Training can Help Prevent Cross-Contamination

Using a microfiber cloth compared to a cotton cloth doesn’t mean that all of the bacteria and soil will be removed from a surface. While they are much more effective then cotton cloths as I have explained in “Reasons to Change to Microfiber Mops“. You still cant use them for an entire facility without changing them like any other cloth.

If The cloths are not changed then you could potentially be trying to clean with a dirty cloth. Which is not only ineffective at picking up soil and bacteria, but can actually spread it from one area of a facility to another. A good example of this is if you clean a bathroom with a dirty cloth, and then proceed to clean a preparation table within the same restaurant you will be bringing the excess soil and bacteria from the bathroom and leaving it on the prep table.

This shows the importance of getting your custodians the proper training for the use of cleaning cloths. As Guspiel says “We want them to know that they play a role in reducing infections, and that’s a big deal to the hospital as a whole.” Even though Guspiel works for a hospital these principles can be applied to all types of facilities not just hospitals.

The first step of training is to know how to get the most cleaning out of your cloths, which can be down by folding the cloth in half and in half again to acquire 8  sides of fresh, uncontaminated cleaning. A cloth can than be used to clean a full room before it should be discarded into the soiled bucket and a new cloth be used in the next room.

Another helpful tip is color coding your microfiber cloths to help with the prevention of using cloths that are prepared for any specific area of a facility with any other sections of the facility. This could be as simple as using a yellow Cloth  within your bathrooms, a blue cloth  in your cafeteria areas and in your offices using a green cloth. This will not only help in preventing the spread of bacteria and soil from these different areas, but also to prevent the use of the wrong chemical in each of your different departments within your facility.

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