Public restrooms aren’t notoriously clean and pleasant places. A patron’s number one fear of public restrooms is exposure to the unsanitary conditions they perceive. That’s why it’s important to educate yourself and staff members about your customer’s perceptions and fears before you train them on how to properly clean and disinfect a restroom stall.
Pretend you are the patron. Walk into the stall (or restroom if it’s a single patron restroom). With the lights on, take notice of the floor, the walls and tha backside of the stall door to provide tha patron’s view from the “throne”. Notice the floor drain with gunk around it. That gunk was most likely created by numerous toilets and urinals that have overflowed, leaving both visible and invisible fecal matter deposits.
Don’t forget to check the door. Next, turn around and notice the latch that secures the door. Remember: The person who has just used the facilities must grasp and turn the latch to exit the stall. Too often, when custodians clean, the stall door remains in the open position while they clean the toilet and surrounding areas. As a result, the side of the door people see while seated is often neglected by the custodian. While training your employees, ask them the following: Is the door clean? Has the latch been disinfected?
Check out what’s not visible to the naked eye. Put on your gloves and take out your pocket mirror. Look under the rim of the toilet and you will see visible bacteria growth. Look at the underside of the toilet bowl where the left-behind residue is brown and tacky. This is a source of odors.
Now, turn out the lights. Go into the stall and turn on a black light (or a light that produces ultraviolet light) and take note of what you observe. If it’s like most restrooms, those specks on the walls around the toilet are urine that has not been removed by cleaning staff. They also could be feces that have gone undetected and uncleaned for days at a time.
Equipped with this knowledge, you can put together a meaningful training session for your employees. Your patrons will thank you for allaying their fear of “what’s behind the stall door”.
Call EcoCare today, where our highly trained staff can provide a complete clean of all of your restrooms.
Credit: J. Darrel Hicks with Cleaning & Maintenance Management
