·         Three ways to clean carpet:  hot water extract, dry extraction, and dry foam.

·         To help insure a long term appearance retention and comply with the manufacturer’s cleaning recommendations, you should have a preventative maintenance program in effect.  Dirt is everywhere, yet much can be done to keep it out of a building.  Keeping dirt out is considerable easier and less expensive than removing it after it has been ground into floor coverings.

·         Factors to consider when planning a preventative maintenance program:

§         Outside maintenance helps minimize the immediate sources of dirt around the perimeter of a building.  The cleaner you keep sidewalks, parking lots and garages, the less dirt will be tracked inside.

§         Soiling barriers such as walk-off mats, grates and removable elevator carpets help collect abrasive dirt before it can be tracked throughout the building.  Soil barriers should be of a high quality and large enough to allow for at least two or three steps across.  It is essential that these barriers are vacuumed daily.

§         Chair pads under desk chairs prevent casters from grinding in dirt over and over again.

§         Restricted areas for eating, drinking and smoking help keep some difficult kinds of soil confined to specific areas.  Providing employees with covers for drinks is also helpful.

§         HVAC maintenance should include replacing or cleaning filters on air handling equipment on a regular basis, in order to remove as many airborne particles as possible before they are circulated again and again.

§         Identify your light, medium, and heavy soiling patterns and traffic patterns.  These will indicate where to concentrate your efforts on vacuuming.  This will also show where to place walk off mats.

§         Create a diagram of your floors in order to set up a modular carpet rotation program.

·         The need for a planned carpet maintenance program is often overlooked because carpet hides soil.  Hard surface floors reflect soil, so the need for a hard surface maintenance is instantly obvious.

·         A consistent well planned maintenance program can extend the life of your carpet by removing abrasive dirt before it can build up and cause damage.  The result is that the life cycle cost of the carpet is minimized and the carpet retains most of its original appearance over time.

·         Vacuuming is the primary means of managing soil.  Schedule vacuuming according to your traffic pattern diagram.

§         Heavy traffic areas (entrances)—vacuum daily with a duel motor vacuum (no back pack) on a regular basis and sometimes more often

§         Moderate traffic areas (hallways)—vacuum daily

§         Light traffic areas (offices or conference rooms)—vacuum regularly as needed weekly or monthly

·         The Rotary Spin Bonnet is not recommended for carpet cleaning because:

§         Soil is not removed only spread around

§         Utilizes harsh petroleum-based chemicals

§         Rotary shampoo method uses very stiff brushes

§         No deep cleaning occurs

§         Most manufacturers do not advocate these systems as a primary cleaning system

Hard Floor Maintenance         by Darrell Hughes of DuPont Flooring Systems

·         Segments of a floor from the top down

§         floor coating

§         floor covering

§         sub floor

·         The different categories of hard floor coverings are

§         Concrete

§         Stone

§         Clay/Masonry

§         Wood

§         Ceramic

§         Resilient

§         Specialty

·         Floor coverings as a group will have some of the same characteristics and as such be viewed in a similar fashion.  This does not mean they should be treated exactly the same.

·         Regardless of the type of floor that is in a facility it will be subject to the effects of erosion. Small particles of sand, and grit will work there way into even the most protected areas. Add to that water and foot traffic and you will have continual microscopic scraping away of the floor surface.

·         The dull appearance of a floor is caused by tiny scratches in the surface that do not reflect light. A smooth surface will appear shiny because of this reflection. Darker surfaces tend to show the effects of erosion much more quickly.

·         Regular maintenance removes dry and wet slip hazards

·         Topical treatments or chemical coatings increase the slip co-efficient of the floor covering

·         Primary methods of hard floor maintenance

§         Reactionary—reacting to the condition of the floor or a situation

§         Preventative—planned and scheduled maintenance

·         Life cycle of hard floor maintenance

§         Initial maintenance

§         Daily/routine maintenance

§         Periodic maintenance

§         Salvage/Restorative maintenance

·         Hard floor maintenance procedures

§         Dry service procedures—dry soil removal

·         Matting program—walk off mat or runners (vacuum regularly)

·         Sweeping

·         Dust Mopping—most common

·         Vacuuming

§         Wet Mopping Procedures

·         Spot mopping

·         Damp mopping—wring out mop so it has a minimal amount of solution left in it

·         Wet mopping—most common for removal of heavily soiled areas

·         Wet mopping with rinse—the rinse is with clear clean water

·         Aggressive—for removal of stubborn soils that may be lightly embedded in the coating or surface

§         Coating maintenance procedures

·         Polishing

·         Buffing

·         Spray buffing

·         High speed buffing

·         Ultra high speed burnishing

§         Scrubbing procedures

·         Light, medium, or heavy scrub

§         Salvage/Restorative service procedures

·         Concrete floors require sanding or shot blasting with new coatings applied

·         Stone floors need to be honed and polished with diamond abrasives

·         Wood floors require sanding and refinishing

·         Specialty floors require special procedures

·         Most resilient floors require stripping and refinishing

·         Dry services are the most important factor in hard floor maintenance.

