Environmental swabbing / positive hits / cleaning of drains
Morning All,
I would like some feed back on cleaning and swabbing of drains. What is the appropriate way to swab a drain, or a procedure for swabbing drains? I heard some just do the drain cover, some remove drain cover and swab the bowl and some even go down into the drain. Just looking for a solid proper way on swabbing drains.
We have a bit a drain problem with a couple of positive hits ( listeria) and a couple of trouble drains with reoccurring hits. The drain cleaning procedure is very general- collect debris, remove lid, clean out drain bowl, pre-rinse, apply cleaning solution ( HC-10-Ecolab) with dedicated brush, scrub down, rinse with water then apply a quat base sanitizer ( Boost -3200-3201-ecolab) by pouring from a 5 gal. bucket. Is there something different we should be doing???
Any advice, directions will be grateful..... :helpplease:
Hi noahchris97,
If you are having problems then you want to find the source so a program to swab all areas of the drains in question. It pays to have a diagram in number swab points for reference.
For investigation purposes you should swab before and after cleaning as this will tell you how effective your cleaning is.
A sample cleaning procedure here.
Floor and Drains Cleaning Procedure Sample.pdf 469.59KB 535 downloads
I would say that spraying a disinfectant would give you more effective disinfection than pouring a solution down the drain. If it doesn't make your floors too slippy I would not carry out the final rinse and leave the disinfectant in contact.
Regards,
Tony
Completely agree with Tony-C. Are the drains free flowing? Also inspect the drains, are there cracks or areas that are difficult to clean? What material is the drain made of, stainless steel, plastic?? If your drains are compatible, you could try a shock sanitiser like peroxyacetic acid.
Completely agree with Tony-C. Are the drains free flowing? Also inspect the drains, are there cracks or areas that are difficult to clean? What material is the drain made of, stainless steel, plastic?? If your drains are compatible, you could try a shock sanitiser like peroxyacetic acid.
PS1- Drains are free flowing also the drains are made up all differently. Some are cast iron, some plastic, some stainless steel, molded concrete. The building is old and has been added on to.
Are the reoccuring drains near eachother and/or on the same central trunk? In a former plant we had 2 in the same room causing us trouble, we foamed cleaned the entire room (ecolab product, dont remember what) but paying special attention to the wall/floor junctions, undersides of tank & equipment, and the legs of equipment. After our deep clean we inspected these same ares for cracks or anywhere that would harbor water and patched them. While we did swab there ares too we found no root cause but it couldnt have hurt.
Also yes switching up both your regular soap and sanitizer for a week or so once every couple of months is a good idea. If all else fails talk to your Ecolab rep and ask for recommendations, thats what you're paying them for ;)
Best of luck these were/are my least favorite!
G
This is slightly OT in that I have no Listeria-specific verification data. it would be an add-on to the customised treatments already discussed.
Based on my experience in wet production facilities with raw material which at times undoubtedly has substantial micro.flora of all kinds, one feature which relates to overall background micro. levels from the floor upwards is the use of in-plant chorination of the water supply.
I appreciate there are potential negative comments / local/customer restrictions but having had the opportunity to observe and measure I can only say that the micro. difference between usage levels of <0.1ppm (eg typical water supply) and 0.5 ppm free chlorine can be significant.
IMO it is the continuous nature of the application and, in the present case, probably the exit route also which accentuates this benefit.
This is slightly OT in that I have no Listeria-specific verification data. it would be an add-on to the customised treatments already discussed.
Based on my experience in wet production facilities with raw material which at times undoubtedly has substantial micro.flora of all kinds, one feature which relates to overall background micro. levels from the floor upwards is the use of in-plant chorination of the water supply.
I appreciate there are potential negative comments / local/customer restrictions but having had the opportunity to observe and measure I can only say that the micro. difference between usage levels of <0.1ppm (eg typical water supply) and 0.5 ppm free chlorine can be significant.
IMO it is the continuous nature of the application and, in the present case, probably the exit route also which accentuates this benefit.
Yes that is a fair point :thumbup:
Regards,
Tony
I swab the bowl of the drain and if I detect I try to find the source. Also, contact time is important in sanitising... a thing which can be overlooked by production who are always in a hurry to get going, but slow to put their hands up when the Listeria appears ....... Also having slightly chlorinated water in the plant is a big help with listeria.
By the way....I'm back after a horrible month which culminated in a Grade A BRC with 4 non conformances...
Floor and Drains Cleaning Procedure Sample.pdf
I know this post is super old but please tell me this has been updated? This procedure can lead a lot of people down the wrong path.
Try ZEP or Sterilex Biofilm drain foaming chemicals. We used both at some point on our drains, and have been very effective.
Just realized am replying to a very old post, though the topic of discussion will never get old!
Floor and Drains Cleaning Procedure Sample.pdf
I know this post is super old but please tell me this has been updated? This procedure can lead a lot of people down the wrong path.
Hi hazmeany,
Nice 1st post, if I didn't know better I would say it is trolling.
I'm happy to amend and update it if you tell me what is wrong with the sample procedure.
Kind regards,
Tony
Hi hazmeany,
Nice 1st post, if I didn't know better I would say it is trolling.
I'm happy to amend and update it if you tell me what is wrong with the sample procedure.
Kind regards,
Tony
Hello,
I am not a troll. I am a training consultant specializing in Quality Assurance and sanitation. I basically write SOP's for a living.
I do not want to offend but I do want to point a few things out. This SOP is over 5 years old so I am assuming it has been working for you.
The first thing that caused alarm is that using a hose in drains is always a bad idea. It would have to be VERY low pressure to not create any back splash.
The next thing is that the area around the drains should be rinsed before they are taken apart. This ensures that the stuff around the drains does not go into a clean drain possibly recontaminating the clean drain. For my procedures I have the area around the drains cleaned before and after we clean the drains. Basically brushing a the floor around the drain with cleaner, cleaning the drain, rinsing with water and then sanitize. This of course isnt possible in all locations.
Another big thing your procedure does not specify is if the brushes and squeegees used are drain only. Having multiple colors for drain equipment does help distinguish the locations that are being cleaned BUT anything that goes into a drain should not be used in any other location in the plant. Also are all of those items pictured used to clean the drains? This can cause confusion for someone trying to write the SOP for drains. The less equipment you use to clean the drains the smaller the chances of miss handling and cross contaminating.
With that in mind any sanitizing solution used to clean drain cleaning equipment should be disposed of immediately after use.
Lastly, is the PPE used chemical resistant and is it drain specific as well?