Naturally, bathrooms are one of the most susceptible areas in your premises for cleanliness. With so many people coming and going, and the nature of their visits, it’s no surprise that dangerous pathogens and bacteria can quickly build up in washrooms. All it takes is a rushed hand wash or an absent-minded touch for bacteria to spread from toilet to sink, faucet to soap dispenser, and hand dryer to door handle.
Dirty washrooms have a range of detrimental effects, from spreading illness to harming mental health. This is particularly worrying for our children, with studies finding that 86% of schoolchildren have issues with cleanliness in their school toilets, while 89% report such areas being neglected with broken or missing fixtures. In response, many children (18%) try to hold on instead of going to the washroom, and 12% say they avoid eating or drinking because of the cleanliness situation in their washrooms.
This has a rippled effect on concentration and productivity, with uncomfortable and tired children tending to perform worse in class. As for adults, it would be too easy to say these effects are limited to the youngest in our society, and pretend that dirty washrooms don’t affect adult employees in a similar negative way. Then there are hospitality and food venues, in which a dirty bathroom could cause a flurry of complaints and ruin your customer’s experience. Therefore, it’s imperative to keep washrooms clean, regardless of the type of premises you have or the amount of foot traffic you’re expecting.
In our latest blog, we’ll explore how best to maintain hygiene in office and public washrooms. We’ll see how often you should clean your bathrooms, learn which areas need the most attention, and outline how Vanguard Cleaning can help with your washroom worries.
As a general rule, washrooms should be cleaned once a day at minimum. If experiencing heavy traffic, cleaning frequency should increase to twice or even three or four times a day. The British Toilet Association (BTA) recommends that toilets should be cleaned twice a day, including between peak periods such as mid-morning or after lunch breaks. Ultimately, finding the right cleaning schedule for your premises may require some trial and error, but the best way to monitor your washrooms and ensure any dirtiness doesn’t get out of hand is with regular inspections.
The more eagle-eyed among us might have noticed that many public bathrooms in the UK have schedules posted on doors and walls – not just for cleaning but also for inspections. In some of the UK’s largest chains, these are conducted as often as every hour, aimed at spotting any problems at the earliest moment and allowing on-duty cleaners to quickly tend to the area. This can be vital for keeping washrooms clean, preventing spillages and ensuring toilet rolls and other consumables are kept stocked up for guests.
Another way to determine the ideal cleaning frequency of washrooms is by considering the factors involved. The square footage of your washroom is one such factor, with larger areas requiring a more thorough sweep. Foot traffic is also important, with airports, train stations, and busy restaurants requiring more cleaning than smaller offices and cafes. Of course, budget and manpower should also be taken into account – if these are limited, so too are the resources you can allocate to cleaning.
Following these loose guidelines will serve as a good start to crafting a customised cleaning schedule for your washroom, from which it can gradually be refined further to your specific requirements.
Before you begin cleaning your washroom, there’s a few things to run through. Unless your premises will be closed, it’s best practice to clean only part of your washroom at a time, allowing people to access the other half if needed. Full closure of your washroom should only happen if it’s absolutely necessary, as this can prove disruptive. Additionally, be sure to open any windows beforehand to let the room air out once you start cleaning. Finally, use commercial cleaning products over home-brewed products as this will avoid possible contamination and unexpected chemical reactions.
With that being said, it’s best to begin cleaning with the least dirty area and work your way to the dirtiest ‘traffic’ areas. To avoid spreading harmful germs, use colour-coded mops and buckets for different parts of your washroom. One set should be dedicated to toilets, urinals, and toilet floors – the more high-risk areas. Another set should be used for common fixtures like sinks, door handles, dryers, and mirrors – which resemble the lower risk areas.
As for how and when to clean each part of your washroom, see the following list below:
On top of this, a thorough deep clean of your washroom should take place once every quarter at a minimum. During which, all parts of the bathroom need to be tended to, including ceilings, nooks and crannies, piping, and all areas of your fixtures and fittings. This should preferably happen outside of public operating hours.
In many cases, professional cleaners use similar if not the same types of products used for household cleaning. Unless your washroom is significantly different to a home bathroom, the chances are that standard commercial products will do a good enough job to keep your premises hygienic.
There are also a range of specialist cleaning products that target specific problems across washrooms. These include but are not limited to glass cleansers, tile cleaners, soap scum removers, and mould/mildew removers.
While businesses may be capable of cleaning their washrooms to a good standard, the sheer amount of work required can be challenging. In many cases, it will involve developing a unique cleaning framework and schedule, hiring in-house staff, training those staff to perform the job, sourcing your own equipment and supplies, and conducting audits to maintain standards. To relieve yourself from the headache, and gain peace of mind that your cleaning is fully taken care of, investing in a commercial cleaning company like Vanguard may be the answer.
Vanguard Cleaning are the UK’s hygiene experts, with over 22 years in the industry. Over that time, we’ve developed a comprehensive approach to washroom services, tailoring our schedule to the specific needs of your premises. As part of this, our cleaning framework is designed in line with infection control experts, and we conduct regular audits to ensure your needs are consistently met.
Most importantly, the British Toilet Association (BTA) recommend that those responsible for cleaning washrooms are trained to the level of competence outlined by the British Institute Of Cleaning Science (BICSc). At Vanguard, we are proud to offer this, with every single member of our cleaning team trained according to BICSc standards. Additionally, we update our staff with monthly ‘Toolbox Talks’ to ensure they receive the latest guidance in infection control and health & safety.
In addition to washroom services, we also offer a broad range of cleaning solutions:
For more information, feel free to reach out to our professional team for an entirely FREE, no obligation quote.
