Vaughan
January 02, 2008 09:41 PM
By: Michael Power
York Central Hospital is cleaning up its act, in a safer and more efficient way than ever before.
The health centre has reduced the chemicals it uses when mopping floors by switching to microfibre mops, said the hospital’s director of environmental services, Mike Taylor.
The mops, which the hospital has used for several years, allow staff to use only about four litres of cleaning solution rather than the 16 litres a traditional mop and bucket would use, Mr. Taylor said. The mops consist of a flat head with a microfibre pad on it.
“It’s far superior to regular cloth,” Mr Taylor said.
A paper from the Sustainable Hospitals Project at the University of Massachusetts notes microfibre mops cut down on chemicals that can cause skin burns and respiratory irritation.
York Central was the first hospital in North America to adopt the cleaning system. The facility uses the microfibre mops in areas not designated for patient care. The environmentally friendly system helped the hospital reduce its use of chemicals (and associated costs) by 70 per cent in the first two-and-a-half years of use. The cloths used with the mops are laundered in-house.
In 2004, the hospital also replaced 232 regular flush toilets with low-flow toilets. The move has lowered the hospital’s water consumption by 112,000 litres per day and has saved the facility $55,000 annually in operating costs.
As well, York Central has recently retro-fitted its boilers to heat the building. The new boilers have features called economizers that help heat water.
Previously, water came from the ground and went into the heaters, which then warmed it. Now, the water enters the heaters already warmed, goes into the ecomonizer, which heats the water as needed.
That means water heaters don’t have to work as hard to get water to its hottest.