Floor-care primer: Starting at the bottom

Throughout any healthcare facility, chances are some areas have newer flooring, while others might have surfaces that are 10 or 15 years old. This means the facilities team has to deal with a variety of substrates to clean and maintain.

An article in the June issue of Health Facilities Management examines the challenges and solutions to developing a reliable system to maintain all flooring within a healthcare facility that addresses multiple substrates and delivers superior results designed to maximize the lifespan of all surfaces in question.

The easiest way to achieve this, the article says, is for facilities professionals to group flooring into four categories - carpet, rubber, finished, and low- and no-maintenance – and create a location map that indicates where each is located, as well as condition of the flooring and traffic patterns in each area. This map will assist environmental services crews in instituting a comprehensive cleaning strategy, using the appropriate techniques and products for each of the four major categories.

The article examines cleaning considerations for each of these categories and also takes into account secondary issues, such as stains, repairs and more.  It also examines carpet fiber identification, which can better assist cleaning teams in better maintaining carpeted areas throughout the facility.

Read the article.