Principles Of Effective Cleaning And Disinfection

Everyone wants to ensure that the environment they live and work in is healthy and safe. And often, regular cleaning is more than enough to ensure this. However, following the pandemic, there has been a lot more attention drawn to effective disinfection or home sanitization rather than a simple deep clean. While cleaning involves the removal of dirt, dust, and debris, disinfection is more focused on eliminating harmful microorganisms that have the potential to cause illness. So let’s look at some effective strategies to clean and disinfect your home or office.

What Does Cleaning and Disinfecting Do?

Cleaning will always be the first step in any work or home sanitization project, as you need to make sure you remove most of the germs found on surfaces in your home. Regular soap or detergent is effective in removing these germs and greatly reduces the risk of infection. Not cleaning your surfaces before disinfecting can make it harder for the disinfectant to work, as impurities like dirt can make it more difficult for chemicals to get to and kill the germs.

Disinfecting can then kill viruses and bacteria that remain on your surfaces after the cleaning process. This can help in further lower the risk of spreading disease. However, for everyday cleaning, it isn’t entirely necessary to disinfect your home unless someone is sick or someone sick has visited recently. For an office, disinfection can be more applicable, as you can have lots of people enter the building carrying certain diseases unknowingly.

Principles of Cleaning

The first step is to identify how often you should clean surfaces in your home or office. High-touch surfaces, such as light switches, doorknobs, countertops, or desks, should be cleaned regularly. This is a must for the workplace, as you do not want to risk your workers getting sick.

Other surfaces can be cleaned when they are visibly dirty or as needed. You should clean them more if you have people more likely to get sick, such as young children, the elderly, or people with weaker immune systems.

How To Clean Surfaces

You should always clean surfaces with a product that is suitable. Usually, this is found on the product label.

For hard surfaces, such as counters, desks, floors, etc., you can use a simple concoction of soap and water or with cleaning products specifically used for that type of surface.

For soft surfaces like clothes, curtains, or carpets, you should launder them regularly, if possible, using warm water and then dry out the items completely. You can wash clothes that are potentially infected in the same cycle as your regular clothes; just make sure you wash your hands straight after dealing with any potentially infected surfaces. You should also vacuum surfaces, such as carpets of upholstered furniture, and dispose of the dirt safely.

For electronics, like phones, laptops, or keyboards, you should follow manufacturer instructions for cleaning.

Principles of Disinfecting

While most people assume that it is always useful to disinfect your home, it should only be done if required. The conditions for this include if someone is sick or if someone is immune-compromised.

How to Disinfect

For disinfection, you will need to use a disinfecting product or a strong bleach solution. You should take care to read the label of the disinfecting products, as you need to make sure you are following the correct instructions for use. Make sure that the product you are using can be used on the surface in question.

Here are some general guidelines on how to safely disinfect

• Always read and follow directions for use and safe disposal
• Wear the appropriate protective equipment, such as goggles or gloves, in case something splashes onto you.
• Leave the disinfectant long enough to actually do its job.
• Ensure good ventilation if you are using the products indoors
• Do not mix any of these products with another
• Immediately after disinfection, you should wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.

Consider A Professional Cleaning Company

There are a lot of steps in ensuring that your home or office is clean and sanitized. Embracing these principles and adhering to best practices will undoubtedly contribute to a cleaner and healthier world. However, while it can be empowering to get the job done yourself, there is a limit to how much we can do ourselves. In addition, certain areas require more specialized care, which is where companies specializing in disinfection can help. Whether home sanitization companies help you out with mattress disinfection or HVAC Maintenance companies help you with thorough HVAC Cleaning; it can be worth the cost for a much cleaner, healthier environment.