Welcome to Servicemaster Clean

To the general public, these three terms — clean, disinfect, sanitize — are often used interchangeably. However, to a cleaning professional, these terms are not the same and can refer to very different outcomes. According to Public Health Canada and the U.S. Center for Disease Control, the definition of these terms are as follows:

Clean

This refers to the removal of visible dirt and debris through the use of soap or detergent and water. While this process may remove germs from surfaces, it does not necessarily kill the germs. This said, the mere act of germ removal lowers their numbers and does help in reducing the risk of infection.

Disinfect

With disinfection, germs are actually KILLED on surfaces through the use of chemicals. This process does not necessarily clean dirty surfaces or remove germs, but by killing germs on a surface after cleaning, it can further lower the risk of spreading infection.

Sanitize

Lastly, the term sanitize has its roots in the word “Sanitary” which is defined as “of or relating to health”. When you keep this in mind, to sanitize means lowering the number of germs on surfaces to a safe level, as judged by public health standards or requirements. This can be achieved by either cleaning and/or disinfecting surfaces to lower the risk of spreading infection.
Not to confuse you anymore, but as an added bonus, we’ll also define the term “sterilize” which is the process in which chemicals are used to kill ALL microbial life including bacteria, viruses, spores and fungi. This is a process that is very rarely undertaken in a facility outside of a healthcare setting.

So, for a cleaning professional, our disinfection process for your commercial facility is routinely a 2-step process - We clean first, then disinfect - in order to provide you with a sanitary facility in which to work!

Sources:

1. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/school/cleaning.htm
2. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/cleaning-disinfecting-public-spaces.html
3. https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/bp-cleaning-disinfection-sterilization-hcs.pdf?la=en
4. https://www.foodsafety.ca/blog/understanding-difference-between-cleaning-sanitizing-sterilizing

The ServiceMaster Clean Quality Assurance Program is designed to establish a continuous method of evaluating and monitoring janitorial services. The program is tailored to suit various types of complex office buildings, plants, schools, malls and healthcare facilities. ServiceMaster Clean of Fredericton can assure you that your premises will benefit from the highest level of quality control available at all times by combining highly trained staff with state-of-the-art software driven technologies that allow stakeholders to communicate concerns in real time.

If you need help maintaining routine cleanliness conditions in your workplace, you may want to call in a professional like ServiceMaster Clean to sanitize and disinfect.
Our expert technicians are trained to clean first to break organic loads and remove gross soiling. Then they sanitize or disinfect as appropriate.
When we do this, we follow the guidelines set in place by the health officials such as WHO and Health Canada. There are many methods of disinfection and you can be assured that your technician is trained to do each in the recommended manner. Our technicians also use appropriate PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) with your security and privacy in consideration.