Originally published & reprinted with permission from CleanLink Online
September is the perfect month for cleaning professionals and building managers to review cleaning procedures and begin making cleaning and maintenance plans for the coming fall and winter.
To help building users stay well - and stay green - this fall, Charlotte Products/Enviro-Solutions offers the following eight tips for making this seasonal transition as complete and easy as possible.
1. Floors in focus: Floors take a beating during adverse weather conditions. Scrub entry floors to remove soils and then recoat to give the floor added protection. Cleaning along with burnishing cycles may need to be increased.
2. Off the carpet: Many facilities delay cleaning carpets before and during the winter months. This can be a mistake as the carpets can become saturated with contaminants and impact indoor environmental quality. Thoroughly cleaning carpets before winter can help keep them clean throughout the cold winter months.
3. Break the restroom routine: Cleaning professionals often develop cleaning habits — especially in restrooms — cleaning counters and fixtures in the same way, etc. Seasonal transitions call for taking a fresh look at restroom cleaning procedures and adopting some new technologies, products and methods where appropriate.
4. Install mats: Install 15 feet of matting inside each entrance to capture ice melt, salt and sand before it is tracked throughout the facility.
5. Repair any floor defects: Soils and ice melt can become trapped in chips, cracks, crevices, etc.
6. Know product specifications: Some floor care chemicals, as an example, are best applied at certain temperature ranges.
7. HEPA savings time: An easy way to remember when to clean or change HEPA filters is by changing them when Daylight Savings Time begins and ends; this year it ends on November 3.
8. Green proof: A new season can also be the start of a new cleaning strategy. Many facilities transfer from conventional to green cleaning programs when seasons change and the winter months can be a perfect time to transition to proven green cleaning chemicals.