CLEANING FOR HEALTH, NOT APPEARANCE
In previous articles I talked about how I feel the carpet cleaning standard has helped the entire carpet industry, from the carpet manufacturer to the consumer. It has helped the formulator of cleaning chemicals and manufacturers of cleaning equipment, to the person cleaning the carpet, and most importantly the consuming public. It has made all their jobs easier and has created healthier environments for all of us to work and live in.
In this message I want to share with you a little bit more history of the carpet cleaning industry and how the influence of carpet cleaning standards has impacted the health of our homes and offices.
Back in the early days of The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Upholstery Certification (IICUC), in the S001-(1991) Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Carpet Cleaning, a gentleman by the name of Dr. Michael Berry had coined the phrase “clean for health, not appearance.”
Much of that thought process was written in his book Protecting the Built Environment: Cleaning for Health. The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) published a handbook called: Carpet Maintenance Guidelines, For Commercial Applications. (for a free PDF copy, email me at Mark4floors.com) In this handbook an excerpt from Berry’s book reads as follows: “A clean environment is sanitary. When a sanitary condition exists, an adverse health effect is unlikely. Manufacturers’ recommendations for cleaning provide adequate guidelines, calling for frequent vacuuming and periodic professional restorative cleaning that emphasizes removal of foreign substances and minimizing residue. In the long run, these measures protect the carpet and promote environmental health.”
In the late 80’s I had a client who at the time was Northeast Ohio’s largest property management company. My company did carpet cleaning in their corporate offices, commercial office buildings, shopping malls, and apartment buildings. I remember a conversation I had with the facilities manager in their corporate offices where he told me how he had his housekeeping staff use a disinfectant cleaner to wipe off light switches, door knobs, and phone handsets one time per week. The staff started performing that task in November and ended in April. He said the human resources department was able to document a dramatic decrease in sickness and absenteeism among the staff all because he understood how cold germs were transferred by touch. Doing just this one inexpensive thing increased the company’s productivity. Cleaning for health, not appearance.
Back in the day I was a dyed in the wool, hot water extraction carpet cleaner. My mind said “you can’t use shampoo, it will leave a sticky residue”, because most shampoo did at the time. Shampoo could have been used IF the proper shampoo were used and IF it were performedproperly, meaning the carpet had to be vacuumed afterward to complete the soil removal step. Back then commercial upright vacuums did not pick up much dry soil and a cleaner needed to ask themselves “do I dust before or after I vacuum?” In that era, most times you had to dust after because of how much dust the vacuums spewed into the air. HEPA filter? What’s that? That technology had not made it into commercial vacuums yet.
My company bonnet cleaned thousands of yards of carpet with no issues whatsoever and could do it for a few pennies a foot and without ever having to hot water extraction clean it, which can cost many pennies per foot. Once we got a carpet on a maintenance program, there was no need to perform expensive hot water extraction cleaning again. That was how I could help my clients balance my cost to their budget.
The unfortunate thing which has happened since that time is carpet manufacturers have banned the use of the shampoo and bonnet method of cleaning and maintaining carpets, saying it will void a carpet’s warranty if used. I won’t argue their reasoning because they are the ones who have shelled out millions of dollars because the carpet was improperly cleaned and they took the blame. So now if I inspect a carpet with a soiling issue and find the carpet was not maintained according to the manufacturer’s guidelines, the claim is denied and warranty voided. That is why nearly all manufacturers want their carpets cleaned by an Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) Certified Technician and Certified Firm. These technicians and firms signed an agreement to: 1) follow the manufacturers’ cleaning recommendations and 2) follow the carpet cleaning industry standard, The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) S100 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Cleaning of Textile Floor Coverings. This is a manufacturer’s assurance knowing their carpet will be cleaned and maintained properly. By-the-way, this standard should be looked at as a sales tool. Tell (sell) your clients that you follow manufacturer and industry standards for cleaning their carpet. They want that assurance.
So what does sanitizing light switches and phone handsets have to do with carpet cleaning standards? More than meets the eye (pun intended). Who would have thought the simple act of using a disinfectant cleaner to wipe off light switches, door knobs, and phone handsets would kill unseen germs and cause a dramatic decrease in sickness, absenteeism, and improve productivity in an office environment. Cleaning for health, not appearance. What does vacuuming, pile brushing, and bonnet cleaning a dark colored carpet have to do with carpet cleaning standards? Cleaning forhealth, not appearance. Like most commercial carpets in northeast Ohio at that time, it was a dark color, you could not see the soil, but it was there. The amount of soil we could vacuum and pile brush out, and the brown/black soil that transferred to the bonnets proved it, which is cleaning for health, not appearance. You could not see the germs on those surfaces, but they were there. You could not see the soil in the dark carpet, but it was there.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The fundamentals of soil suspension and principles of cleaning carpet can be found in the carpet cleaning standard, which have created benchmarks for healthier environments for all of us to work and live in. Follow them and be the true professional your clients expect, and impress upon them the importance of cleaning for health, not appearance.