Healthier Floorcare Equipment

Having worked for Kaiser Permanente Hospital for nearly 20 years, Richard Sanchez, a cleaning and maintenance manager at the hospital’s Santa Rosa, CA, facility, has learned firsthand the importance the hospital puts on appearance and the cleanliness of its medical facilities.

And Kaiser Permanente is always looking for new ways to improve worker productivity, clean their facilities more efficiently, and, even more important, perform cleaning tasks more effectively. To do this, the organization hires some of the top cleaning consultants in the industry to help them stay abreast of the latest in cleaning technologies.

Recently, the hospital has placed an even greater emphasis on Green cleaning.  Wherever possible, many of the medical facilities are transferring to environmentally preferable cleaning products, procedures, and equipment.

Learning Firsthand

Learning about healthier, more effective cleaning at the hospital has allowed Sanchez, who also owns a contract cleaning company, to adopt some of the same techniques and procedures that have proven so successful at Kaiser.

This definitely came in handy when one of the medical facilities Sanchez’s company cleans asked him to start using Greener products and equipment to clean their facility.

“One of the things they were most concerned about was the floors,” says Sanchez. “Medical facilities like their floors glistening, but this customer was concerned that maintaining a high-gloss shine might not be healthy for building occupants and the environment.”

To accommodate the client, Sanchez analyzed the floorcare chemicals used in the facility. Wherever possible, he selected Green-certified chemicals to replace the conventional floor care chemicals.

He also took a look at his floorcare equipment. Sanchez’s propane burnisher was nearly 15 years old. During operation of the machine, gas fumes were noticeable, and, because it did not have an internal vacuum system to collect dust and debris, impurities quickly became airborne and then circulated throughout the building.

This happens because when burnishing, a small layer of the finish’s surface is actually ground down. Although this helps restore the floor’s shine, it also causes potentially harmful dust to become airborne, possibly negatively affecting the health of the cleaning professional and marring indoor air quality.

Putting the Green in Floor Care

After examining the machines used at the hospital and getting advice from his jansan distributor, Sanchez decided it was time to upgrade his floorcare equipment. He selected the best—and healthiest—floor machines he could find. His choice: the Clean-Air 2000 Glazer™ manufactured by Tornado Industries.

His Tornado distributor told Sanchez that the high-speed electric Glazers are known industry-wide for their excellence in design, quality, operator comfort, and performance. “This machine has a 20-inch burnishing path, and the pad rotates at 2,000 rpm,” says Sanchez. “It’s perfect for hallways and medium to large rooms, and the Glazer is all steel—not plastic—so it is designed for years of use.”

And one of the machine’s most important “Green” features sits right on top of the machine—the Clean-Air 2000 Glazer  has a deck shroud to trap dust and debris so it does not become airborne. It also has easy-to-clean twin filters that collect the impurities.

“Going from my old burnisher to the Clean-Air 2000 Glazer is like going from night to day,” says Sanchez. “This machine is not only state of the art and easy—almost effortless—to use, it puts the Green in floorcare. Just like Kaiser, this machine helps my company make a contribution to healthier and more effective cleaning to help protect health and the environment.”