ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Cleaning industry professionals would rather clean up bodily fluids than tackle stains and odours  in public washrooms, according to a new survey.

Most of them - 67 per cent - rank this task as the most difficult cleaning and disinfecting job in public washrooms. The online survey of 375 industry professionals was carried out in the USA by Clorox Professional Products in partnership with trade association ISSA.

Sixty-one per cent of respondents also said that if all washrooms were self-cleaning they would love never to clean and disinfect urinals and toilets again. And they even ranked cleaning up bodily fluids such as blood and vomit as more tolerable (43 per cent) than removing urine stains and odours (56 per cent).

The vast majority of participants in the research - 95 per cent - believe washroom cleaning has an impact on overall public health by helping to prevent the spread of disease. However this understanding may not trickle down to all employees, as only half of respondents (49 per cent) believe their staff is aware of all the risk associated with the spread of germs in the washroom.

Most also believe that washroom handles harbour the most dangerous germs and bacteria: particularly door handles (65 per cent), taps (38 per cent) and toilet or urinal handles (36 per cent). But secondary research does not  back this up, suggesting in fact handles pose the least risk for germs. The feminine hygiene unit had one of the highest concentrations of bacteria.

www.issa.com