Wednesday, 11 April 2012

Medical Office Cleaning is Just What the Doctor Ordered

For the health, safety, and comfort of patients and staff medical offices must be keep clean.  Some medical offices handle the cleaning chore themselves while others choose to outsource the task and leave the cleaning to professionals.  Hiring a professional office cleaning service is often a better idea because they are familiar with the requirements and have the right tools to keep the office clean up to appropriate standards.
OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) was created by the United States Department of Labor to provide standards and guidelines designed to protect employee and patient health and safety in many workplaces, including medical offices.  Because the cleanliness of a medical office is an area of potential risk, it is monitored by OSHA.  Any commercial cleaning company that is hired for the task should be familiar with the requirements set up by OSHA and should be able to meet these standards in the janitorial service they provide.
Cleaning vendors who include medical offices as part of their clientele have to ensure that their cleaning schedules include cleaning all patient exam rooms, laboratories, surgical areas, bathrooms, office spaces, hallways and waiting areas.  In addition, cleaning staff must correctly handle furniture, carts, surgical drapes, gowns, bed linens, work surfaces and containers, and waste products.  Spills and exposure to chemicals are also common cleaning needs in medical offices and OSHA guidelines are to be posted and employees must be trained about any potential hazards that may exist.
Approved cleaners and decontaminates must be used because of OSHA standards.  The best cleaning companies choose hospital grade disinfectant chemicals in order to provide maximum decontamination.  The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has registered antimicrobial products to protect against the spread of infection that can be used.  The EPA has approved disinfectants such as diluted bleach solutions, tuberculocides, sterilants and other products registered against HIV/HBV.  All equipment in a medical office should be sterilized with a high level disinfectant or sterilant.
Along with standard cleaning and disinfection standards, other circumstances exist in medical offices that are not standard in all office cleaning jobs.  Used syringes must be kept in specially designed leak and puncture poof containers which remain closed.  When transporting laundry bags, they should be held away from the body and not squeezed to avoid punctures from needles that may have been discarded incorrectly.  When laundry is contaminated, it must be handled with minimum agitation necessary and should always be bagged in the spot where it was used. Waste containers, laundry, or medical equipment that is contaminated must be properly labeled to maintain appropriate sanitary conditions.
These are only a sampling of the considerations that must be handled by medical office staff and any janitorial service that handles cleaning of the medical office.  Be sure that any cleaning company that is hired is fully aware of the necessary requirements and standards involved in medical office cleaning before trusting them to get the job done.  The safety and health of patients and staff is a major piece of a successful medical office and should not be overlooked, source.

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