Want Truly Clean Floors? Use Professional Cleaning Equipment


The recent health crisis has caused schools, offices and retail spaces to rethink what it means to have a healthy and safe environment. Because our shoes are one of the dirtiest things we encounter every day, floors are a key battleground for preventing disease transmission.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends regular cleaning followed by disinfection, but do you know the difference between cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting?  Read on to learn:

  • What these terms mean
  • CDC-recommended cleaning and disinfection methods for floors
  • How to choose the right floor cleaning equipment
  • Why hot water is essential for killing germs and getting truly clean floors.

When to Replace Floor Sweeper Parts


Commercial floor sweepers do a great job keeping parking lots, warehouses and other operations looking their best. To get the most out of your investment, it's important to regularly replace the wearable parts such as the brushes, broom and the main dust filter. Failing to maintain the equipment can result in inefficient cleaning and damage to your machine.

When to Replace Advance Auto Floor Scrubber Parts


An industrial floor cleaning machine can give you cleaner, more hygienic floors while saving time and labor costs. To ensure you're getting clean floors, your auto scrubber needs its wearable parts replaced regularly.

Warehouse Slip Trip and Fall Injury Prevention


In California,
slip-and-fall accidents are the number one workplace injury.
  • 22 percent of incidents resulted in 31+ days away from work
  • 85 percent of worker’s compensation claims were attributed to employees slipping on slick floors
  • In California, injury settlement payouts from slip and fall lawsuits range from $40,000 to more than $12 million

Cal/OSHA receives more than 20,000 slip and fall injury reports each year, a staggering amount when you consider clean, dry floors can prevent many slip and fall incidents. Slip trip and fall injuries are especially common in warehouse and distribution center environments where:

  • Pallet fragments and other debris create hazardous conditions
  • A distracted worker carrying a box or pick list can overlook an obstruction in their path
  • A visiting staff member wearing leather-soled dress shoes may slip on a dusty floor

The best way to keep your floors safe for employees and visitors is with cleaning equipment designed for warehouses and distribution centers - not mops and brooms.

FSMA Requirements: Why Clean Floors are Essential for Food Processing Plants


The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Compliance and Certification are designed to prevent foodborne illnesses. Unfortunately,
bacterial contamination remains a leading cause of FDA recalls.

Food contamination from Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria monocytogenes has actually increased in recent years - from 28 percent of food recalls to over 31 percent. With all the rules and requirements, how is this still a problem?

How to Choose the Right Floor Scrubber Machine

Drop the Mop! Save Time and Get Cleaner Floors With a Power Scrubber. Sticky sodas and greasy drips create a safety hazard for employees and make a poor impression with customers. Things run better in a clean environment, but it can be hard to maintain.

Even low-traffic hallways accumulate a surprising amount of grime that can’t be removed with a mop; break rooms and lobbies are often twice as bad. Maintaining floors with a mop and elbow grease is time-consuming and just can’t get floors as clean as a floor scrubber machine.

Advantages of Floor Cleaning Machines vs. Manual Cleaning

Brooms and mops may seem like a smart way to save money, but for many businesses, the labor costs associated with manual cleaning are far greater than buying an industrial floor cleaning machine. To put it bluntly, just because you're saving money on equipment doesn’t mean you’re saving money.

Commercial cleaning equipment can eliminate dirt, dust, grease and grime in a fraction of the time it takes someone to sweep or scrub the area manually. Today’s auto-scrubbers and industrial sweepers are whisper quiet, have long-lasting batteries and eliminate the safety hazards associated with mops and brooms.

Time is money, and if you have a large area to keep clean, mops and brooms are inefficient. They also:

Industrial cleaning equipment can quickly pay for itself. Learn more about the advantages of using a commercial floor cleaning machine versus manual cleaning with a mop or broom:

Comparing the Cost to Rent, Lease or Buy a Floor Sweeper or Scrubber

A clean floor is the sign of a professional operation. Though more expensive than a mop or broom, floor scrubbers and sweepers give your business that professional look with less time and elbow grease. Not to mention, they leave your floors much cleaner!

In this article we’ll look at different types of floor sweepers and scrubbers and the best application for different types of units. We'll also compare the cost to rent, lease or buy a floor sweeper / scrubber.

How An Industrial Floor Cleaning Machine Can Pay for Itself

Ask any manager who’s dealt with a major incident or received a fine - nothing is more expensive than regret. Unfortunately, it can be hard to convince decision-makers to invest in new equipment to prevent accidents.

Understandably, managers are focused on improving profits. Shrinking budgets and (what can seem like) competing priorities can cause conflict between EHS managers and other decision-makers, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Industrial floor cleaning machines offer protection against fines and worker injuries and can pay for themselves through reduced labor costs. Commercial cleaning equipment is like  an insurance policy that also improves the bottom line.

Read on for more ways to get buy-in for an industrial floor cleaning machine purchase. Keep in mind, we can bring any equipment to your location for a free demo - including ride-on and walk-behind sweepers and automatic scrubbers. Toyota Material Handling Northern California (TMHNC) serves the Bay Area, Salinas and The Central Valley from Sacramento to Fresno.

