The Science of Cleaning 

Important Science Lesson from History

Cleanliness saves lives. Sally Tompkins knew that. She insisted on practicing good hygiene at Robertson Hospital where she worked. The patients there usually had some form of an open wound rather than a disease. Cleanliness was even more critical in those circumstances. Open wounds can become infected very easily. Sally pioneered and encouraged techniques that promoted cleanliness as part of good wound care management. At the time there was no proven science to show that these hygienic cleaning practices resulted in saving lives. The time was the U.S. Civil War. Sally and the Robertson Hospital were recognized for the results. Sally’s insistence on cleanliness contributed to more soldiers returning to duty than any other hospital during the war in the North or South. Only 73 soldiers died in the care of the Robertson Hospital and they treated thousands during the 45 months the hospital was in existence.

In an era when more soldiers died from disease than from battle the story of Sally Tompkins is remarkable. It shows that common sense comes sometimes before the scientific proof. Today, science is catching up. Our responsibility is to respect what we learn and empower those in the role of caring for us and our indoor environments. 

Important Scientific Cleaning Related Definitions

Clean – The absence of unwanted “matter”.

Cleaning – The proper removal of unwanted “matter” to a more appropriate place.

Disinfecting – a chemical or physical process (such as heat) that kills or removes more than 99% of unwanted microbes. Some disinfectants may target specific pathogens or microbes. The specific targeted microbes “killed” by a product will be listed on the label of chemical disinfectants. 

Hygiene – Cleaning practices and standards that promote health

Matter – any substance that has mass and volume

Pathogen – a microbe such as bacteria, virus and fungi that causes disease and death

Sanitizing – reducing microbes to generally accepted safe levels as stated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Spore – a dormant form of a bacteria or fungi that will start reproducing when appropriate growth conditions are present. Spores may survive for long periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores can become airborne sometimes causing illness when inhaled.

Sterilizing – any chemical or physical process that destroys or removes all microbes including spores

Toxic – any substance that can cause acute or chronic injury through exposure internally or externally

Realizing the importance of science in cleaning top industry leaders joined forces to establish CIRI and use this organization to establish cleaning standards that will be recognized worldwide. Just as many industries have established standards that have helped their industries provides better products and services this has never been attempted with cleaning on such a large scale.

The first projects were selected based on the threat of people who are immune compromised and at risk for illness and disease. Among this group are children who attend school in the K-12 grade category. CIRI has been working for several years now on research to establish a scientific standard that will be released in 2012. The purpose is to change cleaning practices in schools which will reduce absenteeism and improve the health and performance of students and teachers alike. The preliminary data is promising.

 Reducing or Eliminating Toxic Cleaning Agents in the Home

Cleaning chemicals have frequently been the one blamed for many illnesses. Yet, without them the argument is made that we would be even sicker as a society because they do keep harmful pathogens from attacking us. That is because many cleaning agents are designed to “kill”. While we want them to kill the bad, we don’t want them to kill us slowly or otherwise.

Many strides have been made in the last several years to use other means to “kill” or remove pathogens and other harmful “matter” from our indoor environment. Dry steam vapor (not what you see on late night TV), hospital grade ultra-microfiber, ionized and ozonated water are just some tools that have no toxic danger or harmful residues that could cause illness or disease. Many tests are showing cleaning methods using these tools have better outcomes than using traditional chemicals. More to come…