A disinfecting operation goes overboard protecting you from the flu
Posted In : Education, Humor
Wow! Here’s a gem on the internet about preventing the flu virus, aimed at H1N1, of course. The article comes from a cleaning company overseas where the swine flu is more prevalent than in the States (but that is changing quickly). Let’s take a closer look and see what is wrong with this web page. But first, click on the picture for a full size view and see how many of these crazy suggestions you can spot!
1. The title - “Prevent flu, maintain a clean environment!” - Somehow, the title suggests that by preventing the flu virus you can have a clean environment. There is a lot more to maintaining a clean environment then just preventing the flu like, oh, taking out the garbage. My Logic 101 meter strikes red on that supposition.
2. ”A disinfecting operation” in the byline. Disinfecting is not something that is done as a special project. It should be done each day, every day, by the inherent nature of cleaning. Sure, there can be extra steps taken in places, but to call it a separate operation is seriously misleading the customer.
3. ”Disinfecting through misting (ULV Cold Fogging)” - Where to begin with this one. The most common times fogging is used is for killing fleas or termites or spiders. Fogging is great for getting into areas that are not easily accessible (or covering EVERYTHING), but do you want to kill the flu virus by fogging? It just is not an effective use of your money to prevent the spread of disease by disinfecting cracks in your walls.
4. ”A mist blower that produces an optimum spray of the disinfecting chemical” - Disinfecting chemicals are designed to kill. In the US, the EPA regulates disinfectants as pesticides. Yes, we do want to kill (a generic term for alter or inactivate) the flu virus, but we don’t want to negatively affect the building occupants by unnecessarily spraying pesticides! Breathing in chemicals designed to kill IS BAD FOR YOU. Ask the person in the picture why he is wearing a full gown, chemical gloves, mask, goggles, and a hairnet. Do you really want to endanger your employees more from the solution than the problem? And I’m not even done with the first sentence yet.
5. ”with droplets diameters between 1 and 30 microns” - Not sure how big 30 microns is? 30 microns is of the size that it goes directly into your lungs because it is too small to be filtered out. 30 microns is roughly the size of the smallest human hair. In the top picture, the employee is spraying directly above sensitive computer equipment. Now this spray, which is evenly coating all surfaces, is coating electronic equipment and glass. After you pay this company loads of money for a “disinfecting operation” you can pay them even more money to clean the residue from the spray off all of your surfaces and equipment.
6. ”This will ensure a maximum coverage of the exposed surface area.” If you are worried about maximum coverage of exposed surface areas when you need a micron microscope to see 80%+ of the particles, you have too much time on your hands.
7. ”The chemical to be used will contain a unique formulation that provides efficient cleaning performance…” Cleaning involves the removal of unwanted matter. This is accomplished by friction, heat, rinsing, scrubbing, etc. Their process is putting chemicals on your surfaces and leaving a residue there. I do not understand what part of their process cleans. Unless they come and wipe down every square inch of your office there is a 100% chance that dirt and dust will land on the residue and be even harder to remove. This process is called polluting.
8. ”…effective disinfection properties…” Disinfecting requires a 10-minute dwell time to properly kill viruses. Mist that is too small to even see will not keep a surface damp for ten minutes. Or, they have to spray so much mist that all these too-small-to-see particles are now pooling and running down your walls and into your computer keyboards. Some sanitizers work very quickly, but even they require 30 seconds to work properly and there is no claim that this chemical is a sanitizer.
9. ”…and a persistent and scintillating fragrance to mask malodours will be used in this process.” If you have malodors in your office, you likely have bigger problems then just the flu (like mold, bacteria, HVAC in need of repair, etc). The ideal state called ‘clean’ does not have a fragrance. These scintillating and persistent odors are being inhaled unnecessarily by the building occupants and potentially causing them harm.
10. ”This chemical is formulated especially for regular cleaning and deodorizing of public areas, and is ideal for floors, walks and other hard surfaces…” The formula is designed for public areas - they are targeting offices - and floors/walks - when is the last time you were touching the floors in your building? And what about the pictures? They are spraying this chemical on electronic equipment, walls, glass, and some type of garments. Those are not walkways and public areas.
11. ”The testing efficacy of the quaternary active ingredient was made in accordance with…” Ummm. So testing the effectiveness of only one compound was something that was created using guidelines??? It sounds like they are trying to say they used third party guidelines to establish tests for their products. But it isn’t saying that. It also is not saying this chemical is certified or approved by any agency. And there are other chemicals (fragrances, for example) that may not have been tested because only the active ingredient is called out. Buyer beware.
12. ”…in accordance with the DLG (German Agricultural Society)…” and the DLG is who? According to their website (and Wikipedia), they test agricultural machinery and food and beverages (like wine). I don’t know that much about them, and could be wrong here, but they do not sound like a leading organization to certify disinfectants. I used their internal search box to see the results for words like ‘disinfectant’, ‘cleaning’, and ‘guidelines’ and came up empty regarding anything related to this website’s claims.
13. And the right hand gray side bar sums up everything you should know about paying money for this disinfecting operation. “Flu viruses and other germs can live for two hours or longer…surfaces are likely to be touched much more often then they can be disinfected or cleaned…it is important to wash your hands often.” Anyone who pays for this polluting process, knowing that most of the germs will die within two hours anyway, has got to be crazy, or just have a ton of money to spend. Every night all the viruses will die. What are you really paying this company to do?
Need a sensible flu prevention plan? Call Eat My Dust.