Walk-Behind vs. Ride-On Floor Cleaning Equipment

Commercial floor sweepers and scrubbers are a cost-effective way to eliminate dirt, dust, grime and germs. Studies have shown that labor costs represent about 90% of the total cost to maintain floors, and an industrial cleaning machine allows operators to clean more in less time.

Once you’ve made the decision to buy a floor sweeper or scrubber, the next question is: walk-behind or ride-on? In today’s post, we’ll review the pros and cons of each option to help you choose the best sweeper or scrubber for your operation.

Nilfisk Autonomous Floor Scrubber Is The Future of Floor Cleaning

The new Nilfisk SC50 is the first OSHA-approved autonomous floor scrubber. It’s easy-to-use, runs for six hours on a single charge, and (unlike other autonomous cleaning machines) it doesn’t require a technician or engineer to set it up.

Imagine how much more your staff could accomplish if they didn’t have to manually guide a scrubber across the floor. With an autonomous scrubber-dryer, the operator can complete tasks that require human skills and dexterity, while the Nilfisk Liberty SC50 does the rest. The machine can even send the operator a text when it’s done - minimizing downtime.

Review: Advance SW8000 Industrial Floor Sweeper

Product Name: Advance SW8000
Manufacturer: Advance
Notable feature(s): Dustguard 5-stage dust control system traps dust before it becomes airborne, uses full-time dust-controlled dual side brooms, 77" sweep path.
Price Range:
$35,000 - $45,000  
Value for the money:
Good
Options: Kubota liquid propane (LP) gas or diesel motors

Best for: The SW8000 works well indoors or outdoors and is ideal for large (200,000 sq foot) operations such as parking lots, foundries, campuses, stadium concourses or dry food handling areas. It's also a good choice for operations concerned about OSHA silica dust compliance.

Not recommended for:
This machine is not recommended for wet weather or wet food handling applications. The Advance SW8000 only sweeps, and these applications require scrubbing.

View current inventory:
In-stock availability for a new Advance SW8000 floor sweeper.
Check rental inventory for the Advance SW8000 floor sweeper.

Floor Scrubber Buying Checklist

Would you like your floors to be 60-70% clean, or 95% clean? Most companies would prefer 95% - and that’s what you get with an industrial floor scrubber. When cleaning with a mop and bucket, the more you clean, the dirtier the water gets. Industrial floor cleaning equipment uses 100% clean water the entire time, leaving floors cleaner and more hygienic.

Though the upfront cost is higher, commercial floor cleaning equipment can quickly pay for itself over time. For example: an employee with a mop and bucket can clean 4,000-5,000 square feet in one hour. A small automatic floor scrubber can clean almost 13,000 square feet in the same amount of time. Larger machines can clean more than 100,000 square feet per hour - a hard-working human would need 20 hours to do the same job.

If you’re ready to get cleaner floors in less time, here’s a checklist to help with buy the right floor scrubber and avoid expensive mistakes.

Sweepers: The Economical Choice to Reduce Stormwater Pollution

Industrial sweepers are an effective and relatively inexpensive way for parking lot owners, property owners and local municipalities to manage stormwater runoff and pollution. Wherever Clean Water Act (CWA) compliance is required, an industrial sweeper can effectively remove pollutants and play a key role in a stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP).

Review: Advance SC6000 Industrial Floor Scrubber

Product Name:  
Advance SC6000
Manufacturer:  Nilfisk-Advance
Notable features: SmartFlow™ reduces water and chemical use up to 50%, SmartKey™ creates different levels of user access and integrated impact detection improves operator accountability.  The machine also has a USB charging port, and the instrument panel language can be switched from English to Spanish (or other languages).

Price Range: $26k- $29k, or $18k-$20k without EcoFlex 
Value for the money:
Excellent
Options: Dustguard 5-stage dust control system traps dust before it becomes airborne. Other options include:

  • Cylindrical or disc scrubbing
  • Hose kit
  • Vacuum wand
  • Heavy-duty bumper
  • LED headlights and warning beacon
  • Right-side broom
  • Overhead guard
  • Cruise control

Best for: The SC6000 autoscrubber can be used in retail applications with smooth surfaces and tile floors, and in large areas such as manufacturing plants, warehouses and distribution centers, or anywhere fast and efficient cleaning is a must.

Not recommended for: 
outdoor applications.

View current inventory:
In-stock availability for a new Advance SC6000 floor scrubber.
Check rental inventory for floor sweepers and scrubbers. 

Industrial Floor Sweepers for Commercial Application and OSHA Compliance

An industrial sweeper helps your business save money,  improve customer satisfaction and stay within OSHA compliance. Sweepers come in a variety of sizes from quiet walk-behinds to large ride-on machines with a massive appetite for dust.

At TMHNC we carry sweepers for a variety of applications including:
  • Warehouse and distribution centers
  • Manufacturing
  • Parking lots and parking garages
  • Municipalities
  • Corporate and college campuses
  • Foundries and lumber yards
  • Cleaning contractors
  • Event and exhibition centers
In this article we’ll identify some of the most popular models for each application, and the best machines to aid with compliance of OSHA’s new silica dust standards.

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