“But, that definition is not as simple as it appears. “We define clean as the absence of any foreign body, dirt or residue on a surface,” says Taylor Stewart, president and chief operating officer at EnvirOx LLC. “Using both of these descriptions of cleaning, we can define cleaning as any system, process or procedure that removes visible and invisible soil and also helps protect human health,” says Morrison. Previously, in his book Protecting the Built Environment, Berry wrote, “Health protection was, is and always will be the primary benefit of cleaning.”
Michael Berry offered the following definition at CIRI’s event: Cleaning is the removal of visible and invisible soil through mechanical and manual processes. “No, there is not one definition for the word ‘cleaning’ that is accepted by all and this has really hindered our industry,” remarks Tom Morrison, vice president of marketing for Kaivac Inc., a manufacturer that played a significant role at the CIRI symposium. This central issue - identifying accepted industry definitions for clean and cleaning - was addressed at the Cleaning Industry Research Institute (CIRI) symposium held recently in Las Vegas.
And, if professional cleaning workers have a hard time defining the importance of their duties, how can we expect customers and facility owners to emphasize the importance of cleaning? For example, even though a room in a hospitality facility might be free of contamination and disease, does a customer view the entire hotel room as safe if he or she finds a strand of hair in the shower? In another example, a malodorous restroom can be visually clean and free of debris however, the user might view the room as dirty and unsafe because of its odor.Ĭertainly, experienced professional cleaners know that the meaning of cleaning goes far beyond making sure an area is free of dirt and contamination from the surface of “something.” But, since before the 12th century, when the word “clean” was first used in print, cleaners have been performing a task (cleaning) for which they cannot provide a clear definition. Those who read and accept the previous sentence as truth most likely have little real in-the-field experience. According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, the definition of the word “clean” is: “Free from dirt or pollution … free from contamination or disease an act of cleaning dirt especially from the surface of something.”