With the rising number of infections every day, Australians should be paying attention closely to our disinfection and decontamination system. Although coronavirus is still remaining unknown – we all have been advised to take preventive measures before getting risk to exposure any further. From washing our hands with soap, drinking more water, using plenty of hand sanitisers – but most importantly is decontaminating highly touched surfaces where COVID-19 survives for up to three days, a new study suggests. This includes countertops, doorknobs, highly used equipment, power sockets, and many more.

There is one thing that all viruses and bacteria have in common: they are easily killed by heat over 77 degrees within seconds. Steam vapour, on the other hand, offers much higher than that.

The key to preventing virus spreads in healthcare

The challenge for hospital teams is making sure they can prevent the spreads of viruses and bacteria which includes in the term named Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI). They have to destroy the micro-organisms that cause the infection and deny them an environment in which they thrive.

This means using an efficient hygiene system to make equipment and surfaces safe to use at all times. It’s a huge ongoing task for any healthcare cleaning – considering the significant number of frontline medical staff that accidentally contracted the virus from contaminated surfaces and secondary transmissions. Innovations in this area are continually appearing to drive efficiency and performance.

The use of steam cleaning to disinfect and decontaminate hospital environments has become more vital every day Here are three reasons why many hospitals are adopting it as their preferred cleaning method:

1. Steam cleaning is the most effective and efficient alternative to hospital disinfection

Steam cleaning can be applied through a variety of environments and surfaces – from staff tearoom, staff sleeping station, wards, operating rooms and toilets. It is an incredibly effective method of tackling micro-organisms, creating uncontaminated environments and cleaning the equipment. With steam produced in more than 180 degrees temperature, steam vapour cleaning machines have been shown to be capable of removing up to 99.99% of germs and bacteria from many types of surfaces. In fact, a recently published study which explored the impact of infection control on neonatal intensive care units found that steam cleaning delivered a much lower rate of infection.

Steam cleaning is also versatile which makes them a cost-effective solution for healthcare disinfection systems. This makes the cleaning done faster and better to comply with the standard of hygiene that is needed within a hospital, cutting down on the time it takes to get the job done.

2. Steam cleaning helps in the fight against viruses and bacteria

Coronavirus might be the huge challenge for healthcare cleaning at this period of time. We want to avoid contacts especially with surfaces. Using steam without having to rub or touch surfaces can be easily done as the steam would lift the dirt and grease easily, before finally wiping away the contaminants immediately.

Understanding the way to tackle coronavirus by maintaining hygiene is one thing, but to understand the scale of potential risk related to AMR, the UK Government has claimed that it is responsible for 10m deaths a year. One problem creating this is to do with the possible overuse of antibiotics, but there’s also the fact that the micro-organisms have grown resistant to the antimicrobial elements contained within cleaning chemicals.

This is where steam cleaning can offer the ideal solution. Using only heated water, steam cleaners are effective at breaking down micro-organisms and preventing replication – all without adding to the growing problem of AMR. In this way, steam cleaning delivers positive outcomes for patients both now and in the future.

3. Steam cleaning is more sustainable and environmentally friendly

Using chemicals is not the way to safety. The use of water with steam cleaning provides a much more sustainable alternative to healthcare disinfection than other methods that are reliant on different chemicals to finally deliver results.

This is a fast and immensely environmentally friendly solution. All it needs to run is power for the cleaner and water for the steam – and it creates very little waste. It’s efficient, safe and the ideal healthcare cleaning solution for hospitals and organisations looking to adapt Zero-Waste operations.

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