Most retail stores rely on wet-mopping to clean their floors. This may include using a double bucket system, one where one bucket is filled with cleaning solution and the other with rinse water, or alternatively a one bucket system where the bucket is used to store cleaning solution and the water is used over and over again. However, retail stores have long been concerned with the single bucket system used in floor cleaning may be spreading contamination throughout the floors.

A common question asked across the facilities management industry is; how can contaminated floors spread infections, and following this question is, our floors have been cleaned the same way with a mop and bucket, are there any alternatives that can limit the spread of cross-contaminated flooring?

A cross contamination issue has been verified in a recent study that found the floors in retail stores were frequently contaminated with pathogens and contact with objects on floors frequently resulted in the transfer of pathogens to hands.

The water in a traditional single bucket can quickly become dirty. Infrequent water changes can reduce the effectiveness of the mopping process causing contaminants to spread.

Studies have shown that double mopping systems can keep mop water cleaner and safer for longer. When using the double mopping system, the dirty mop should be returned to the rinse water and wringed out before placing it back into the cleaning solution. When the cleaning solution becomes visibly soiled, it’s time to change the water and the mop head.

Use of a two-bucket mopping protocol will provide significant immediate and long term benefits, including:

• Significantly cleaner floors, with no dingy appearance
• More consistent and reliable environmental control, including control of microorganisms, resulting in less risk to product quality
• More effective mopping for the time spent to clean the floors
• More effective cleaning and disinfectant solutions that are not depleted so quickly
• Cleaning solutions will be cleaner, longer, resulting in less solution used over time
• Longer life for mopping equipment

Traditional mopping consisting of the one bucket system have been proven to be ineffective and inefficient for large floor spaces. The double bucket mopping system has advantages such as having the ability to extend the floor cleaning time, the cost to replace the equipment is minimal (when compared to automatic floor cleaners), it has the ability to clean floor underneath ledges and furniture making them easy to manoeuvre around obstacles, and they require minimal training for cleaning staff.

The objective of Masterwize in the article is to provide facility managers and site managers with a rational basis when looking at floor cleaning alternatives that aid in reducing the spread of contaminants and keep facilities healthier.