C. Difficile Outbreak Means Hospital Ward has to be Closed
December 30, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News,Hospital Cleaning,News , add a commentThere has been an outbreak of the C. Difficile infection in Craigavon Area Hospital in County Armagh.
Apparently seven new cases of C. Diff have emerged in the last two weeks, The Southern Health Trust have said it is a higher number than expected.
Dr Patrick Loughran explained: ‘The ward is closed to further admissions and deep cleaning has been initiated.’
He said other measures to control the outbreak included screening people with diarrhoea at A& E.
The trust said the rise in C. Diff cases had coincided with an increase in patients admitted to hospital with the winter vomiting and diarrhoea bug, also known as the norovirus.
Dr Loughran added: ‘We are asking all visitors to follow the Trust’s visiting policy which includes no more than two visitors per bed, and cleaning their hands before and after visiting.’
‘We would urge the local community not to visit the hospital unless absolutely necessary.’
Office Cleaning Tips to Keep your Work Place Clean
December 23, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News,Cleaning Tips , add a commentWorking from home can be very pleasant and most of the time relaxing, due to the fact that there is no need to get up hours before work, no need to drive to work, the benefits are numerous, but some times people tend to get a bit lazy with the organization of their working place.
For those of you that have the pleasure of working from home, here are 4 office cleaning tips to help you keep your work place tidy and clean.
First lets start with your desk, you don’t need nothing more than your computer and your note pad on it, remove all the stuff that has been sitting there for weeks, throw away all the papers that have no use and file the important ones.
Organize you contacts, get all the bits and pieces of paper with phone numbers, emails, business card and add them to your mobile phone or to your phone book if you prefer, the emails you can add them to your contacts on your email account and for the business cards there are neat good folders that you can put all your business cards there and organize them by category.
All right now that you have organized your desk its time to tackle the shelves, the tip here is to get rid of all the stuff that has been sitting on them for more than a month without been used, and reorganize what is left.
And last but not least, lets clean your home office, remove everything from your desk and shelves dust it off and wipe it with a wet cloth and vacuum the floor do that at least once a week and viola your work place is nice and clean.
Fake vs Real Christmas Trees, Which Will You Choose!
December 17, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News , add a commentDo you get sick of cleaning those blooming pine needles off your carpet and opt for a fake tree?
Or do you, like me, love the smell and authenticity of a real tree decorated in your home?
It’s a debate that goes on within families every Christmas, but as much as I like the real tree, a recent article has made me think twice!
Apparently a study has proved that live Christmas trees can increase asthma and sinus problems.
So if your prone to getting asthma around the festive season, you now know why!
But wait… Before you throw your real tree out of the window, it has also been proven that fake trees can be even worse for the environment. Artificial trees are made from non renewable petroleum and eventually wind up in landfills and are clogging mother earth with PVC.
Not so good for Mother Nature as they never disintergrate!
Here at Total Clean Services we would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year, no matter which tree you choose!
Natural Ingredients For Cleaning This Christmas!
December 11, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning Advice,Cleaning Tips,News,environment , add a commentWith all this credit crunch business, we could all do with saving a few pennies this Christmas. That’s why I have put together a list of natural alternatives to do your festive clean with.
Lemon Juice - Lemons have a low pH level, so are able to kill most of the bacteria in your house. If you have bottled lemon juice lying around you can use this instead of fresh lemons. Lemon juice is ideal for clean the kitchen, bathroom and polishing copper or brass. You will also be left with that lovely fresh lemony smell around the home.
Baking Soda - This substance is alkaline in nature or has a neutral pH level and its cleaning potential is endless. It is a deodorizer, air freshener, and water softener. Cleaning with baking soda works well on water based stains and cleaning that requires scrubbing.
Vinegar - White vinegar is slightly acidic and therefore can cut through grease, remove mildew, and clean stains. In the bathroom, vinegar can clean soap scum and hard water strains. Don’t worry about the unpleasant smell, it goes away when it dries. But don’t use vinegar on marble surfaces.
Borax - This ingredient is most commonly used as an alternative to bleach.
Castile Soap - As well as using in place of shampoo or body soap, castile soap can clean clothing, be used to wash pets or as a general cleaner.
Corn Starch - Corn starch can clean windows, polish furniture, remove grease, shampoo rugs, and works well when used during ironing.
Not only are these products cheaper because you probably have them lying round the house, but they are environmentally friendly too.
New Cleaning Product Reduces Spread of C-Difficile
December 4, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News,Hospital Cleaning,environment , add a commentA new cleaning product that has been developed, could “significantly reduce” the rates of the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile, say researchers.
A study found that the product, Byotrol, led to a reduced presence of the infection C diff, in the wards where it was tried out.
In the areas cleaned with Byotrol, C diff was present in 20.4% of the sites tested, compared to 27.8% of the sites cleaned with traditional products.
According to the research, the number of patients who developed diarrhoea due to the potentially fatal bug was 50% lower in the wards cleaned with the new product.
The study was run in four hospital wards within the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Two of the wards were cleaned using Byotrol and the other two with bleach.
