Clean Floors for Clean Hospitals

Importance of Hygiene for the Health

The Covid 19 crisis has put the spot light on importance of hand hygiene and environmental cleaning to prevent the spread of the virus. It has also highlighted how infection prevention and control (IPC) is important in healthcare and aged care settings to prevent infections and antimicrobial resistance.
In this context, the selection of materials is crucial in the efficiency of cleaning routines.

For decades, Tarkett has been committed to developing innovative flooring solutions with people in mind.
Contributing to reducing patient anxiety, improving medical staff quality of life at work, facilitating the daily job of cleaners through a warm and hygienic environment is what we call Human conscious design.
It also means supporting you with the right choices for HC settings.

What is IPC?

About the fundamental role of Infection Prevention and Control

Managing and preventing both the spread of infection and antimicrobial resistance is a major challenge for all healthcare facilities & a major public health threat.

1 in 10 patients at the hospital affected each year - 4 millions of patients affected in Europe
37 000 deaths in Europe - 70% of which are due to antibiotics resistant microorganisms called superbug
10 Millions deaths - by 2050 due multi-resistant bacteria

source: World Health Organization

The necessity of developping the right Infection Prevention Control (IPC) is to prevent the spread of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) and Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

What is IPC ?

Infection Prevention and Control is a set of measures to prevent the spread of Healthcare- associated Infections (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

What is an HAI?

Healthcare- associated Infections are infections acquired by a patient during her/his stay at the hospital. It happens when several factors are gathered: Presence of micro-organisms in hospital environment + Transmission of pathogens between staff and patients and among patients + vulnerable patient.

What is AMR?

Antimicrobial resistance is the ability of microorganisms to become resistant to antimicrobial agents such as antibiotic & biocides.

The overuse of disinfectants and a strong demand for antimicrobial materials may increase the risk of Antimicrobial Resistance development and is suspected to actually pose a human health risk.
However, it is key to understand that the extensive use of these biocides may not be always necessary if the correct cleaning protocols are in place.

What about biocides?

ABOUT THE USE OF ANTIBACTERIAL AGENTS (ANTIBIOTICS & BIOCIDES)

Viruses are different to bacteria.
Like antibiotics, antibacterial products are ineffective against viruses.
Overuse and misuse of antibacterial agents (antibiotics & biocides) lead to antimicrobial resistance
Efficacy of antimicrobial preimpregnated products have not been proven
But there is a threat that they favour antimicrobial resistance
As low touch surfaces, floors are less critical than high touch surfaces.
Use of biocides doesn’t negate the importance of proper cleaning.

Tarkett’s position regarding biocides

We stopped the use of biocides since 2013
We actively promote the importance of appropriate cleaning
We recommend the use of disinfectants only where & when necessary
We promote alternative solutions using low chemicals & disinfectants such as microfibers/steam cleaning
Our products are bacteriostatic (they don’t favour growth of bacteria) according to ISO 846 standard.
Without using any biocides.

Key role of IPC in Hospitals

About 80% of infectious diseases are transmitted by unclean hands touching contaminated surfaces (Source: CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Hands and touch surfaces are the most critical factors in infection transmission, this is why keeping them clean is crucial.Adherence to “hand hygiene” and “environmental cleaning “ procedures is therefore key.

Although there is a lack of evidence showing the impact of floors in HAI, as they are low touch surfaces, floors should be selected upon their:
ability to prevent from soiling & dirt picking,
cleanability and compatibility with disinfection protocols.

Good environmental hygiene

1.Choosing the right material is key

First essential requirement to develop a good hospital environmental hygiene it that all surfaces, items and equipment installed or used within a health care environment are cleanable.
This is why selecting the right materials for floors and walls is crucial.
If in low risk areas such as entrance, offices, logistic areas, the choice of floor and wall materials won’t have a significant impact in terms of IPC, in clinical areas, they should be selected carefully to contribute to the efficiency of cleaning protocols.

Requirements for floors and walls in clinical areas

A smooth & non porous surface with minimal joints to prevent dirt build up (that would favour the growth of microorganisms )
A watertight installation with perfect coving and hot welded and durable joints
Resistance to repeated use of disinfectants such as Quaternary Ammonium, Alcohol, Bleach, Hydrogene Peroxyde…
Easy to repair material

2. Define the adapted cleaning protocoles

Once the proper surfaces are in place, it will be key to define and implement the right cleaning protocols.

Clean Clean Clean
Never forget that the basis of a good protocol is to properly clean surfaces.
A good cleaning is simply done by Dry dust mopping to remove dust and debris, followed by wet mopping with a detergent to clean.
Floors are low-touch surfaces that rarely come in contact with the hands of patients/residents or health care providers. So under normal circumstances, the use of a disinfectant is not required and a cleaning well done is sufficient.

Disinfect … after Cleaning ... when needed only
In some areas and circumstances, and only in these cases (clinical areas, infectious risk, outbreaks situation), disinfection, in addition to cleaning, will be needed.
However disinfection without cleaning will be useless since most disinfectants loose their effectiveness rapidly in the presence of organic matter.

When it comes to flooring, the most important factors are that it is kept clean and free from soiling and dirt. Disinfection operations on flooring should be restricted to zones with high infectious risk. There is no extra benefit in using disinfectants in other zones where they simply tend to soil the flooring.

Christine Huddlestone, Senior Health manager, responsible for cleaning, microbiology technician for 20 years, Douai Hospital, France

Select the right floors

When taking into consideration the relevant criteria to ensure good cleaning, there are several product categories which check different boxes but when you look at serious & high risk areas, vinyl rolls are the most appropriate solution.
In the homogeneous vinyl category, the iQ ranges comes best in class, for the most demanding requirements.

iQ ranges for serious and high risk areas

Our homogeneous vinyl rolls iQ ranges are the best flooring solutions for the most demanding areas such as operating theatre and controlled environements.

Its smooth surface offers an excellent cleanability – proven by Fraunhofer
Its ability to be coved and hot welded allows perfect and watertight finish without any cracking avoiding build up of dirt.
Its oustanding seam strength (3 times above standard) ensures high durability of welded joints, preventing from joint opening (that would favour bacteria growth)
It can be welded with our wall covering solutions (ProtectWall and Wallgard) to ensure a fully watertight system easy to clean & disinfect
It offers a high surface resistance to disinfection and decontamination procedures using Quaternary ammoniums, Alcohol, Bleach, Hydrogene peroxide,…

A set of floors and walls solutions for all level of risk areas

Hospitals and healthcare facilities are a set of diferent typology of spaces, from very high traffic like the entrance to more administrative areas, to patient romms, or even shower and wetrooms. The needs and reuirement sof each f these spaces are different and floorings and wals needs to be adapted.
We have a full set of solutions
For all other areas, we offer a wide range of flooring solutions.