Roger McFadden, vice president and senior scientist, Staples Facility Solutions

When your mission is caring for the sick, inevitably you’ll have unique cleaning needs.  For that reason, a traditional approach to green cleaning that works in other facilities may not be prudent in healthcare.  Every cleaning operation should be scrutinized closely and align with internal infection prevention practices.

 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are 1.7 million healthcare associated infections in American hospitals annually, resulting in 99,000 deaths.  Green cleaning can help healthcare facilities meet their sustainability objectives and play an important role as part of an effective infection prevention strategy to avoid nosocomial infections.  However, cleaning quality or performance cannot be sacrificed for environmental benefits.

 

Let's consider the cleaning operations at most healthcare facilities.  Cleaning supplies and solutions touch everything and are everywhere in workers’ and patients’ daily lives.  In healthcare facilities, there are hundreds of fixtures and surfaces that can harbor disease causing microorganisms that can be transmitted to healthcare workers, patients and visitors. Contaminated surfaces that are not properly cleaned and disinfected can transmit harmful pathogens.  In addition to harmful germs, healthcare professionals prefer to keep chemicals of concern out of their supply chain.

 

While healthcare facility maintenance managers must take into consideration the smells and visual aesthetics that are present when using cleaning solutions, it is also extremely important to consider the health of the cleaning professionals, employees and patients.  Integrating more sustainable cleaning products into hospitals’ operations is one of the most beneficial ways facility managers can protect employees, patients, and other building occupants by providing an environment free from harmful toxins, residues and irritating odors, while at the same time being a steward of the planet.  In addition, it is a great first step on the path to incorporating more sustainable practices in your overall organization.

 

Steps to Implementing a Green Cleaning Program

 

Healthcare organizations wishing to adopt sustainable cleaning practices can use these strategies as a starting point to become more eco-efficient:

 

1. Select cleaning products that perform well within your specific healthcare environment.  Make a list of what you need a product to do, so searching for a safer, sustainable product alternative can be narrowed based on the cleaning expectations and goals you have for your facilities.  To help in this process, create a list of surfaces to be cleaned and soils to be removed.  Gathering this information will aid in selecting a sustainable cleaning product that will meet your objectives and perform well for your specific environment.  Once a potential product is identified, users should conduct non-bias performance tests on surfaces and soils to determine the efficacy of the product.  Before making any changes, consult with infection prevention professionals.  It is essential to align cleaning and disinfecting products and activities with infection prevention requirements.

 

2. Keep cleaning processes as simple as possible to improve efficiencies in your healthcare facilities.  It will help to make a list of daily or regular cleaning activities that must be completed.  To identify the appropriate products or applications for a specific area or job, users can create a color-coded or numerical identification system.  Also, to simplify the knowledge transfer that must take place, managers can create wall charts for employees, displaying processes and instruct on how products should be used properly.  And whenever possible, provide hands-on training to cleaning and environmental services professionals.  Many healthcare facilities have discovered that converting to sustainable cleaning products and processes provides significant savings when they look at the total life-cycle cost of the product from creation to use and disposal.

 

3. Reduce costs associated with spills and messes by evaluating facility activities.  To help floor cleanliness, for instance, it will help to install adequate entrance matting to catch soils before they enter the building.  It is important to select materials that can be reused.  Avoid single-use materials whenever possible.  For example, there are excellent reusable cleaning tools designed for mopping, scrubbing, wiping and washing. Floor scrubbing, stripping and burnishing pads can be washed and reused.  Wet mops, when used properly can be used for extended periods.  Refillable cleaning product containers are better than single-use containers.

 

4. Eliminate cleaning product redundancy and products that serve the same purpose.  For instance, some healthcare facilities have discovered that one general purpose cleaner can effectively replace three or four products currently being used to clean in their facilities. Having duplicate cleaning products can confuse staff and complicate the training process.

 

5. Energy conservation also comes into play while utilizing green cleaning processes.  Cleaning processes should be conducted at ambient temperature.  You can select cold water instead of hot water when practical.  Remember to turn out the lights in areas when they are not occupied and cleaning is complete.  Additionally, purchasing decisions should incorporate data about what products and equipment use the least amount of energy.

 

As more healthcare facilities consider the switch to more sustainable cleaning products and equipment, there are more product options available at reasonable price points.  Companies and distributors who offer training on sustainable products can help to simplify the decision process and make a smoother transition to sustainable cleaning in your healthcare facilities.

 

Roger McFadden is a vice president and senior scientist at Staples Facility Solutions.   He has served as a consulting chemist and product engineer for several chemical manufacturing companies in both the U.S. and Canada.  Roger is a charter member of the Green Chemistry Commerce Council (GC3) and currently chairs a committee to advance Green Chemistry and the EPA Design for the Environment (DfE) Formulator Initiatives.