The infection control LCDC guidelines (December, 1998) have defined cleaning as "the physical removal of all foreign material, e.g. dust, soil, organic material such as blood, secretions, excretions and microorganisms. Proper cleaning is generally sufficient for the decontamination of the inanimate health care environment. This is because the inanimate environment is seldom directly responsible for disease.
Summary of Study
The study of the cleaning performance of products intended for use on ceramic or vinyl tiles is completed using the ASTM D 5343 (ceramic) or ASTM D 4488 test method (vinyl). These test methods provide techniques for soiling, cleaning, and evaluating performance of detergent systems under controlled, but practical, hard-surface cleaning conditions1. The soil application is completed in a standardized manner to a ceramic or vinyl tile surface. The soiled surfaces are cleaned using a Gardner straight-line washability apparatus2. The Gardner straight line washability machine uses a quantitative method to evaluate the performance of hard surface cleaners in a consistent manner. The cleaned substrates are then evaluated using reflectance measurements. The cleaning efficiency is defined as the ratio of the measured reflectance after cleaning to the original reflectance, multiplied by 100 resulting in a percentage of soil reduction.
Cleaning Efficacy as per ASTM 4488-95/A5
| Product Dilution Cleaning Efficacy |
| General Purpose Cleaner |
1:64 |
96.7% |
| 1:128 |
96.3% |
| 1:256 |
94.6% |
| Alpha HP / G-Force H2O2 |
1:64 |
92.5% |
| 1:128 |
86.2% |
| 1:256 |
80.6% |
| Virox 5 / PerCept / Accel |
RTU |
93.2% |
Cleaning Efficacy as per ASTM 4488-89
| Product |
Cleaning Efficacy |
| Hydrox GPC |
77.3% |
| Hydrox 2 |
74.6% |
| Virox 5 / PerCept / Accel Wipes |
58.0% |
| Virox 5 / PerCept / PeroxiGard / Accel |
68.7% |
Cleaning Efficacy as per ASTM 5343
| Product |
Cleaning Efficacy |
| Hydrox GPC |
46.4% |
| Hydrox 2 |
33.6% |
| Virox 5 / PerCept / Accel Wipes |
74.0% |
| Virox 5 / PerCept / PeroxiGard / Accel |
83.9% |