Surface Cleaning Tied to Flu Prevention
In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. released new guidance that recommends actions that non-healthcare employers should take to decrease the spread of seasonal flu and 2009 H1N1 flu in the workplace and to help maintain business continuity during the 2009-2010 flu season.Among the CDC’s many recommendations include the regular cleaning of commonly touched surfaces. While the CDC does not recommend additional disinfection beyond routine cleaning, the agency does encourage employers to “frequently clean all commonly touched surfaces in the workplace, such as workstations, countertops, and doorknobs, [using] the cleaning agents usually used in these areas and follow[ing] the directions on the label.”
The healthcare industry has begun to study the role of careful attention to cleaning of environmental surfaces as a method for reducing the spread of infection. With the rapid and alarming spread of seasonal and H1N1 flu, other workplaces would be wise to heed the advice of the CDC and the experiences of the healthcare community.
Workplaces looking to step up their surface sanitation efforts should know, however, that not all surface sanitation materials and methods are equal.
Disinfection Systems
KIMBERLY-CLARK PROFESSIONAL* conducted a study to evaluate the effects of commonly used wiping substrates (using common industry systems of saturation and disinfection practices) on the amount of bleach being released to surfaces for the purpose of disinfection. The wiping materials studied were common cotton rags and disposable cellulose-based wipers used with an open-bucket system and disposable nonwoven wipers designed to be compatible with bleach used in a closed-bucket system.
The cotton rags and cellulose-based wipers were tested following a common hospital protocol in which the wipers are dipped into the open bucket to absorb disinfectant solution to be applied to a surface. The disposable nonwoven wipers were used in a closed-bucket system with 90 pre-saturated wipers extracted as needed for the purpose of surface sanitation. This system keeps the wipers clean in the container and pre-saturated with the preferred disinfectant for an extended period of use.
The study results showed that cotton rags and cellulose wipers in an open-bucket system rapidly depleted the active chloride ion present in bleach. However, the disposable nonwoven wiper used in the closed-bucket system kept it stable for a full 72-hour period.
In the study, the chloride ion release from the first cotton rag from the open bucket was 11 percent lower than the original bleach concentration. The chloride ion release from the first cellulose-based wiper was 13 percent lower than the original bleach disinfectant solution and dropped to 28 percent lower after 24 hours of use.
In contrast, the initial chloride ion release for the disposable nonwoven wipers was only three to five percent lower than the original bleach concentration even after 72 hours of use.
The significant decline in the release of bleach disinfectant when cotton rags and cellulose-based wipers were used in an open-bucket system implies that active disinfecting agents are not always applied to the surface in the ideal concentration to support optimum environmental disinfection.
Selecting the appropriate wiper and system is critical to optimum disinfectant application.
