Restaurant Floor Cleaning: The Proper Process for Each Surface
Restaurant floor cleaning is about more than making a floor look clean.
A floor can appear spotless and still create a slip hazard.
Grease, soil, cleaning chemicals, and other contaminants can build up on restaurant floors over time. That buildup can affect the surface and its slip resistance.
That’s why proper cleaning starts with understanding the floor itself.
Restaurant Floor Cleaning Is Not One-Size-Fits-All
Different flooring surfaces require different cleaning methods.
The proper restaurant floor cleaning process should consider three basic things:
- The type of flooring
- The type of contamination
- The cleaning product and process
A cleaning chemical that works well on one surface may not be appropriate for another.
More cleaning product isn’t necessarily better, either.
The wrong chemical, improper dilution, dirty equipment, or inadequate rinsing can leave residue behind.
In other words:
A floor isn’t necessarily safe just because someone cleaned it.
Grease and Restaurant Kitchen Floors
Kitchen floors present an additional challenge.
Grease, food debris, soil, and cleaning-product residue can accumulate over time. Repeated exposure can contribute to a film on the flooring surface.
Simply running a mop across that surface may not adequately remove the buildup.
Effective restaurant floor cleaning requires the proper product, equipment, concentration, technique, and frequency for the flooring and contaminants involved.
Floor Cleaning Procedures and Slip Resistance
Restaurant management should establish written procedures for floor cleaning and maintenance.
Those procedures may address:
- Approved cleaning products
- Proper chemical dilution
- Cleaning frequency
- Mops and cleaning equipment
- Rinsing procedures
- Grease removal
- Spill response
- Wet-floor signs and warning devices
- Floor mats and runners
- Employee training
Managers should also evaluate whether the cleaning program is actually working.
If the floor remains greasy, slick, or contaminated after cleaning, something needs another look.
Restaurant Floor Cleaning and Employee Training
Employees need more than a mop and a bucket.
They need to understand which products to use, how to use them, and which procedures apply to different flooring surfaces.
They should also know how to respond to spills and other temporary hazards.
Management oversight matters here.
A written cleaning procedure accomplishes very little if employees are not trained to follow it.
Restaurant Floor Cleaning in Slip and Fall Cases
After a restaurant slip and fall, the cleaning process may become an important area of expert witness analysis.
These details can help explain the condition of the floor at the time of an incident.
Restaurant floors don’t become safe simply because someone says they were cleaned.
The right surface. The right product. The right process. The right training.
Call Restaurant Expert Witness today. 800.300.5764