Healthy Buildings and the Role of High Performance Commercial Cleaners

Joseph G. Allen and John D. Macomber both American academicians and public health experts who authored the book Healthy Buildings advocates greatly about the need for buildings to be healthy and hygienic. They promote the fact through their findings that healthy buildings in a significant contributor in improving the overall health of its occupants. They say that this in turn helps increase the productivity and morale of the occupants and help reduce stress and spread of infections internally.

The health of a building can directly affects three if not more aspects of the occupants of the building- physical health, social health and psychological well-being.

Physical health of occupants-

This is referred to as the physical well-being of an individual who stays in a particular building. This includes the proper and efficient functioning of the body and its organs and its ability to fight and prevent diseases.

Social well-being of occupants-

This is the feeling of acceptance or belongingness, sense of community and friendship that an occupant has with other people around him/her.

Psychological well-being-

This refers to as the positive connections and relationships with others, ability to strive and grow positively in a particular atmosphere and maintaining a well-balanced state of mind and overall development.

The role of commercial cleaning in ensuring well-being of building occupants:

While there is not much a commercial cleaning service provider can do to help with the social well-being of building occupants, they sure can do a lot to improve the physical and psychological well-being of individuals.

At QualGroup, we follow Healthy and Hygienic cleaning standards and aim to do this through –

  1. Improving the air quality of the building:

While cleaning, it is not of primary importance to use a lot of air-refreshers and other equipments that are sprayed into the air to give a false sense of fresh smell and cleanliness. As per the Building and Environment magazine air fresheners emit over 100 different chemicals, including volatile organic compounds that might be harmless to some people but cause long term and adverse effects to others like migraine headaches, asthma attacks, mucosal symptoms, infant illness, and breathing difficulties.

At QualGroup, through Healthy cleaning we try to eliminate the incessant use of air refresheners and rather use less harmless chemical agents to ensure cleaning is effective and harmless. Another way to improve this by ensuring regular supply of fresh air by improving the air circulation and ventilation and using proper air filters to filter out dust and other harmful elements from the air.

  1. Keep mould away:

Mould can also cause serious health issues to the building occupants. A neglected building can develop fungi infections called moulds due to excessive condensation through moist air and low temperatures. These moulds then release toxic elements into the air which when breathed causes adverse effects to the health of people in the building.

The mould clean-up process comprises of the following steps:

  • Isolate the contaminated area.
  • Suppress dust around the area.
  • Remove all wet and mould-damaged porous materials.
  • Place all wet and mouldy materials in plastic bags and discard them safely.
  • Clean the affected area and egress.
  • Clean all non-porous materials and wood surfaces.
  • Run a visibility test. All areas should be visibly free of mould contamination and debris.
  • Cleaned materials should be dried to allow leftover moisture to evaporate. To speed up the drying process we use fans, dehumidifiers or raise the indoor air temperature.
  • Finally, all materials that were moved should be replaced or repaired.

Other ways to avoid this is by ensuring proper ventilation and air circulation even during the cold months, keeping the rooms warm and dry and regularly cleaning the upholstery and shower curtains and other fabrics.

  1. Regular cleaning:

A neglected building will always lead to its disintegration and degeneration overtime. This will not only cause the building to suffer but also negatively affect the health of the people. Regular cleaning will help improve this to a great extent. A well reputed and High Performance Cleaning service provider will ensure that the cleaning is extensive, evidence-based and help to increase the health of the occupants. Some of the ways to ensure this is through –

  • Have a well-established plan on how to clean your building, how often and what methods are most effective for your building and its occupants.
  • Appropriate cleaning for relevant surfaces.
  • Using the right disinfectants for the right surfaces.
  • Regular vacuuming and removal of dust from surfaces.
  • Use cleaning and disinfecting products that are ARTG approved.
  • Cleaning and disinfecting all Highly Touched Points (HTPs) in a work area to ensure that infection does not spread easily.
  • Frequently washing and cleaning of fabrics used in the building like carpets, rugs, curtains and drapes.
  • Regularly cleaning the exterior of the building and also its windows and regularly cleaning out the filters.

If you require any assistance regarding the above commercial cleaning services in Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions, please contact us on admin@qualgroup.co.nz or call us on 0800 800 353.