New floor required a different cleaning regime, but did anyone tell the cleaners

Health and safety managers in a hospital decided that they needed to replace an old floor in a kitchen area following a number of slipping accidents.

They decided on a new bespoke epoxy based floor with specialist anti slip surface.

The floor was duly laid and some time afterwards the flooring supplier was asked to visit the site because they were having problems keeping the floor clean.

The supplier was surprised to find the floor was stained in various areas and generally didn't look very clean. He discussed the problem with the cleaners who said that the new floor was extremely difficult to clean, was becoming slippery in parts and in fact was damaging their mops.

The supplier discovered that the cleaning instructions appropriate to the new floor were not being followed, instead they were filed on a shelf in the health and safety manager's office.

He asked for a stiff brush and a bucket of warm water with the appropriate amount of cleaning detergent and then set to work on the floor. He merely swilled the cleaning solution across the floor, leaned on his brush for a few moments and then brushed away the dirty liquid. The supplier explained that if the floor was not cleaned properly it would lose its slip resistant properties.

The cleaners were amazed to see, almost immediately, that the stains were lifted from the surface and the original floor colour had returned.

All this could have been avoided if someone had bothered to tell the cleaners about the appropriate cleaning regime for the new floor!