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[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Chapter 2 ]
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Dirt is More Than a Four Letter Word |
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CONTENTS |
| A |
Dirt, Dirt and More Dirt |
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- Harmful (living particles)
- Offensive (visible dust)
- Cleaning solutions
- Disinfectants & sanitizing solutions
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| B |
The Dirt Problem |
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- Amount of dirt
- Dirt particle sizes
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-A- |
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Dirt, Dirt, and More Dirt |
| 1) |
The housekeeping and maintenance departments in every commercial facility should use the best available products and pieces of cleaning equipment to do the best cleaning and sanitizing job possible in order to protect the health and well-being of all who use the facility. |
| 2) |
Dirt is made up of not only substances such as fluffs, soot, sand, grit, hair, grease etc., but it contains living particles such as micro-organisms, bacteria, viruses, molds, and fungi. It may also contain intestinal parasites and insects and/or their eggs. It is this living dirt (able to propagate) that contaminates foods, causes offensive odours, and causes illness.
This form of dirt is particularly dangerous because it is so small and cannot be seen with the naked eye, and it can be present on visibly clean surfaces. It is almost weightless and so is spread by the slightest air movements, drafts and by contact, directly and indirectly. This is the dirt of which one must become constantly aware when any cleaning job must be done. |
| 3) |
The cleaning product of choice in all facilities is a well formulated germicidal detergent which cleans and disinfects in one operation. One type contains synthetic phenols, detergents, emulsifiers and when used daily in the cleaning process throughout the home, hospital or institution, reduces the living and the inert dirts to negligible amounts.
Another type contains a powerful blend of quaternary ammonium compounds as the active germicidal agents, and along with selected detergents and cleaning agents performs well against most microorganisms. |
| 4) |
By following documented cleaning procedures and product label directions for preparing use-dilutions of the germicidal detergent, "dirt" can be controlled in the environment. | |
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| 1) |
If all the dust and soil that goes in the average cities air in one year fell at once it could bury us with up to 21 feet of dirt. Fortunately, it doesn't all fall at once or we would be talking about bulldozers instead of dust mops.
Any good battle field general advises that knowledge of the enemy is essential, and dirt is the enemy. It comes in many sizes, shapes, materials, weights and configurations. Simple categorization is impossible. Even yesterday's allies (like floor wax) become today's foes when you wish to remove them. |
| 2) |
First, lets talk about size. The standard measure in the subminiature world is a micron. A micron is 1/25,400 of an inch. Anything smaller than 10 microns is invisible to the naked eye. To give you another idea of how small a micron is, lets enlarge a micron to the size of a quarter -- a twenty five cent piece. If a quarter, in turn, were enlarged the same amount, it would cover the state of Indiana.
The chart below will give you some idea of various particle sizes. From a cleaning standpoint, most particles about 5 microns can be removed mechanically with dustmops or vacuum cleaners. Below this size it usually takes wet cleaning.
Particle size examples:
| Air Borne Particles |
Size |
Microns |
| Heavy Industrial Dust |
100 |
10,000 |
| Air borne ledge dust |
Any |
over 1.0 |
| Suspended Room Air |
Any |
under 1.0 |
| Light Mist |
7 |
20 |
| Fly Ash |
2 |
100 |
| Wood Smoke |
1.5 |
3 |
| Tobacco Smoke |
0.05 |
0.5 |
| Heating Oil Smoke |
0.02 |
0.8 |
Although a floor may look smooth, it is actually covered with microscopic cracks, crevices, and pockets. It looks like the moon's surface. Small particles of dirt may simply fall into these openings where they can successfully resist mechanical removal. Bacteria are smaller than 5 microns. This partially explains why so much wet cleaning is needed in hospitals. Dry cleaning techniques such as dust mopping simply will not remove bacteria. At best, dust mopping will remove some of the larger soil particles to which bacteria may be clinging. . | |
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| . | Cigarette smoke particles ( 1 micron and smaller) is another type of small dirt particle which generally requires wet cleaning to remove. Dusting will not remove them. They must be washed off. Staining from submicron sized particles is not a severe floor care problem because of soil hiding floor colours and high wet cleaning cycles. However, submicron particles are important sources of discolouration on other interior building surfaces such as walls and lights.
