When it comes to cleaning and disinfecting, choosing the right tool for the job is only half the battle. Regardless of the quality of the disinfectants a commercial cleaning company employs, lack of training can greatly diminish a cleaning crew’s results.
One aspect of cleaning that is often overlooked is dwell time. Dwell time is the amount of time a disinfectant needs to remain on a surface in order to reach its peak effectiveness.
Each disinfectant has a different dwell time based on the chemicals that comprise it, that’s why it’s important to check each cleaning product individually for its dwell time. One of the biggest mistakes you will see is wiping down a surface immediately after spraying it with a disinfectant. Giving the disinfectant time to remain on the surface increases the amount of germs and diseases it can kill.
The dwell time of disinfectants can range from thirty seconds to ten minutes. If a cleaning company is using EPA Registered disinfectants, the dwell time or contact time will trend towards ten minutes. Even a minute of dwell time can be enough for most disinfectants to be effective, but it is recommended to check anyway.
The last thing to remember when it comes to dwell time is that the amount of time a disinfectant needs to remain on a surface doesn’t reflect its quality. Just because one disinfectant needs less time than another, doesn’t automatically make it a better choice. Different types of surfaces require different types of cleaning products.