Disaster Leads to Cleaner and Healthier Buildings

Each year when the purchasing department of a major eastern university set out to buy vacuum cleaners, they selected conventional machines with limited air-filtration capabilities instead of HEPA vacuums.

Why? The answer is simple: cost. Many of the higher-quality HEPA vacuum systems cost more than conventional machines.

But all that changed—dramatically—after September 11, 2001. Buildings near the former World Trade Center were having a difficult time collecting and removing all the dust that had accumulated in their facilities after the tragic incident. They soon discovered that one of the best ways to rid the buildings of dust was through the use of HEPA vacuum cleaners.

Now cost was no longer an issue. Instead, purchasing HEPA vacuum cleaners was a health concern.

Machine Selection

However, choosing a HEPA vacuum cleaner proved more difficult than anticipated. Because of this, the university’s administrators decided to make a list of the features and factors they wanted in a HEPA machine. Some of these included:

• Select a true-HEPA vacuum cleaner. True-HEPA means the entire casing of the machine and all connections are sealed so that contaminants stay within the machine.

• Avoid vacuum cleaners that have air-filtration systems that are listed as “HEPA-like” or “as good as HEPA.” Only a true-HEPA machine with a HEPA filter traps virtually 100 percent of airborne particulates down to three microns in size.

• Look for vacuum cleaners that have a multistage vacuum system—a series of filters such as a micro filter, a cloth or specially designed filter bag, a motor intake filter, and a final exhaust HEPA filter.
  
• Select machine with advanced filter bags that are more effective than the traditional paper bags found in many vacuum cleaners.  The filter bag plays a significant role in protecting indoor air quality.

• And finally, avoid the “bells and whistles” of some machines and instead look for the essentials: quality, durability, and dependability. Lots of extras often just make the vacuum cost more, are not utilized, and increase the likelihood the machine will break down.

Bottom line: The university wanted a machine that could do all the cleaning essentials thoroughly, effectively, dependably, and healthfully. The machine they found that meets their needs: the new CK 14/1 HEPA-filtered vacuum cleaner from Tornado®.

The CK 14/1 is not only a true-HEPA machine but is perfect the university’s commercial cleaning needs, including carpeted spaces such as common areas and classrooms.  This flexible and durable machine provides a 14 inch cleaning path, and 80 cfm (airflow in cubic feet per minute) for powerful pick-up. 

Additionally, the CK 14/1 is part of Tornado’s Essentials Suite. This line of cleaning equipment contains machines that are of high quality, effective, durable, and affordable, delivering maximum productivity and value—exactly the types of cleaning products the school was looking for.

According to one of the school's facility managers, after 9/11 lots of facility managers began incorporating changes in the ways their buildings are operated, managed, and cleaned. Foremost in their minds: making their school safer, cleaner, and—with the CK 14/1—healthier as well.