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- School Cleaning Procedures And Policies
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The final part of this three-part article focuses on educating students, staff and cleaning crews.K-12 schools and universities interested in keeping their students healthy can start by outlining clear policies. First and foremost, it鈥檚 important to promote proper hygiene by everyone in the building.听鈥淓ducate everyone about how diseases are spread,鈥� says Bishop. 鈥淪tudents and staff who are feeling sick should be sent home. Hand washing and hand washing education needs to be prioritized as well as respiratory hygiene.鈥滵istributors and cleaning crews should make soap and towels or hand dryers available at every sink, and provide hand-sanitizing stations in high-touch areas where hand washing isn鈥檛 readily available. Signage with instructions should be displayed near sinks. Distributors can suggest installing kid-friendly dispensers to encourage participation from younger students.It鈥檚 also critical to create a thorough cleaning program that identifies the best products and procedures.听鈥淭hat procedure should clearly outline which surfaces need to be disinfected, what tools need to be used to perform these tasks, how the tools are maintained so they are cleaning, not polluting, devices, and how often that task needs to be performed,鈥� says Walker.听Experts agree schools should use dual-bucket cleaning systems that keep dirty and clean water separate, as well as microfiber mops and cloths. Custodial staffs should also have cleanup kits for dealing with bodily fluids, and receive proper education on dealing with such spills. If a school鈥檚 focus is on cleaning for health, green products are the safest choice, says Bishop.Every surface in the school should be cleaned regularly. Most important, however, are areas where cross-contamination is likely. That means any high-touch point that easily allows for germs and infections to be transferred from person to person.鈥淚t just takes one person not washing their hands properly,鈥� says Hicks. 鈥淭hey drink at the fountain or touch a doorknob and leave germs behind, and then another person comes along and picks it up and touches their eyes or nose and it鈥檚 easily introduced into their body.鈥漁bviously, restrooms are hot spots for contamination and should be cleaned with the greatest frequency. It鈥檚 important to not overlook small details, such as the toilet flush lever, the inside lock on stalls or push plates on exit doors.Also critical are all tabletops in the building, including those in the cafeteria, library and classrooms. Gerba鈥檚 studies have found these surfaces to be most likely to have a build-up of germs that can cause Norovirus, influenza, parainfluenza and MRSA.鈥淚nterestingly, school teachers have the germiest desks of all professions we have studied,鈥� says Gerba. 鈥淭he teacher鈥檚 desk seems to be the worst desk in the school.鈥漁ther troublesome hot spots in a school include doorknobs, pencil sharpeners, keyboards, water fountain buttons, telephones and switch plates.At most times, regular cleaning of all surfaces with general cleaning agents is enough, says Bishop. Things change, however, when an outbreak of any illness occurs.听鈥淒uring these times, schools should increase cleaning frequency and then additionally add sanitizing or disinfecting of high-touch point areas,鈥� he says. Notable exceptions include restrooms and food and health services areas, which should be disinfected regularly.Disinfectants are an important disease-fighting tool in the janitor鈥檚 arsenal. Schools should use EPA-registered quatinary-based products that include a Norovirus kill claim.听鈥淲e found in one study that the use of a quat-based disposable disinfecting wipe reduced school absenteeism by 50 percent during the school year,鈥� says Gerba.The key to disinfectants is to avoid overuse and to use them correctly. That means custodians must be well-trained on the proper dilution and dwell times of these products.Also, disinfectants should only be used after surfaces have first been cleaned. Relying on two-in-one products that claim to both clean and disinfect can be dangerous, says Hicks.鈥淚f we did a better job of cleaning surfaces with a general cleaner and a microfiber cloth, then whatever disinfectant you use after that has a much better chance of killing the pathogens as it should,鈥� he says. 鈥淭oo often we overload it with the soil on the surface and the disinfecting that鈥檚 trying to kill Norovirus is too busy fighting the soil to do the killing.鈥滷inally, perhaps the most important thing school administrators and distributors can do is to empower custodial staffs by frequently telling them the important role they play in keeping the school community healthy. Remind them that cleaning is not just about appearance; it is about health.鈥淭hat鈥檚 where we need to go in this world,鈥� says Hicks. 鈥淕ive people the right products to use, the right training and education, and the right amount of time to do their tasks. Then we will get healthy surfaces, rather than just clean-appearing surfaces.鈥澨�Becky Mollenkamp is a freelance writer based in St. Louis.
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