Contributed by Cintas Corporation 

According to a study in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 77,000 distinct types of bacteria and viruses exist in restrooms. With more people returning to public facilities and a heightened focus on cleanliness, Cintas Corporation offers five essential tips for keeping restrooms sanitary. 

“Restrooms are high-traffic areas that can pose significant risks for germ transmission,” said John Engel, director of marketing, Cintas. “Maintaining high restroom hygiene standards is essential to help reduce the spread of germs and to meet customers’ heightened expectations of cleanliness.”

Top tips for keeping restrooms sanitized include:

1. Using high-pressure cleaners and vacuum extraction

Conducting high-pressure cleaning that removes buildup not easily reached by brushes is important when sanitizing floors, toilets, urinals, and restroom partitions. While high-pressure cleaning removes soil and dirt from surfaces, vacuum extraction removes the contaminants from the restroom, preventing cross contamination and odor-causing bacteria.

2. Installing touchless soap, sanitizer and paper towel dispensers

To help avoid spreading germs on high-touch surfaces throughout a facility, consider installing touchless dispensers. Dispensers without touchless features may harbor more bacteria and viruses. Replace air dryers with paper towel dispensers as manual and touch-free air dryers are known to spread germs throughout restrooms.

3. Keeping supplies stocked

A lack of restroom supplies can lead to a dirty restroom and is one of the most common customer complaints. Consider using innovative soap and/or paper towel dispensers that dispense just enough product at a time to minimize wasted resources and over consumption.

4. Increasing cleaning frequency

High-traffic areas should be cleaned more frequently. Increasing frequency can help mitigate the spread of germs on surfaces such as doorknobs, faucets, toilet handles, dispensers and handicap grabrails.

5. Cleaning before disinfecting

For better disinfecting results, it’s important to clean first. Cleaning decreases dirt and germs on surfaces while disinfecting kills or inactivates the germs. When cleaning and disinfecting, it’s critical to follow a product’s manufacturer’s instructions around contact time and dilution to achieve the best results.