A Poorly Trained Janitor Can Do Significant Damage

On occasion a poorly trained worker can do more damage in a few moments that can be undone in hours or even days. One example that comes to mind is a well meaning worker started pouring a “little” stripper into the autoscrubber in order to clean the floors better. This one step led to other mistakes that resulted in complaints and unsatisfactory results.

First of all, NOTHING but water and neutral cleaner should ever be poured into an autoscrubber solution tank. If stripper or other harsh products need to be applied, they should be mixed in a bucket and applied with a mop or other system. 

The autoscrubber can be used to scrub or strip the floor while collecting the slurry in the collection tank. Another lesson to be learned about pH since a “little” stripper (pH of 10 or more) applied to a floor finish may not be strong enough to strip it completely but can do considerable damage to the shine and durability of the floor. As the weakened stripper solution is applied the pores of the finish are opened allowing soil to be tracked on. Of course, the shine has already been damaged and the floor will ultimately need to be stripped far sooner than necessary.

The well meaning worker noted that the floor was losing it’s shine and seemed to look dirty, so for the next week or so he mixed a little more stripper each night hoping to remove the soil that was accumulating. Within a week or so the customer was complaining about the shine and demanding the floor be stripped and recoated to bring back the shine.

More on this subject in a future article but remember that “a little ignorance goes a long ways.” Your comments and questions are important. I hope to hear from you soon. Until then, keep it clean…

Mickey Crowe has been involved in the industry for over 35 years. He is a trainer, speaker and consultant. You can reach Mickey at 678.314.2171 or CTCG50@comcast.net.