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Differences Between Cleaners, Disinfectants And Sanitizers
Choosing The Right Chemical For The Job
Training On Proper Chemical Use
BY Becky Mollenkamp
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What Cleaners, Sanitizers, And Disinfectants Are Best For Your Facility in Horseheads, NY, 14845.
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The importance of training staff to understand the variations between cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing
As a facility cleaning manager, are you confident that your staff can walk into a janitorial closet to grab chemicals off the crowded shelves and actually know the differences between cleaners, sanitizers and disinfectants? If you hesitate in answering, you鈥檙e not alone.
Although these products are commonly used in cleaning departments, there are many misunderstandings about the chemical categories.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure all custodial staffs truly understand the difference,鈥� says Nancy Bock, senior vice president of meetings and education for the American Cleaning Institute (ACI). 鈥淭he terms clean, sanitize and disinfect are often inaccurately used, which is why training is essential.鈥�
Chemical confusion starts at the top, experts agree, with managers who either aren鈥檛 clear about the differences themselves, or who don鈥檛 clearly communicate proper usages to frontline workers.
鈥淭he tone is always set at the top,鈥� says industry consultant Graeme Marsh. 鈥淚f management sees cleaning as an extension of the corporate climate for health, they鈥檒l often know about chemistry. In a facility where cleaning is seen as an expense, then they might not care.鈥�
The Differences Explained
鈥淐leaners make lousy disinfectants, and disinfectants make lousy cleaners,鈥� Marsh says.
Regular cleaning agents (liquids, powders, sprays, or granules) simply remove dirt, dust, debris and odors from surfaces. Although this is an important first step in improving the health of an environment, it is not enough to stop the spread of disease. Cleaners are often used to improve appearances. They are not effective at killing bacteria or viruses.
鈥淣o matter how thorough, cleaning by itself is not enough to ensure that you won鈥檛 have any undesirable rogue microorganisms at the surface level,鈥� says Darrel Hicks, an infection prevention consultant in St. Louis and author of 鈥淚nfection Prevention for Dummies.鈥�
A sanitizer reduces (but doesn鈥檛 necessarily kill) bacteria, viruses and fungi on a surface to a level considered safe by public health codes. To qualify as a sanitizer, a chemical must reduce microorganisms by 99.9 percent within 30 seconds.
A disinfectant, on the other hand, kills nearly 100 percent of the disease-causing bacteria, viruses and fungi listed on its label. To meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines, a disinfectant must reduce the levels of these pathogens by 99.999 percent in 5 to 10 minutes.
The differences might seem small 鈥� just a few hundredths of a percent 鈥� but the results can be quite substantial.
鈥淥n any given day, there are 102,465 commercial flights in the world,鈥� says Hicks, drawing analogy to showcase the difference between sanitizers and disinfectants. 鈥淚f 99.9 percent of those flights arrived safely to their destination, then that means 1,025 airplanes would crash every day. At 99.999 percent, only 10 would crash every day.鈥�
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