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Keep Your Workforce Safe from Heat Stress
There are many professions that involve intense physical exertion on a daily basis. Most organizations where this type of work is required take safety precautions such as providing breaks, back braces and similar protective gear to avoid pcooling apparel...
Hand Hygiene: Are You Part of the Solution or the Problem?
The vast majority of the germs and/or bacteria that we collect each day is transferred through our hands. As we go about our day we use our hands to type, write, pick up phones, handle computer accessories, open doors, etc. Commonly we are either spreading these illness-causing microbes to commonly touched items, or we are picking them up from other people who have touched the surface prior to us. Now that our hands are loaded with potential viruses and infections, we then use them to scratch an itchy nose, put food into our mouths or shake a friend’s hand. We are all potential spreaders of illness. Luckily there’s a fairly simple solution to this problem: proper hand hygiene practices.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines for hand washing...
The Most Important Thing You're Probably Not Doing Enough
Keeping a building or house clean and healthy takes a lot of work. We spend hours mopping tile floors, scrubbing sinks, tubs and toilets, deodorizing and disinfecting rooms from the ground up. Al...
The Difference between Sanitizing and Disinfecting, and When to Use Each
What we often consider to be "clean" is NOT a natural state. In order to maintain clean and healthy facilities, there must be a concerted effort to continually remove soils, bacteria and germs from all hard, non-porous surfaces. The reason we do this is two-fold: to improve the appearance of a facility and to remove harmful materials that are likely to cause illness. The term "clean" is generally used for the removal of visible dirt and dust from a surface. When it comes to removing potentially harmful materials there are two standards as recognized by the EPA: Sanitizing and Disinfecting. Although both methods involve improving the impact an area has on the health of the people in the space, there is a significant difference in the products and methods used for each operation.
To sanitize a surface means to greatly reduce or kill the existing bacteria on a surface in a relatively short period. This is most often practiced in food-prep settings where the presence of contaminants are relatively low, and where the use of disinfectants would be harmful to people. For instance, establishments that serve food are required by law to sanitize their plates, utensils, glasses, etc. The prescribed standard for sanitizing is to remove 99.9% of the bacteria on an object or surface that will come into contact with living beings. It is important to note that this does not account for the elimination of viruses or fungus. These products are often in ready-to-use form, and include products like Betco’s Sanibet and NCL’s Spritz.
Disinfection involves the use of a stronger solution designed to completely eliminate all bacteria, viruses and fungus from frequently touched surfaces and places where pathogens are likely to exist. The most obvious example is the use of disinfectants in hospitals and other health care facilities where bodily fluids are present. Please note that cleaning common soils is not a function of disinfection, which means that surfaces must be thoroughly cleaned before a disinfectant is effective. This is why disinfectant cleaners such as