Improving Your Education Facility’s Cleaning Processes

Keeping a school clean is no easy task. No matter the size, education level, or building infrastructure, every education facility’s cleaning team faces challenges in keeping their school in tip-top shape. However, overcoming these hurdles is critical, as effective cleaning processes ensure the safety and wellbeing of a school’s staff and students.

In this article, we’ll explore the ways that advanced technology solutions can help improve your education facility’s cleaning processes. We’ll also discuss the benefits of incorporating them into your operations.

The Importance of School Sanitation

Establishing rigorous cleaning protocols for an educational institution is more than just maintaining an inviting, sanitary, and comfortable environment. It’s also fundamental for ensuring the safety, health, and wellbeing of the building’s occupants while at school.

Effective cleaning plans are essential to:

• Reduce Transmission of Disease: School environments can be hotspots for bacteria and viruses due to the high-volume traffic flows, shared facilities, and frequent physical contact. Regular and effective cleaning protocols can significantly reduce the spread of bacteria and pathogens such as the flu, common cold, and COVID-19.

• Improve Learning Environment: Maintaining a clean and well cared for school creates a more conducive learning environment. Good classroom hygiene supports better learning by minimizing distractions, reducing trash and unpleasant odors, and helps students and teachers feel more at ease in the classroom.

• Comply with Health and Safety Regulations: Schools have a legal and ethical responsibility to provide a safe and healthy environment for their students and staff. In many jurisdictions, they must comply with specific health and safety regulations. For this reason, stringent cleaning processes that are backed by validation are essential.

Challenges of Education Facility Cleaning

While every educational institution has their own set of unique cleaning challenges, there are some universal issues all maintenance teams likely encounter. 5 of these are detailed below.

Traffic Volume

One major challenge for maintenance teams is traffic volume. The high numbers of people, including students, staff, and visitors, moving through the school can make it difficult to keep spaces clean and sanitary at all times. 

This high footfall significantly contributes to the spread of dirt and pathogens, making it even more difficult to identify and remove contaminants.

Staffing Issues

Staffing issues pose significant challenges. Cleaning tasks are labor-intensive and often require specialized knowledge for effective disinfection. Staff shortages or undertrained staff can therefore impact the quality and consistency of your campus cleaning efforts.

Cleaning Product Safety

The use of safe and effective cleaning products is another concern for schools. Some products, while effective, may contain harmful chemicals that pose health risks to students and staff or even damage school property. 

Outdated Validation Methods

Many schools still rely on visual inspection or low-accuracy methods like ATP surface testing to validate cleaning. These methods do not provide a precise measure of cleanliness, leading to areas that are not adequately cleaned and disinfected.

Curious to learn more about advanced cleaning validation methods? Read our blog:  Cleaning Verification vs. Validation What is Cleaning Validation? What is Precision Cleaning?

Difficulty Identifying Contaminants

Traditional cleaning methods often overlook areas of high contamination due to lack of visibility. For instance, high-touch surfaces like door handles may harbor a high concentration of pathogens. Without trustworthy identification methods, these areas may not be cleaned as thoroughly as they should be.

How Technology Can Help You Overcome School Cleaning Challenges

Educators and students need safe, comfortable, and clean environments to do their best work. As school populations increase, and greater demand is being placed on professional cleaning services to manage pathogens and contaminants, innovative solutions are needed. 

Fortunately, technology has stepped up. Below are three ways technology is helping cleaning professionals rise to the challenge.

Surface Imaging Technology

Surface imaging technology allows cleaning teams to visually identify the presence of surface contaminants. It relies on a special type of camera that cleaning teams simply attach to a tablet device. 

To determine if a surface is clean or contaminated, a picture of the surface is taken and instantly uploaded to a software program. The software analyzes the image and creates an image that shows precisely where biological contaminants are present. 

By visually identifying biological material on a surface, cleaners can manage biohazard risks more effectively, and in less time. This real-time feedback helps janitorial teams identify and resolve contamination issues immediately, ensuring a safer environment for students and staff.

Cloud-Based Validation Software

Cloud technology is helping school maintenance teams monitor and track both their cleaning efforts and facility maintenancen more easily and efficiently. It’s also helping to reduce cleaning supply usage, decrease time spent cleaning, and identify what areas are in need of attention most. 

With cloud-based cleaning validation software, things like cleaning tasks, employee hours, and supply usages can be tracked in real-time. This helps facility managers easily demonstrate their crew’s cleaning efforts to auditors, meet compliance requirements, and eliminate the need for paper records.

Optisolve™ is enhancing cleaning processes for a school with over 750,000 sq.ft of surfaces! How do we do it? Read our case study to learn more Click Here

Janitorial Software

Advances in computing solutions means today’s janitorial software options are more sophisticated and able to integrate more easily into a school’s cleaning protocols. These software options not only allow for efficient scheduling and tracking of cleaning tasks, but also enable real-time reporting and analysis of cleaning processes. 

By harnessing the power of data, schools can ensure consistent, high-quality cleaning standards that contribute to a healthier and safer learning environment.

Enhance Your School’s Cleaning with Software From Optisolve™

Cleanliness in education facilities is essential for a school to run smoothly and for its students to get the most out of their education. At Optisolve^®, we have advanced technology and tools that help you ensure your school is clean, your team is efficient, and auditors are confident your processes meet health standards.

For more information on how to leverage technology for better cleaning strategies, contact our team.