Don’t Undervalue UV Cleaning

If “germicidal light” sounds too future-forward for your janitorial strategy, consider that sterilization with ultraviolet light was demonstrated as early as 1878. Hospitals use UV light technology to combat the spread of infection, so we know it’s effective. Does that make it overkill for higher education facilities, or is it a proven technology that transforms the efficiency of disinfection protocols?

You’ve Got a Lot of Restrooms

Take a look at your high-touch, high-traffic priorities, and it’ll jump off the page. With so many restrooms to keep healthy and comfortable, a more efficient disinfection protocol will make a big difference. The longer your list of buildings, the more effective your team’s time will be. That can help you improve the student experience and control costs.

Why It Works

UV cleaning uses a wavelength of light energy that pierces the cell walls of bacteria and viruses, killing or inactivating them. A study from Infection Control Today confirms disinfection and eradication rates of 99.9 percent. In the field, UV disinfection technology can slash labor hours for sanitation protocols.

Nothing Escapes the Light

Some things you can’t fix without the right tool. For hard-to-reach locations – or whenever it would take too many steps to properly process with chemical disinfection efficiently – UV disinfection makes complete and effective disinfection possible for your team.

Nothing Left Behind

Of course, UV light doesn’t clean off dust and debris, that would be a little sci-fi. Regular cleaning and sanitizing are still required. The strength of UV is in achieving superior disinfection that traditional methods would take excessive time or process to achieve – if it’s even within their reach. Considering the high count of high-contact surfaces that higher education facilities have to care for (bathrooms and locker rooms are just a start), a disinfection protocol may not be cost-efficient if it’s not effectively achieving superior, more reliable results for students and staff.

Gordon Buntrock is National Director of Service Delivery for education services at ABM and has more than 40 years of experience in the facility services industry. He joined ABM in July 2016.