Electrostatic Sprayers Reduce Sickness, Save Time

PHOTO COURTESY OF ABLE SERVICES

Proper cleaning and disinfection are becoming more important than ever due to the increase in infectious disease outbreaks. Janitorial services are becoming increasingly technical and innovative. Building service contractors need to promote their systems and procedures, as well as remind their customers that if janitors can’t do their job, people get sick. Janitors are not just the people who empty the trash, they are the first line of health defense.

That being said, BSCs are trying to do more with less. Facilities add square footage, or facility executives increase cleaning frequencies without increasing budgets. Surveys show that facility executives put their priorities on appearances, such as clean lobbies or restrooms. This makes sense as first impressions matter. 

But, it’s also a bad place to be because public health procedures and protocols should be figured into cleaning services. Being ahead of the increasingly long and lethal flu seasons is paramount these days. But when asked what is being done about mitigating infectious outbreaks and symptom transmission on a daily basis, the answer most always is, “We don’t have time.” 

Well, if facilities don’t want to lose millions or even billions of dollars in sick time, disability and other costs from serious infections, then time needs to be found. Often, time is gained through better training for efficiency or using better tools.

One such tool that can be used to improve public health and save time is electrostatic machines. This innovation allows janitors to sanitize and disinfect high touchpoints every day.

How Electrostatic Technology Works

Electrostatics uses the principles that many items in the workplace are either negatively charged or neutral. The idea of opposites attracting here is the idea that a positively charged disinfecting solution droplet will be attracted to a negatively charged desk, table, door handle, water fountain, toilet seat, faucet, sink, desk, chair, elevator button and so on. 

As the disinfecting solution leaves the sprayer, a charge is put on each droplet. By just walking and essentially waving the sprayer toward a surface for disinfection, the droplets move through the air to where they are attracted. The droplets, since they are charged, lay in a thin layer and avoid pooling and soaking surfaces. The charged solution also wraps itself around a surface, covering all areas, including the backsides and undersides of objects.

Due to the efficacy of the sprayers, less chemical is used. Testing has shown that electrostatic sprayers use 70 percent less chemical than a traditional trigger sprayer. Since disinfectants are registered as pesticides by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — even the least toxic solutions have hazards associated with them — the less they are used, the better. With less chemical used and no pooling or puddling because of the charged molecules, surfaces dry 60 percent faster. 

As mentioned, BSCs are looking for procedures that give them additional time to perform more tasks. Electrostatic technology allows janitors to do their job quickly. 

Manufacturer data shows that electrostatic sprayers used in the commercial cleaning industry can apply solution in 80 percent less time than using a traditional trigger sprayer on a bottle. This means that a classroom or office can be disinfected in less than two minutes. 

As another example, in a small K-12 school in Massachusetts, the BSC doing the night cleaning there is reporting being able to disinfect the entire school in 30 minutes each night. This means every high touchpoint in a hall, classroom and restroom is being sanitized or disinfected, depending on the time of year and protocol put in place, each night.