Maintaining safety and hygiene

Cleaning for safety

Correct and thorough cleaning is an essential part of floor maintenance to ensure your safety flooring is kept safe and clean throughout its life. Providing a clean and hygienic environment is one thing, but effective cleaning also has a vital role to play in ensuring your safety floor continues to perform to the expected standards.

The surface profile of a safety floor ensures that foot and floor connect even when surface contaminants are present. Kept clean, the surface aggregates are of sufficient size and number to break through the contaminants, thereby reducing the risk of a slip to one in a million.

If incorrect cleaning procedures are followed, a hazardous level of dirt and contaminant build-up can accumulate on the surface of the floor, potentially increasing the risk of a slip to as high as one in two.

Cleaning for hygiene

Our hygienic wall cladding, doorsets, ceilings, safety flooring and resin flooring are easy to clean, with an impermeable surface and no grouted joints that could trap bacteria. But, just because the cleaning is easy, it doesn't mean it shouldn't be frequent! As with all surfaces, regular cleaning is the best way to maintain hygiene.

A regular cleaning regime using the right equipment and cleaning solutions is vital to maintain hygiene levels required.

Cleaning for durability and longevity

Regular cleaning removes any potentially damaging substances from Altro hygienic wall cladding and Altro flooring, which then means they can perform effectively.

Altro products are often used in environments where high standards of cleanliness are very important, but hard to maintain due to constant use. So we designed our ranges to meet hygiene specifications while being as easy to clean as possible.

We’ve developed some top tips to help you establish your own cleaning regime, or to enable you to offer guidance to your customers, keeping their flooring as safe and attractive as the day you laid it.

We also have step-by-step guides to mechanical, manual and steam cleaning, available to download..

Consideration in healthcare, food preparation and transport

Altro products in healthcare, food preparation and transport

Healthcare environments

Healthcare environments have complex cleaning requirements: cleaning standards are high, budgets are tight, and most healthcare organisations are open 24-hours a day, seven days a week. Cleaning has to be done around staff and patients, and cleaners are under pressure to clean thoroughly but quickly. Hazardous spillages are common and the control of infection must be kept in mind at all times. Floors and walls need to survive aggressive cleaning and regular disinfecting.

We designed Altro flooring, hygienic wall cladding and doorset systems to withstand these tough cleaning regimes –and because they're resistant to damage and chemicals, they're ideal for healthcare environments.

Food preparation environments and HACCP compliance

In areas where food is prepared, hazards include microbiological contamination, which can be transmitted through poorly maintained fittings. To maintain good hygiene, it's important to clean regularly and mop spills immediately.

Worldwide HACCP regulations state that wall and floor surfaces in food preparation areas need to meet specific requirements for hygiene and ease of cleaning. Altro are the only manufacturer who offers a floor, wall, door and ceiling solution that is HACCP approved, which means they are food safe. With Altro, you can have a complete sealed system that meets the highest level of hygienic requirements, from floor to ceiling. Installing HACCP-approved products not only gives you peace of mind, it can also save time by helping keep inspections to a minimum.

Public transport

Trains and buses face a number of cleaning difficulties like stains from food, drink or bodily fluids; salt (from road gritting); grease and tar being trodden into the interiors; and stuck-on chewing gum. So it's important to clean frequently, and that complicated or difficult to reach areas are tackled head-on.

To make cleaning as easy as possible and improve hygiene, Altro safety flooring provides a robust, hardwearing surface that resists most stains, odours and chemicals. And, crucially for public transport, our safety flooring also has a very high resistance to impact, so there's little chance of damage that can trap dirt and bacteria.

Cleaning best practice

Cleaning up

Our floor and hygienic wall cladding systems are highly effective, and it's important to keep them that way through proper cleaning. The key elements of successful cleaning are:

• single out the soil
• use the right equipment
• choose the right detergent
• follow the manufacturer’s instructions, and give the detergent time to work
• use friction to loosen dirt
• rinse thoroughly to remove dirty water and cleaning agent

Cleaning is much easier and more effective if you identify the type of soil on the floor and choose the right equipment and detergent to get rid of it.

It’s also important to dilute detergent according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Not enough detergent means a less effective clean. Too much detergent can leave a film on the floor that reduces slip-resistance and attracts contaminants, encouraging bacteria growth. It is also a common cause of staining/discolouration and problems associated with chemical damage such as shrinkage.

Tips for successful maintenance of Altro hygienic wall cladding

1. Develop a regular cleaning programme that's suitable for the usage and traffic of the area.
2. Only use recommended cleaning liquids at the correct concentration, and don't mix cleaning chemicals together.
3. Remove scuff marks and heavy soiling more regularly than the maintenance programme, eg daily.
4. Never use abrasive pads or cleaners.
5. Hot water lances can cause damage – use with care and never closer than 60cm, or above maximum temperature recommendations.

Tips for successful maintenance of Altro PVC floors

1. Develop a regular cleaning programme that's suitable for the usage and traffic of the area.
2. Use the correct dosage of recommended cleaning chemicals, and don't mix cleaning liquids.
3. Always double check the suitability of cleaning agents for use on PVC floors, and don't use cleaner containing pine oil.
4. Remove scuff marks regularly (to remove any rubber heel marks by abrasion, use the correct machine pad, or rub by hand using scouring powder).
5. For areas that need renovating due to neglect or heavy soiling, contact Altro technical services to discuss.

Materials that stain PVC floors include:

• Asphalt and bitumen materials
• Cardboard/hardboard (wet)
• Transfer of some fire treatments and maintenance materials used on carpets
• Dyes from printed literature or packaging
• Rubber-backed carpets and rubber mats
• Rubber furniture rests and trolley wheels
• Shoe soles not made from non-staining materials
• Heat degradation
• Some chemicals used in cleaners e.g. pine oil
• Poster paints and powder paints

Please contact us for more information if you are concerned about any of the above. Check out our latest cleaning guides.