Home › magazine › european reports › Tailor made solutions enable modern society to function
Tailor-made solutions enable modern society to function
13th of December 2022We all expect the public spaces in which we work, eat, socialise and travel to be both clean and safe. And such expectations are met thanks to the work of the companies and associations in the A.I.S.E. network, who supply tailor-made cleaning and hygiene solutions that safeguard the public against illness and infection. Its professional cleaning and hygiene sector manager Aisling O’Kane tells us more.
In the early months of the pandemic, the European Commission defined our industry as “essential” as A.I.S.E.‘s members ensured the ongoing availability of cleaning, hygiene and disinfectant products vital in the fight against Covid-19. The pandemic raised awareness with the general public that everyday hygienic practices are what have enabled us to move out of lockdown and circulate freely and safely again.
An enabling industry
But it is not just during a crisis that we rely on cleaning and disinfection. It is fundamental for so many industries that are part of our modern everyday lives. Think for example of our healthcare systems, our food and catering industries, the maintenance of public transport, industrial laundering, and maybe less obvious but so essential, maintenance of machines and metal surfaces.
Very often, cleanliness and hygiene are taken for granted until something goes wrong. However, this is not the case for the thousands of persons employed in any of these sectors, for whom hygiene protocols and cleaning routines are inherent to their work. Let’s see some examples.
The healthcare sector - securing the safety of patients and staff from infection
This part of the business includes the hygiene and disinfection of healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics, operating theatres, cleanrooms and elderly care homes, including the disinfection of surgical instruments and equipment. Cleaning and disinfection in public healthcare is rigorously legislated: eg, general cleaning products fall under the scope of the EU Detergent Regulation; products used to disinfect surfaces like the walls of the operating theatre must be authorised under the EU Biocidal Products Regulation; and products used to disinfect endoscopes must conform with the EU Medical Devices Regulation.
In addition, disinfectants and detergents must be labelled according to the Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation - which ensures the safety of patients and healthcare professionals.
The food & beverages industry - ensuring the safety of the food chain
Hygiene processes carried out on a farm, in a slaughterhouse or a food plant are vital to ensure the safety of the food chain - any weak link could have fatal consequences. For the public to eat and drink safely at home or in a restaurant, the industry applies specific protocols, cleaning agents and disinfectants from the floor of the farm to the factory.
This involves cleaning chemicals for the brewery pipes, bottle cleaning in the milk factory, a clean barn where the cows are milked, and sterile teat dips, sheep dips and milking equipment. Over 420 000 people die from food poisoning in European each year, deaths which are preventable through better hygiene.
The kitchen & catering sector – ensuring safe food preparation and delivery
Wherever food is prepared for large numbers of people, for example in canteens, school and nursing homes, a high standard of hygiene is essential. This sector includes detergents and other products for professional dishwashing, glassware cleaners, surface cleaners for food equipment, disinfectants for food preparation surfaces as well as employee hand hygiene. We need to know the canteens feeding our children and our elderly relatives are hygienically clean and safe.
Building care – maintaining public buildings
Building cleaning means maintenance and basic cleaning of building surfaces, floors, windows, furniture, sanitary facilities, etc, made of many different materials. All surfaces used by many people must be hygienically clean so that, for example, schools or airports do not become the nucleus of an epidemic. The variety of materials requires special expertise to ensure the longevity of investments.
Professional laundry – supplying clean hygienic linens and uniforms
Industrial laundries deal with large batches of hotel and restaurant linens, uniforms, workwear, medical gowns and surgical scrubs, which require specific detergents as well as wash parameters, to reach an optimal cleaning result. Industrial laundering is a sustainable way of supplying and servicing textiles with a professionally guaranteed level of hygiene. Products include industrial powder and liquid laundry detergents, additives, regulators for water hardness, disinfectants for hygiene for hospital and food industry linens and more.
Technical cleaning – maintaining machinery and protecting metal surfaces
The applications of products for the metal industry are varied: they range from the protection of car, rail and aircraft bodywork, to cleaning of spare parts, cleaning, degreasing and treatment of equipment and metal products. Care and cleaning are required not only in the manufacture of machines and vehicles, but also in their operation.
For more information visit: www.aise.eu. Or email: aisling.okane@aise.eu