Dr Richard Deed said: ‘These results show that it is possible to drive significant reductions in one of the most persistent and challenging micro-organisms found within the healthcare system.’
Byotrol, which is cost comparable to most other day-to-day cleaners being used in wards, was made available to hospitals on the NHS supply chain in November.
St Paul’s Reaches Cleaning Target!
November 26, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News,News , add a commentSt Paul’s Cathedral announced today that they have reached their £40 million target to fund the cleaning and restoration of the Cathedral.
The money has been raised purely through donations and without any support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Businesses from around the world contributed as did charitable trusts, City livery companies and more than 850 individuals.
One donor, who wanted to remain anonymous, gave £10.8million, and six donors each handed over £1 million.
Since the project started, the once-blackened exteriors of Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece have been cleaned and restored.
Cleaning and restoration of the north side of the Cathedral is expected to be complete in 2010.
The Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral said: ‘In today’s turbulent economic conditions, (St Paul’s) provides a place of calm, escape, rest and reflection from the maelstrom of daily City life.’
To mark reaching the target, donors will attend a celebratory Evensong.
Young Offenders to Clean up Graffiti as Part of a New Scheme
November 19, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News,News , add a commentBuckinghamshire County Council and a youth offending team have partnered up to send young offenders who have been involved in vandalism onto the streets to clear graffiti.
The work is done as part of the youngsters time with the youth offending team, which children are referred to after being convicted in court.
Under the project, youngsters are sent out with non-toxic cleaning kits and work in small teams under close supervision.
Michael Box, a technician with Buckinghamshire County Council, came up with the idea for the project.
He said: ‘We have virtually no budget for graffiti cleaning bridges and subways, and seeing these public places covered in tags does upset members of the public.’
‘I was trying to work out how to overcome this when I had a chance conversation with a friend, who works with the young offending service in another part of the country, who spoke about having difficulty finding schemes to get the youngsters involved in.’
‘It just seemed obvious; you could solve both problems by putting them together.’
The scheme has been hailed as “exceptional” and has earnt Mr Box some personal success after he won the county council’s Innovation Achieving Top Performance award earlier in the year.
Buckinghamshire Youth Offending Service manager said: ‘Community reparation work is a fundamental tool in making sure young people who offend understand there are consequences for their behaviour, and preventing them from re offending.’
A Cleaning Job Out Of This World
Posted by Administrator in : News , add a commentSometimes, cleaning can be a boring job, right? Office Cleaning and House Cleaning are not the most exciting job in this world, but what about cleaning in the void of Space? Well that sounds like a cleaning job out of this world (literally and metaphorically). Possibly one of the most exciting cleaning jobs ever.
Yesterday, two astronauts from the international space station have started a series of spacewalks to clean a massive joint that turns one of the power-generating solar-panel wings toward the sun. This joint is 10 foot wide and has been clogged with metal shavings from grinding parts for over a year, limiting how much power the solar wing can produce.
Astronauts Heide Stefanyshyn and Stephen Bowen have at their disposal a putty knife to scrape away the metal grit, wet wipes for cleaning and a grease gun to lubricate the joint.
“We have a little cleaning and greasing to do, to see if we can make it rotate smoother,” “We’re going to try to make it come back to life.” Said one of the astronauts.
Each spacewalk will be of approximately 6.5 hours that means 6 long hours of hard cleaning in the void of space none stop.
What was the longest, hardest or the most existing cleaning job you have ever faced?
Yet Another Complaint About Hospital Cleanliness and Another Attempt to Fix it
November 13, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News,News , add a commentHealth staff are under fire for not keeping Falkirk Royal hospital clean, resulting in a team of inspectors being brought in to ensure they do.
The inspectors will have powers to go into any hospital in Scotland to check anti-infection procedures.
There was a call for an on-site system for reporting issues which would allow problems to be dealt with directly, avoid health and safety risks, and make the overall environment more pleasing.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon is now demanding a clean up in a bid to cut infection rates.
She has told health boards they must cut cases of C.difficile by 2011 and wants to see a 30% reduction for patients over 65.
Ms Sturgeon believes one of the failings of previous anti-infection policy in hospitals was that it was too reliant on self-assessment.
And she vowed that every hospital in the country would now be subject to random inspections to check they were meeting hygiene and infection control standards.
Burnham-On-Sea Carnival Comes at a Clean Price
November 5, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News,News,environment , add a commentSedgemoor District Council revealed this week that the cost of cleaning up Burnham-On-Sea’s town centre streets, after next Monday’s carnival will be £2,500.
A huge clean-up operation is to be carried out overnight, so that the town centre is restored to pristine condition by 7am the following morning.
A team of 20 staff will sweep and collect what has been left by the thousands of spectators. The cost for this is estimated at about £5,000 in Bridgwater, £4,800 in North Petherton and £2,500 in Burnham-On-Sea.
Council spokesperson Claire Faun said: ‘This covers staff time, vehicles, bags and the cost of disposing of all those glasses, cans and food wrappers. It usually takes about five hours in Burnham-on-Sea and a little longer if it is very windy as the rubbish blows about.’
