National Custodian Day - October 2, 2020

National Custodian Day is celebrated every year on October 2. That's Friday this week.  

Custodians keep schools, hospitals, businesses, senior homes and more clean and healthy for the occupants.  And this year, with the outbreak of COVID-19, their challenges have been even greater and more risky.  Battling this unseen virus and pioneering the front lines to protect others can be daunting. However, custodians around the world forge ahead and continue to work at keeping the globe safe.  

Often overlooked and sometimes disdained, the outbreak of COVID-19 has brought to the fore the real need and importance that custodians play in the world.  People everywhere are realizing what an important job they perform.  

So, give a custodian an air-five or virtual hug during National Custodian Day.  Keep your distance, use a mask and wash your hands frequently to help custodians around the world keep this virus at bay!  

Good job!  Keep up the great work!

Exploding Johns! Watch Out!

Flushmate II 501-B pressure-assisted flushing systems were installed in toilets between 1996 and 2013.  Several of these have exploded over the years causing injury to 1,446 people and $710,000 in property damage.  It might be wise to check the serial numbers provided in this article regarding these dangerous latrines. 

Secondary Labeling - Why?

How often have you seen a spray bottle or jug with some liquid in it but no label, not even one that is written on it with a marker?  And if you have, did you wonder what was in the bottle?  That's where trouble brews.  Unmarked bottles and jugs can invite fines and can kill.  Here's an article from cmmonline.com that shows just how deadly not marking these secondary containers can be. 

Widespread confusion about the proper use of water jugs and storage of cleaning chemicals at a Brighton, England, hospital led to the death of an 85-year-old woman, according to the findings of a jury in a coroner court inquest, ITV News reports.

The woman died in September 2017, six days after drinking floor cleaning fluid from a water jug at her bedside table. A nurse had poured the fluid into a glass and gave it to the woman to drink with her medicine. As the jug was solid green, the nurse could not see the liquid inside before pouring it. After the patient began coughing and then vomiting minutes after drinking the liquid, the nurse found a container of floor cleaning fluid in an open cupboard near the patient’s bed. According to hospital protocols, the fluid should have been locked inside a nearby storage room.

The jury ruled that housekeeping staff had inconsistent and inadequate understanding of cleaning procedures, due in part to management’s failure to direct and monitor staff and to enforce proper storage of hazardous chemicals. Evidence presented at the inquest also led the jury to believe there was widespread confusion about a water jug system in place at the hospital.

The previous year another patient had accidently drank cleaning fluid from a water jug but did not die.

Read about proper chemical and cleaning supplies storage to keeps cleaning staff organized and prevent accidents.

Big Cat, Little Bees - Beware of These!

When working alone, at night, in a rural area, where wildlife roams and so on, custodians always need to keep on the watch for not only unsavory humans, but wildlife as well.  Here's a couple articles about a maintenance worker encountering a cougar at work and about a housekeeper that ran into 80,000 bees nesting in a drainage pipe.  The maintenance worker got away unscathed, but the housekeeper ended up in the hospital in serious condition having been stung over 200 times.  So always be aware of your surroundings and stay alert!

Cougar 

Bees