·         Second most important factor is mopping.  One of the most common mistakes made during mopping is over-wetting or using too much water.

·         When flooring comes up or buckles it’s sometimes due to over-wetting.  The area immediately underneath does not dry completely and the floor ends begin coming up.

·         Spraying oil based products on mops is not recommended, because the oil is transferred to the floor even though it is done to pick up dirt.  This is more detrimental than helpful because the oil transferred to the floor then begins to attract dirt.  It’s a revolving door for dirt.

·         Machine scrubbing is often performed improperly.  Heavy scrubbing (black or brown pads) should not be performed very often.  This is more for restoration purposes.

·         Questions:

§         Any advice on raised flooring maintenance?  It depends what you have running underneath.  The general idea is to be very careful.

Helpful City Permitting Advice

Mary Starr had some helpful information for anyone who has run into trouble with city permits.  Haven’t we all run into a wall trying to get a permit at one time or another?  The first rule is to keep in mind that the people issuing city permits are people just like us and they are trying to do the best job they can.  When you’re really frustrated, just remember that they are the code experts, not us.  Let them do their job.  If you can’t get your permit approved, go ahead and ask if there is another way to do something.  They might have encountered the same situation elsewhere and might have an alternative solution. 

If you are working on a few projects in the same area and it covers under 10,000 sq. ft., you might qualify for a full one year permit to cover all the projects.  This is called the Industrial Plant Program Ordinance Number 960912-1 Section 1705.  This program is an effort to streamline the approval process for internal construction projects.  It is available to facilities with a total square footage of 100,000 sq. ft. or greater and employing 200 or more people.  The facility must employ a full time staff that is responsible for the maintenance of its building, utilities, and equipment.

By using this program, you would not have to get a separate permit for each small project.  The one year permit would cover them all.  Of course if you are making structural changes to fire related walls or exits, you would need to have that approved outside of the one year permit.  Also, any electrical or mechanical contractors must be included in the permit or they will have to obtain a separate permit.  This is a normal practice of the MEP contractors working on the projects anyway.

Back Injuries

If you’ve ever suffered from a pulled muscle, sprain, charley horse, or backache, chances are you could have prevented it.  More than 250,000 workers a year incur some kind of muscle injury.  These are most often the result of using improper lifting methods, although climbing in and out of trucks, pushing heavy objects, or an awkward reach or bend can do the damage.

Your back is one part of the body that can never quite return to its former delicate structure after an injury, because repairs are rarely 100 percent effective.  That’s why it’s so important to take precautions that can prevent the injury in the first place.

Let me repeat what I said at the start:  The most common source of muscle ache and pain is poor lifting methods.  One work injury out of four results from incorrect handling procedures or from using the wrong materials. When you straighten up after bending over, the muscles, vertebrae, ligaments, and discs in your back bear more than a quarter of a ton of strain.  If you lift with your back at the same time, the weight of the object is multiplied 15 times. Translated into lost time from work, such aches and pains cost millions of dollars a year, most of which is spent on pain killers in a futile search for relief. Because we bring most muscle aches and pains on ourselves, the best medicine is a dose of prevention.

Falls can also result in serious back injuries, so it’s important to be cautious in the use of ladders and stairs, prompt in the cleanup of spilled material, and meticulous in keeping tripping hazards off walkways.  The most important protection against back injuries, however, is knowing and following the techniques of safe lifting.  Here they are:

•           Know your lifting ability and get help with heavy or awkward loads.

•           Face the load you are trying to lift.

•           Bend at the knees with your feet about 20 inches apart (approximately shoulders’ width), one foot slightly ahead of the other.

•           Grasp the load and gain control before you attempt the lift.

•           Keep the load close to your body.

•           Lift gradually with your legs, not your back; don’t jerk the load.

•           To put the load down, just reverse the steps, lowering with your legs, placing your feet in the proper position, and keeping the load close to your body.

Take time each day to remind yourself of what you are doing.  In short, use your head to save your back.

Gary Hulse

Safety Manager

FACServices, Inc.