Stuffy nose, runny nose, fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, muscle aches—sound familiar? We have all had the flu and experienced the discomfort of the common cold. With cold and flu season upon us employers need to ensure that the necessary precautions are taken to prevent the spread of these uncomfortable illnesses. Due to the average employee missing 7.7 days per year from sickness an estimated $225.8 billion is lost in our economy. With that being said you can certainly realize the importance of proper cold and flu prevention. So I wanted to take a moment to give some tips to help curb unplanned absences in your workplace or office.
Promote Healthy Hand Washing Habits
While somewhat of a cliché, encouraging proper hand washing habits is a very easy way to prevent an office outbreak. According to the CDC you should first wet your hands and apply soap and then later them with the soap; ensure you thoroughly cover your hands. Next you should scrub your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds. Rinse off the soap and dry your hands.
Have Hand Sanitizer Available
While hand sanitizer is not the first choice, it is useful in situations where running water is not available. It should be noted that hand sanitizer will not kill all types of germs. The CDC recommends applying the directed amount to your palms and then rubbing over all parts of your hands until dry.
Clean Commonly Touched Surfaces
These surfaces include computer mice, keyboards, desk phones, break room sink faucet handles, microwave door handles, refrigerator door handles, water fountain buttons, and vending machine buttons. If you think about how many of these surfaces you touch in a day it should not only help you remember to clean these surfaces, but also to wash your hands.
Encourage Employees to Maintain Healthy Fitness Levels
Part of maintaining overall health is certainly a healthy amount of exercise. Web MD cites aerobic exercise to aid the body in fighting off potential viruses. Consider starting a workplace exercise program and incent good physical health.
Use the Proper Cleaning Chemicals
Ensure you are using a disinfectant that has the ability to kill cold and flu viruses. Some examples would include quaternary ammonia, phenolic, or chlorine based cleaning products. It is also a good idea to have these products available to employees so they can keep their work stations clean and sanitary.
Some may seem so simple, but not enough businesses adhere to these best practices. I hope that you find these tips helpful and can use them to not only to reduce that $225.8 billion, but to create a happy and healthy work environment.
Can a Tomcat Floor Scrubber Make Your Life Easier?
/in Equipment, Rhiel TalkThe Tomcat Orbital Scrubber series of machines are quite possibly the most productive, efficient floor cleaning machines on the market today. Not only are they great everyday floor scrubbers, they offer the ability to strip your floors without using traditional strippers or harsh chemicals. Here are a few advantages you can realize from a Tomcat EDGE:
Square Corners – Gives you the ability to scrub directly into corners and along wall edges that are missed by traditional round pads. They don’t leave the round swirl marks left by round pads.
Durability – Tomcat Edge Machines are made of solid steel and stainless steel fasteners. The orbital motors operate at as much as 2 times the rpm of other machines. They provide more down pressure and strip floors faster.
Environmentally Friendly – depending on the model these machines can be used dry or with water only. That means no harsh chemicals are flushed down the drain. They use 70% less water than traditional scrubbers. Less water, no chemicals means safer for the environment. These are all LEEDS Certified.
Liability – Everyone knows how slippery floors are when using traditional strippers. No chemicals mean reduced slip & fall incidents, reduced injuries and claims, and lower liability costs.
Productivity – Operators can be trained in a matter of minutes. Traditional stripping methods require the experience of using rotary machines and chemical strippers. Tomcat EDGE machines can reduce the time by 75% or more and the floor are clean, prepped and ready for new finish immediately. No rinsing required since no chemicals are used. The finish is removed and vacuumed up immediately. No stripper or finish is splashed on the baseboards. This means less clean up and removal of stripper and finish from the walls.
Cost Savings – Time is money. With the EDGE Series machines from Tomcat, 1 person can do what used to take an entire cleaning crew. And do it in less time. This leaves time for your maintenance staff to perform more important functions.
How to Extend the Life of Your Automatic Floor Scrubber
/in Equipment, Rhiel TalkI have been selling, installing and training people in the proper usage of automatic floor scrubbers for 30 years. I’ve noticed a few basic areas in the maintenance of a scrubber that will extend its life and make you much happier with the equipment.
These steps at the end of each day should take no more than 15 minutes to perform but they will extend the life of your scrubber, make it more productive and keep it running smoother. You can also check out this auto scrubber infograph to see this information in more visually appealing way. Pairing great daily maintenance with a routine preventative maintenance program from a qualified professional is the best way to extend the life of your auto scrubber.
