Sanitized workplaces help ease H1N1 stress

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Mark Foley of Simply Radiant = Services uses=20 an airbrush to spray Goldshield, an antimicrobial product, on a = worker=92s=20 desk. Photo by Duane Tinkey

Sanitized=20 workplaces help ease H1N1 stress BY JOE GARDYASZ =
We've all heard the statistics about how incredibly germ-laden = our=20 desktops and telephones at work are. You might even be the type of = person=20 who pushes the elevator button with your elbow rather than touch = the same=20 surface that hundreds of other people have used. So it may be = comforting=20 to know that some Central Iowa businesses are finding creative = approaches=20 to help employees avoid contracting the H1N1 virus and other nasty = microbes while at work.

Simply Radiant Services, an = Urbandale=20 home-based business that specializes in cleaning and organizing = homes and=20 offices, recently began offering a workplace sanitizing service. = The=20 company uses an antimicrobial product called Goldshield, which its = owners=20 claim can remain effective for as long as 30 days after = application.=20

"Basically right now we're focusing on offices, but you = can use it=20 anywhere: day cares, locker rooms, schools, wherever," said Simply = Radiant=20 co-owner Michelle Kritenbrink-Foley. She introduced the service = about=20 three months ago and has been gradually adding clients by word of = mouth=20 and advertising.

Her husband, Mark Foley, heard about = Goldshield=20 from a client of his who owns distribution rights to the product. = "The=20 more (my husband) investigated it, the more he said, 'This is = great,'"=20 Kritenbrink-Foley said. According to the product's Web site, it is = "the=20 first, and only, water-stabilized, non-toxic, non-leaching,=20 environmentally benign solution providing a durable shield against = microbial contamination, including mold, mildew and = fungi."

To=20 prove to his wife that the product really works, Foley bought a=20 luminometer, a device used in the restaurant industry to test for = the=20 presence of germs on surfaces, and tested the product around their = house.=20

In a demonstration at a cubicle at the Business Record's = offices,=20 Foley recorded a "before" reading of luminometer reading of 69 on = an ad=20 representative's telephone handset. (Zero to 10 is considered = clean; 11 to=20 30, questionable; and above 30, dirty.) After the cleaner was = sprayed on,=20 the reading had dropped to 6.

"What we offer is to test = the=20 surface, treat it, and do it every week for a month to show you = that it is=20 working," Kritenbrink-Foley said. The couple charges between $105 = and $300=20 per application for a small to medium-sized office.=20

Touch points

A much larger Central = Iowa=20 cleaning business, ServiceMaster Green of Des Moines, has = responded to=20 client demand by offering a menu of three additional services = beyond its=20 usual cleaning regimen. The Clive-based ServiceMaster franchisee = cleans=20 approximately 10 million square feet of office space nightly in = Greater=20 Des Moines, said Joe Johnson, the company's vice president of = operations=20 and sales.

"The response we have had has been mostly from = the=20 larger corporate clients, which may have larger budgets to work = with,"=20 Johnson said. "If the employee feels the company is providing that = additional safety, they tend to relax more and can be more = productive,=20 rather than sitting in a cubicle worrying because someone next to = them=20 went home sick with the flu."

Johnson said he has heard of = Goldshield, but "the jury is still out on whether those = antimicrobials are=20 effective," he said. "So we're falling back on using = hospital-grade=20 disinfectants. They've proven effective in killing germs that can = cause=20 influenza."

Under ServiceMaster's first tier of optional = services,=20 an employee will touch up areas of a workplace throughout the = workday with=20 a hospital-grade disinfectant called SaniMaster 6, a proprietary = product.=20

A second, more comprehensive service provides for cleaning = of=20 touch points throughout a facility. "We normally clean those touch = points=20 with a general-purpose cleaner, which does 99 percent of the job," = Johnson=20 said. "This disinfectant does 100 percent."

The third, = most=20 super-duper service, known as "terminal cleaning," is often = requested=20 after someone has gone home sick with the flu, Johnson said. It = includes=20 steam cleaning of all fabrics on the cubicle walls and furniture = within=20 the cubicle, as well as a full disinfecting of the work area = surfaces.=20

Todd Weidmaier, sales manager of Iowa-Des Moines Supply = Inc., said=20 he has not heard of any revolutionary new cleaning products = tailored=20 specifically to killing the H1N1 virus. "But there are new = products out=20 all the time," he added.

"We're having a lot of requests = for hand=20 sanitizer," Weidmaier said. "We have five hand sanitizer = manufacturers=20 that are on allocation for their products because the demand is so = high.=20 Glove and facial tissue usage has gone up, and we're even seeing = demand=20 for ventilator masks. So I think people are stocking up on = supplies they=20 think they will need if it does hit the offices." =

'A=20 lot of potential'

Athena GTX, a Des Moines-based = company that=20 markets a bleach-alternative cleaning product called a2b, is = currently=20 having the product tested by the U.S. Environmental Protection = Agency=20 (EPA) so that it can claim effectiveness against the H1N1 virus on = its=20 labeling. The product, which is a chemical variation of bleach, is = a more=20 effective disinfectant than bleach but without the harmful = environmental=20 or health effects, the company claims.

Several states = outside Iowa=20 have approved a2b for use by day-care centers, said Greg France, = Athena's=20 sales and marketing director. "We're working to get approval from = Iowa,"=20 he said. "South Carolina, which is one of the toughest states, = issued a=20 letter of approval in three weeks. It's got a lot of potential; = it's just=20 a matter of getting all our testing completed."

In Central = Iowa,=20 several companies have bought cases of the a2b powder, which the=20 businesses are distributing in individual-use packets to employees = to take=20 home to use in their home cleaning, France said. At 44 cents a = packet,=20 it's a "pretty inexpensive way" to provide some additional = assistance to=20 employees during the H1N1 outbreak and possibly avoid a sick = office, he=20 said.

Generally, "the phone hasn't been ringing off the = hook for=20 it (specifically for H1N1 use) because we're in the professional = market,=20 and they understand that if it kills one type of thing, it's = generally=20 going to be effective against other things," France said. =

However,=20 "we are looking at marketing a consumer version of the product," = he said.=20 "We have been told (the EPA) is fast-tracking (testing of) = products=20 claiming to be effective against H1N1. By the first of the year, = we hope=20 to actually change the label (to add H1N1 to the list of what a2b = kills)."=20

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