Particles above 10 microns in airborne soil amount to about 90% of the dirt by weight but conversely represent only about 10% of the total number of particles. Since it is these smaller particles which cause the most trouble (bacteria cause infection, cigarette smoke causes wall washing, etc.). It seems that an eloquent case is made for electrostatic air filtering which can remove the smaller particles. In floor care we are dealing mainly with the larger and easier-to-remove particles above the 5-10 micron size.
Complete removal of soil involves 3 basic steps: collection, packaging, and disposal. For instance, carpet dust is collected by the vacuum cleaner head. The soil is packaged in the vacuum cleaner bag. Final disposal occurs when the bag is empty or disposed of. Break down in any one of the three basic soil removal steps will cause incomplete cleaning.
If you think about the cleaning process in terms of soil removal, packaging and disposal, trouble shooting becomes much easier. For instance, is that floor film due to incomplete soil removal, or to soil redeposition because of poor packaging?
If the cause is incomplete removal, perhaps increasing the detergent concentration will be adequate to remove the soil.
If the problem is redeposition, maybe a different detergent, with increased soil dispersion qualities, is needed.
Cleanliness, in the popular sense of the word, is not necessarily the opposite of dirtiness, although, cleanliness is reputed to be the final purpose of housekeeping. Actually, house- keeping is done for one of two reasons. Some areas such as kitchens, rest rooms, and most hospital areas are cleaned for the sake of cleanliness. They must not only look clean, but they must actually be clean - free from soil and contamination. | |
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| . | Many other areas are maintained for the sake of appearance. If offices were cleaned with hospital-thoroughness, costs would sky rocket. (Someday, someone is going to set up a carefully controlled research project and prove hospital-type cleaning would pay in an office building due to decreased employee illnesses, improved morale, etc.). Sometimes
cleaning for the sake of appearance is foolishly referred to as polishing the dirt. On a purely realistic and logical basis, this ill-defined observation is partially true. Some floor care techniques do remove only a portion of the soil and spread the rest around so thinly as to be inoffensive. Spray buffing and damp mopping are examples. The cost to get that last
5% of dirt is exorbitant in terms of present documented needs.
There are a number of factors which make up the "clean look" in any building. Some of these factors are used as the basis for a number of popular inspection and quality control systems. The first factor is order. For instance, a cluttered floor not only detracts from the appearance of the area but also takes more time to clean. Because a thorough cleaning is impossible, soil will accumulate until removal becomes a major job.
Poor repair and finish, the second factor, not only detracts from the appearance of the floor but also slows down the cleaning process. A cracked, gouged, or rough tile floor will affect dust mopping time by increasing the drag on the tool.
The last factor is cleanliness--actual freedom from soil. The appearance of edges and corners have a dominant effect on overall floor appearance. We have often heard the advice, worry about the edges and corners; the centre of the floor will take care of itself. Very true!
Part of the "clean look" is definition and contrast the line where one surface meets another, such as the joint between the floor tile and the base board is the most important area. If the floor edge gradually darkens until it matches the black baseboard there is no definition. There is no contrast. The floor--the entire floor--looks dirty. Straight lines look clean; ragged lines look dirty.
If there is any such thing as a secret of good floor appearance, it is probably corners and baseboards. | |
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| -E- |
| The Causes of Soiling |
| . | One last thought on this subject of soil. The object of our profession is mostly about how to remove soil from floors and buildings in general. But the really profitable answers to many floor problems lie beyond simple soil removal methods. There is no soil removal problem if there is no soil.
Look beyond obvious solutions--like doormats--to soil prevention. Look to the other soil contributing systems within the building, such as ventilation. Look to the actual causes of the soil. Do school children really have to throw trash paper on every classroom floor? Maybe ashtrays in the restrooms will keep cigarettes off the floor.
Look beyond the obvious. Solve problems--not symptoms. The real problem of measles is not the red spots. They are the symptoms. Because black heel marks are not a problem--only a symptom, if so what is the best solution? | |
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