What to watch out for - rationell reinigen Gebäudedienste

Whether it’s an office building, a hospital or an assisted living facility – the mop is the trusted helper to contract cleaners in the healthcare sector. To them, textile hygiene usually means one thing: keeping mops clean – because that’s the key to a better cleaning result. So, what are the things to watch out for to keep mops performing at their best?Cleaning textiles are functional textiles – their purpose is to do a particular job. They must always be in good condition so that they can get the job done as well and for as long as possible. Here, the fibers used in the mop are crucial. They have to effectively and reliably capture dirt – over and over again. To ensure mops retain their cleaning capacity, they need to be washed regularly. There are tried and tested techniques for this (more on this in the ‘Check list: Laundering cleaning textiles’ on page 41) along with washing procedures and detergent dosages for every type of cleaning textile. These factors impact both the useful mop life and the cleaning result in a very important way. Professional mop laundry is a crucial aspect of commercial cleaning because it prevents both costly side-effects such as residual dirt and smear formation. It goes without saying that enhancing the longevity of cleaning textiles is an appealing proposition for cost-conscious service providers. Healthcare has special requirementsFor contract cleaners who work for hospitals, nursing homes, and care centers, laundering cleaning textiles is a must because there is no room for compromise when it comes to hygiene. Cleaning textiles must not only be clean, they must also be 100% hygienically safe. According to Professor Dr. Lutz Vossebein of the Textile and Clothing Technology Department at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, “hygiene is the aggregate outcome of all procedures and approaches that have the goal of avoiding disease and keeping people and the environment healthy.” The disinfectant washing process Disinfection is an important sanitary measure. Disinfectant washes are absolutely necessary for textiles used for cleaning because mop equipment is potentially an ideal carrier for spreading microorganisms. Disinfectant washing processes neutralize infectious agents, and the risk of spreading infectious agents is reduced to within acceptable limits if the cleaning equipment is used correctly. How do you safely and reliably disinfect cleaning textiles? By using a disinfectant washing process, which normally comprises a chemo-thermal washing procedure with a general purpose disinfectant detergent. A chemo-thermal washing procedure normally consumes much more water in a fixed, preset amount in relation to the load quantity – the liquor ratio – than a non-disinfectant washing procedure and maintains a defined temperature over a specific period, which is known as the temperature hold time. Precise dosing, no overloadingAs for all wash cycles, it is also important for disinfectant washing to ensure precise dosage of the agent used and especially to make sure the washing machine is not overloaded. Sanitation around the machine, also known as environment-specific hygiene, must be strictly ensured because many service providers handle the laundry in the same building from start to finish. If – as is usually the case – cleaning textiles are processed in a small room with a front-loading machine, clear, visible instructions are the best way to a high standard of hygiene. Four monitoring parametersWhen it comes to disinfecting laundry, Lutz Vossebein lists four essential monitoring parameters: “First, temperature and temperature hold time; second, detergent and disinfectant measurement; third, ‘active oxygen’ concentration; and fourth, the liquor ratio, which is the ratio of laundry to volume of water in the washing machine. Disinfectant procedures must be strictly followed according to the instructions.” Typical washing mistakesOne typical mistake when loading the washing machine is to overload it. Excess wash loads impair the cleaning outcome – the laundry simply does not come out clean – and disinfection efficacy – the laundry is not hygienically clean. In addition, you have the risk of residual chemicals in the textiles because they haven’t been rinsed out properly. A second mistake: using too much detergent. The result is that cleaning chemicals remain in the laundry and the machine. This in turn leads to organic incrustations as well as chemical damage to the fibers (more on this in the article entitled “Small mistake, big consequences” on page 43). Too much detergent also has a noticeably negative effect on efficiency. Third: using too little detergent. The laundry does not become completely clean with the added problem that inorganic incrustations (calcium deposits) build up in the machine and in the textiles. This leads to washing machine breakdowns and shortens the useful life of the cleaning textiles. “Getting the numbers right when dosing detergent, loading the machine, and setting the washing frequency is crucial in textile hygiene,” says Florian Brusdeylins, textile hygiene product manager at Munich-based Dr. Schnell Chemie. The things that are important for professional textile hygiene are taught at the company’s Alegria training center. The seminars and workshops also convey useful knowledge of the legislative requirements at the national and European levels, e.g. the Biological Substances Regulation (BioStoffVO) and the “Technical rules for biological agents in health care and in social welfare work (TRBA 250).” An app for manual dosingA detergent dosing app developed by Dr. Schnell Chemie also helps ensure correct detergent dosage. Detergent dosage plans can be created with just a few clicks on a desktop computer, tablet or even a smartphone. All the relevant parameters are entered – water hardness, washing machine capacity, laundry type, soiling, temperature, whether the wash cycle is for disinfection, and most important, the cleaning agent used. Based on this information, the app generates precise instructions for using a specific detergent along with possible additives in set amounts to achieve an optimal laundry result. Full-range suppliers such as Dr. Schnell Chemie offer a comprehensive service for the complete product system. “Service is fundamentally part of our business approach,” says Roland Freitag, Key Account Manager Health Care. This includes customized dosing plans, the necessary dosing technology and equipment, installing and maintaining it with a team of technicians, task-specific consulting (including problem-solving), and regular training seminars to ensure compliance with the latest legislative standards. RABC: Laundry quality assuredCertification of laundry processing based on the RABC system is increasingly becoming a standard requirement. RABC stands for Risk Analysis and Biocontamination Control. The RABC system is to laundry processing what the HACCP system is to the food sector – a quality management system for ensuring the microbiological quality of textiles during processing in laundry shops. The RABC system was first published as European Standard EN 14065:2002. In laundry processing, RABC stands for “recognizing risks, determining critical control points, conducting monitoring measures, and not losing sight of risks,” explains microbiology Professor Dr. Lutz Vossebein. Andreas Schneider | heike.holland@holzmann-medien.de

Professional mop laundry What to watch out for

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