CrestClean’s commitment to infection control in healthcare environments
Healthcare facilities are in a constant battle against Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) and the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. At CrestClean, we understand the critical role that meticulous cleaning plays in creating safe environments for healthcare professionals, patients, and visitors.
Healthcare facilities treat a wide range of patients with many different medical conditions. CrestClean helps prevent the spread of infections between patients by ensuring that infectious pathogens are not transferred from one person to another through ineffective sanitising of contaminated surfaces.
Our cleaning teams adhere to the highest cleaning standards that go beyond surface cleaning and address potential vectors of infection at every level. CrestClean strives to create an environment where patients, healthcare professionals, and visitors can have peace of mind knowing that infection prevention is a top priority.
Mitigating Healthcare-Acquired Infections
HAIs continue to pose a threat to patients in New Zealand. It’s up to our healthcare cleaning teams to mitigate this risk.
CrestClean understands that effective infection prevention requires more than just routine cleaning. All CrestClean teams working in a healthcare setting must hold a Certificate in Healthcare Cleaning. Through specialist training from the Master Cleaners Training Institute, stringent protocols and ongoing site audits, CrestClean teams play a vital role in preventing HAIs.
CrestClean’s General Manager of Training, Liezl Foxcroft, designs training courses in healthcare cleaning to equip cleaning personnel with comprehensive knowledge of CrestClean’s stringent quality standards.
Liezl emphasises the importance of these practices, stating, “One in 10 people who get a healthcare acquired infection die from it. The way you mitigate it is by good cleaning protocols and practices.”
Cross-contamination control
Liezl has explored every avenue for germs to enter a healthcare building, including on the cleaning equipment itself. CrestClean teams are trained to sanitise cleaning equipment and wear appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to prevent carrying harmful pathogens into heathcare environments.
CrestClean cleaning teams wear full PPE while undergoing healthcare cleaning, including face masks, shoe covers, hair nets, clean hospital scrubs and gloves.
“Otherwise, we’d just carry bacteria around,” says Liezl.
“We train franchisees that when they’re finished cleaning, they need to clean their equipment before going to the next site.”
Health Safety and Wellbeing Leader, Ian Noon, emphasises the importance of PPE standards in healthcare settings.
“PPE is a critical control for healthcare cleaning. It is imperative that we do not transfer bacteria between zones and ensure our teams also remain infection-free,” says Ian.
Single use equipment is also necessary in healthcare settings to control cross-contamination between surfaces. CrestClean takes this commitment to the next level with color-coded single-station microfibre cloths, designed to target specific areas and prevent cross-contamination.
Fighting back against ‘superbugs’
Infection prevention and patient safety is CrestClean’s top priority, which is why we developed HealthClean® – a set of processes that equip our cleaning teams with comprehensive knowledge of cleaning healthcare environments.
As Ian states, HealthClean® starts with the basics to ensure all our teams fully understand infection control and prevention.
“HealthClean® lays out a step-by-step approach to healthcare cleaning best practices. It ensures a high standard of cleaning through competency assessments and ongoing skills training,” he says.
CrestClean joined the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, or ‘superbugs’, with its powerful cleaning solution, HyperClean®.
HyperClean® was developed by CrestClean, as a greener and safer multi-purpose product. The active ingredient, hydrogen peroxide, breaks down into harmless oxygen and water, leaving no harmful chemical residues on surfaces.
There are no known bacteria or fungi that have shown resistance to hydrogen peroxide, making HyperClean® suitable for regular use. The effective formula can tackle hard-to-kill, highly contagious bacteria.
“What people don’t realise is that norovirus is one of the hardest to kill. Normal chemicals don’t kill it,” says Liezl.
“When we have outbreaks of – for example – norovirus, we follow the Ministry of Health Guidelines. We also stay up to date with the latest information coming through from the key lead organisations, such as the World Health Organisation, Centres for Disease Control and, of course, scientists and researchers.”
Control of COVID-19 and other viruses
The prevalence of COVID-19 and other viruses is kept under control by sanitising high-touch surfaces with CrestClean’s Anti-Viral Sanitiser. Officially registered as a qualified disinfectant for COVID-19, cleaning teams use this formula to complete their surface sanitisation.
As CrestClean’s healthcare cleaning expert, Liezl stays current with international research and best practices. This ensures our teams continuously deliver exceptional service to critical industries like healthcare.
“The high standard of CrestClean systems and ongoing competencies training enable us to quickly develop a suitable Safe System of Work for our teams should a viral outbreak occur,” says Liezl.
“We also roll out additional training and establish greater PPE requirements.”
As specialists in healthcare cleaning, CrestClean teams understand what’s required to protect patients, staff and visitors from infection. Our cleaning teams are the silent guardians of the healthcare sector, eradicating surface pathogens in even the hardest-to-reach areas.
