"Urine odors, dirty floors: handling restroom complaints", by Lisa Ridgley in Cleanlink, is a good introduction to the issue.
“A general odor rule, and it’s been this way for many years, is that a clean restroom doesn’t need odor control,” says Craig Kersemeier, president of K-Tech Kleening Systemsin Schofield, Wis. But first, odors need to be identified...
We're big on ultraviolet lights. A small battery powered one can be had for around ten dollars, and kept in one's kit or, if inspecting a route, in the glove compartment. Like OJ's famous bloody footprints, any bodily fluid will fluoresce in a dark room, under a "blacklight". Easy to thereby identify the overspray under the urinal, or on the partition. If you've seen it, you can clean it; once it's clean, it can be disinfected. Once upon a time, we equipped our inspectors and customer service reps with blacklights; a couple of years ago, we realized that it made good sense to equip each of our custodians with one as well. Checking - and correcting - one's own work makes a lot of sense, efficiency-wise.
The article discusses tile grout, and the necessity of regularly cleaning it; we include periodic ceramic scrubbing in our janitorial package for exactly that reason. Add keeping floor drains filled, so as to prevent sewer gas back-up, and you've solved most of your ongoing odor problems.
Finally, "While deodorizers and camouflaging scents may smell good to building occupants, they shouldn’t be used to cover up odors... I’d rather just have a clean, fresh-smelling bathroom that doesn’t have any odors,” says Cheyne Brokate, vice president of operations at Brokae Janitorial, Springfield, Missouri. My thoughts exactly.
On the other hand, a quite simple solution was devised years ago by a client located in a small, one restroom insurance office. The gals in the office posted a note on the wall above the toilet tank reading, "Stand closer - it's shorter than you think."
Comments