As we progress through the COVID-19 pandemic globally, businesses are obligated to protect their staff, customers, from infection and contamination.
If you’re an essential service or re-starting business, increased hygiene is now a new normal which is fundamental in order to limit and contain spread of infections and to permit activities to return to normal.
Richardson Sanitech has a range of disinfection services to help all business in New Brunswick, including retail, manufacturing, transport, education, hospitality, leisure and healthcare, to provide a safe environment so that normal operations can resume in a safe manner
What is the difference between cleaning, sterilization and disinfection?
Cleaning, disinfection and sterilization provide increasing levels of protection from pathogenic microorganisms that contaminate surfaces. Cleaning is essentially the removal of dirt either organic or inorganic material, from surfaces using water and detergents. The simple caveat is that it doesn’t kill microorganisms, but physically removes them from the surface, lowering their number and reducing the risk of infection. Thorough cleaning is essential before disinfection and sterilization as any material that’s on surfaces can reduce the effectiveness of the procedures and result in microorganisms being left on surfaces.
Disinfection is a process to eliminate all or most pathogenic microorganisms, usually using a solution of an active chemical certified to be effective against the target pathogens. Since different pathogens respond differently to different chemicals it is important for businesses and home owners to fully understand what chemical to use and how to use the disinfectant properly in order for it to work.
Sterilization is a process to destroy all microorganisms on a surface or in a fluid to prevent the transmission of pathogens, usually for medical purposes. This can be achieved via: heat or steam, or by using chemicals with a high level of germicidal activity, such as hydrogen peroxide or ethylene oxide.
It is important to remember that various factors can affect the efficacy of disinfection and sterilization, including:
effectiveness of the cleaning done beforehand
the amount of organic and inorganic material present
type and level of microbial contamination
concentration of and exposure time to the active chemical ingredient
physical nature of the object being treated, such as complex shapes and surfaces
presence of biofilms
temperature and pH of the disinfection process
Achieving effective disinfection requires suitable training of the operators to guarantee it’s done properly.
Preventative COVID-19 Disinfection Service
Preventative disinfection is a service disinfect high touch surfaces in buildings or vehicles where there are no suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. This service essentially provides assurance to your customers that those places are safe.
Richardson Sanitech offers disinfection fogging and disinfection of critical touch points. Richardson Sanitech disinfection specialists have specialized equipment to apply the appropriate chemicals effectively.
For every type of surface, they understand exactly what needs to be done to clean and disinfect them properly. And teams of technicians are used to provide the service as quickly as possible and return the facility to normal use.
ULV disinfection fogging
Fogging is a quick way to disinfect large areas and allow them to be returned to normal use.
A fogger machine is used to generate a cloud of very small droplets of a disinfectant liquid. The droplets reach all round the area and settle on top of, underneath and on the sides of many objects. The droplets can cover surfaces that are difficult to reach using conventional cleaning methods and can also be used on a wider range of surfaces that include textiles.
Touchpoint cleaning
Touch point cleaning is important for preventing the spread of infectious diseases that are spread by hand or air to surfaces and from surfaces to hands.
Poor hand hygiene is a significant cause of the spread of COVID-19 in places where people have many common touch points such as schools, care homes, offices, public transport, gyms and healthcare facilities.
The precautionary disinfection service targets key surfaces such as:
door handles
handrails
push plates
light switches
supermarket trolleys and baskets
remote controls
taps
desks
office equipment
keyboards
kitchen equipment and surfaces
The frequency of cleaning required will depend on the type of business or organisation, what the facility is used for, and the risk of viruses being present.