Cleaning Baby Changing Stations in Public Restrooms
According to Congress.Gov, a bill was recently passed called the BABIES Act or the Bathrooms Accessible in Every Situation Act. Under this legislation, every public government owned facility is required to have baby changing stations in every men and women’s bathrooms. This will increase the amount of changing tables in public restrooms and will as a result increase the responsibility of the cleaning community.
Changing Station Germs
One assumption all cleaning professionals should make is that parents do not properly clean the changing station after each use. An article titled “Attending to Baby Changing Stations” posted by Cleaning & Maintenance Management explained that baby changing stations are likely to be home to various germs and bacteria associated with fecal matter. This fecal matter can contaminate an individual through an opening in the skin or by touching a contaminated hand to an eye, mouth or nose. Germs are also transferred from changing stations to other surfaces in the bathroom, like towel dispensers or faucets. Even parent’s that use their own personal protection have pads that test positive to disease causing bacteria.
Babies are Sensitive to Cleaning
Babies are more sensitive to cleaning chemicals than adults so use them appropriately with that in mind. Always ventilate your bathroom after you clean it. This will lessen the odor that causes issues for babies or young children. Also babies are more sensitive to germs. Therefore, we need to clean their changing stations correctly.
How to Clean Baby Changing Stations
Develop a cleaning program for your baby changing stations by determining the amount of times they are used a day at your facility. First clean the table with a pH neutral cleaner. Make sure you are cleaning all areas of the changing station. Then wipe everything down and rinse all of the surfaces. Do this in order to remove soils and get rid of the leftover chemical residue. Next spray all the surfaces with a diluted EPA-registered disinfectant. Finally, allow it dwell time before wiping it down using a microfiber cloth.
Products at Multi-Clean:
Magico – A pH neutral cleaner that cleans and deodorizes in one step.
256 Century Q – No rinse neutral pH, EPA registered disinfectant.
64 Millennium Q – Multi-purpose disinfectant and restroom cleaner. Can be used on hard surfaces such as sinks and counter tops.