here is what Dan wrote and how I would like to address it:
I'm Dan Hounsell, editor of Maintenance Solutions magazine. Today's topic is restroom maintenance. How can managers ensure the success of their departments’ efforts to properly maintain and clean restrooms? Even with the best cleaning program and periodic preventive maintenance, managers must be able to monitor performance and be ready to make changes. For example, a maintenance program might work fine until seasonal weather changes occur. If humidity levels and temperatures are high with little air circulation — in other words, if no doors or windows are open and no air conditioners are running — buildings can experience sudden, new mold growth. In closed spaces that occupants subsequently re-open, this new mold can cause medical problems resulting from the release of mycotoxins, which can lead to health problems that include skin irritation, serious reactions and even death. The situation also can result in more expenses for cleaning products and services, property damage, and even lawsuits to pay for remedial action. Restrooms can be particularly susceptible to such problems if leaks introduce excess moisture. The preventive solution to this unexpected situation is to test both air and surfaces to complement good cleaning and maintenance. Microbes are invisible to the naked eye, and even in the best-maintained facilities, they can grow quickly and become hazardous to health. The solution is to monitor hygiene using indoor-air-quality samplers for indoor air and swabs for surfaces. One such tester records the level of adenosine triphosphate, a molecule in all animal, bacterial, plant, mold, and yeast cells. Other services offer lab testing of samples collected on site. These services provide the independent backup to in-house checks, as well as the certification necessary to ensure in-house testing is thorough enough, and that restrooms meets the expectations of the owner, managers, and users.
Klaus Reichardt
Founder and CEO
Waterless Company
1050 Joshua WayVista, CA 92081Web: www.waterless.com
Cleaning professionals need to be able to prove that a surface not only looks clean but is also free of pathogens that can be a threat to human health. This is true in restrooms and all areas of a facility.
Because you mentioned it in your message, I thought it would be a good idea to further explore ATP.
I hope this isn’t getting too technical. We can say that ATP is present in all organic material and is the universal unit of energy in all living cells. When present, ATP releases white light, and the quantity of light generated is directly proportional to the amount of ATP present on a given surface.
By measuring the light generated by ATP and comparing it to the amount of ATP-generated light associated with certain microorganisms, a reasonable assumption can be made as to the number of microorganisms present on a specific surface.
A “high-glow” white light is considered a red flag that pathogens and other microorganisms that have the potential to negatively impact human health are present in high numbers. We cannot see these with the human eye, but they are there. So no matter how clean the surface looks, it could be covered with dangerous pathogens.
This is why the discovery of ATP and the development of technologies to detect it have become the foundation and enabler of hygienic cleaning. Some ATP monitoring systems are fast and provide test results in less than 15 seconds.
We find ATP monitoring systems now used in a wide variety of settings, from grocery stores and schools to hospitals and nursing homes—and now the professional cleaning industry.
ATP monitoring systems have also given the Cleaning Industry Research Institute (CIRI), independent laboratories, and housekeeping crews the opportunity to experiment with varyious cleaning products and methods in order to prove which are most effective.
For example, in one test, desktops with an ATP measurement level of approximately 4,000 were cleaned using microfiber cleaning cloths and properly diluted cleaning chemicals. Another set of desks was cleaned using a new technology: flat surface cleaning (FSC) system. Surfaces cleaned with the microfiber and cleaning chemical had an ATP reading of 271, while surfaces cleaned with the FSC system had an ATP reading of 9, a 99 percent reduction.
Angelo Poneris
Customer Service Supervisor
Valley Janitorial, Hamilton, OH