Why Restrooms Are the Most Important Room to Clean in Any Facility

The perception of a facility rests on the state of its restrooms. And the type of facility doesn’t matter. Schools, restaurants, office building, retail establishments, and health care establishments all need clean, safe restrooms or reputations will suffer. Study after study proves that dirty restrooms immediately turn guests off. People judge the competency and overall worth of an organization by the state of the restroom.

But it’s about more than just vibes. There’s a very important safety factor at play as well. Restrooms harbor a host of dangerous germs and pathogens. Without effective, complete cleaning these pathogens can infect guests who use the restroom. The germs will even travel from the restroom to infect people who didn’t need to go.

That is why a comprehensive restroom cleaning program is vital to public health and your reputation.

Types of Germs Found in Restrooms

There are a number of pathogens that happily live on restroom surfaces. The list includes:

• E. coli
• MRSA
• Enterococcus
• Norovirus
• Salmonella
• Influenza including Covid-19
• Shigella
• Hepatitis A
• C. diff
• Candida

Heavy foot traffic means lots of people bring these nasty viruses, bacteria, and yeasts into the restroom. Toilet plumes, the invisible spray of aerosols caused by flushing, spread germs further. The restroom’s warm, moist environment helps them thrive.

How Germs Travel

Constant cleaning and disinfecting would reduce the pathogen load, but what restroom is constantly serviced? So, the danger remains in place. Until someone comes in and touches a contaminated surface and transfers the germs to their hands. Or they walk out with pathogens on the bottom of their shoes.

In fact, more and more the floor is being recognized as a significant fomite (a fomite is any inanimate object that can hold and transfer germs, viruses, or fungus). Researchers, according to this article in Healthcare Facilities Today, have found that “pathogens rapidly accumulate on patient room floors, which are frequently neglected because they are not considered high-touch surfaces.”

That’s bad news for health care and every kind of facility. True, people don’t spend much time touching the floor. But we constantly touch things—bags, shoes, dropped objects—that were on the floor. We also walk on the floor, kicking pathogens up into the air and redistributing to people and surfaces.

A Restroom Cleaning Program That Protects the Entire Facility

This is why the restroom is the most important room to clean in any facility. Facility managers should keep this top of mind when designing their restroom cleaning programs. As said above, constant servicing is not an option. So, it’s vital to get the most out of your restroom time.

That’s where Kaivac can help. Our restroom cleaning solutions, like the No-Touch Cleaning® system, completely remove soils and pathogens from floors. Studies show that the tool removes 99.9% of targeted bacteria using water alone.

The No-Touch Cleaning system works quickly, three times faster than mops and rags. This leaves more time for workers to focus on removing pathogens from touchpoints like flushers, taps, door handles, and light switches. Restrooms will look, smell, and actually be clean and safe.

Read more about how Kaivac tools create cleaner, safer spaces throughout your facility.