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Fort Worth, TX - Cleaning and maintaining floors in food service facilities, such as restaurants, can be particularly daunting. The challenge is compounded because food service floors must be hygienically maintained to protect the health of restaurant patrons as well as to meet health codes and regulations.
To help address these issues, this month’s Powr-Flite Troubleshooter offers the following tips and suggestions on keeping food service floors clean, sanitized, and healthy:
· Before cleaning food service floors, make sure floor drains are unobstructed and working properly.
· Food service floors, which are typically quarry or ceramic should be sealed with a low slip or anti-slip coating to foster proper sanitation and reduce the possibility of a slip-and-fall accident.
· All floor care work should be performed before food handling/processing equipment is cleaned; this helps prevent floor soils and debris from becoming airborne and landing on workstations or equipment.
· If using mops and buckets, they should be cleaned/changed daily. Soiled mops and buckets can spread contaminants across the floor, increasing contamination concerns.
· Use a squeegee to move moisture into floor drains for quicker drying.
· A 175-rpm buffer should be used at least once per week, or daily if necessary, to loosen soils, grease, and oil that may build up on floors. Use a blue or green scrubbing pat along with a 17-inch or 20-inch floor machine; a smaller machine can better maneuver in and around counters and cooking areas in a food service kitchen.
· Mops, buckets, squeegees, chemicals, as well as all floor care equipment should be stored off the ground on shelves or racks—this helps keep the equipment clean and deters pests.
“Many food service kitchens now use approved anti-fatigue mats to help prevent slip-and-fall accidents and worker fatigue,” says Mike Englund, a cleaning expert and product manager with Powr-Flite. “It is very important that these [mats] be cleaned and sanitized at closing, allowing them to air dry before the facility reopens.”
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Photo: Mike Englund, quoted here
The Powr-Flite Troubleshooter addresses some of the most common floor care problems cleaning professionals encounter … and, most importantly, how to tackle them.
About Powr-Flite
Established more than 40 years ago, Powr-Flite manufactures a full line of floor-care equipment and carpet extractors for the professional cleaning industry. Based in Fort Worth, TX, the company has over 20 patented designs and its products are recognized throughout the world for their innovation, durability, quality and performance. Their products are marketed directly to end-use customers as well as through distributors throughout the North America, Europe and the Far East.