How to Throw a Great Pool Party [Infographic]
/in Pool & Spa, Rhiel TalkWith summer just beginning it is the perfect time to start planning that pool party you have been waiting all winter to have. After all what is the point of a swimming pool if doesn’t get used. Anyway, we put together an infograph to help spur your pool party planning. Enjoy and be sure to let us know of any cool party ideas you have used!
Do You Have Ice Melt Residue In Your Entryway?
/in Maintenance, Rhiel TalkIt’s just about that time of year; the snow will soon be melting and temperatures will begin to rise in the coming weeks. While I know the winter may still seem far from over now is the time to begin planning for your spring cleaning. Over the next several weeks I will be discussing various areas of facility maintenance that certainly need attention after a long winter. Today I will begin with entryway cleanup, specifically ice melt residue. I will discuss cleanup as it pertains to solid flooring and will address carpet cleanup in a later post.
Step 1: Sweep or vacuum up any debris that may have accumulated on the surface
Step 2: Mop surface with a chemical that can remove the residue
It is important to use a new mop head as buildup and grime that have accumulated in an old one will inhibit the effectiveness of your cleaning efforts. We recommend a microfiber mop head because it does a better job picking up dirt off the floor, but more importantly the dirt rinses out of them better than a cotton mop head. What we personally recommend for the chemical component is R-65. It is a soap film remover, but also does an excellent job at cleaning up ice melt. I am always curious as to how these products work so to answer this question we put in a call to the chemist responsible for R-65. He explained that it is the amount of chelating agents (also known as sequestering agents) that allows R-65 to work well on ice melt. It is these chelating agents that bond with minerals such as calcium, magnesium and sodium (common ice melt ingredients) and allow other ingredients in the product to clean surfaces easier. Without the chelating agents the calcium, magnesium and sodium would reduce the cleaning effectiveness of the product by bonding with the surfactants (a class of cleaning agent).
Step 3 (optional): Burnish your floor
Burnishing your floor can restore shine and gloss. While not all businesses need to have their floor look like this, some rely on that elegant look to increase appeal.
The Value of Clean
/in Maintenance, Rhiel TalkWorkplace absenteeism costs our country hundreds of billions of dollars annually. This number, however, does not need to be this high if proper cleaning and maintenance processes are exercised. The question remains, what can an investment in cleaning actually do for your organization? Our friends at ISSA have decided to tackle this important issue head on with their “Value of Clean” study. Take a look at the Value of Clean infographic to begin to get an idea of how an investment in clean can save your organization money.
© ISSA
Discover the Value of Clean Today!
5 Tips For A Healthier Workplace
/in Maintenance, Rhiel TalkStuffy nose, runny nose, fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, muscle aches—sound familiar? We have all had the flu and experienced the discomfort of the common cold. With cold and flu season upon us employers need to ensure that the necessary precautions are taken to prevent the spread of these uncomfortable illnesses. Due to the average employee missing 7.7 days per year from sickness an estimated $225.8 billion is lost in our economy. With that being said you can certainly realize the importance of proper cold and flu prevention. So I wanted to take a moment to give some tips to help curb unplanned absences in your workplace or office.
Promote Healthy Hand Washing Habits
While somewhat of a cliché, encouraging proper hand washing habits is a very easy way to prevent an office outbreak. According to the CDC you should first wet your hands and apply soap and then later them with the soap; ensure you thoroughly cover your hands. Next you should scrub your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds. Rinse off the soap and dry your hands.
Have Hand Sanitizer Available
While hand sanitizer is not the first choice, it is useful in situations where running water is not available. It should be noted that hand sanitizer will not kill all types of germs. The CDC recommends applying the directed amount to your palms and then rubbing over all parts of your hands until dry.
Clean Commonly Touched Surfaces
These surfaces include computer mice, keyboards, desk phones, break room sink faucet handles, microwave door handles, refrigerator door handles, water fountain buttons, and vending machine buttons. If you think about how many of these surfaces you touch in a day it should not only help you remember to clean these surfaces, but also to wash your hands.
Encourage Employees to Maintain Healthy Fitness Levels
Part of maintaining overall health is certainly a healthy amount of exercise. Web MD cites aerobic exercise to aid the body in fighting off potential viruses. Consider starting a workplace exercise program and incent good physical health.
Use the Proper Cleaning Chemicals
Ensure you are using a disinfectant that has the ability to kill cold and flu viruses. Some examples would include quaternary ammonia, phenolic, or chlorine based cleaning products. It is also a good idea to have these products available to employees so they can keep their work stations clean and sanitary.
Some may seem so simple, but not enough businesses adhere to these best practices. I hope that you find these tips helpful and can use them to not only to reduce that $225.8 billion, but to create a happy and healthy work environment.