Robotic Floor Scrubber to Reduce the Burden of Hospital Maintenance Staff | Local News
QUINCY – Blessing Health System hopes to reduce the burden on housekeeping staff to maintain and disinfect each floor of the hospital with its acquisition of a self-contained floor scrubber.
Dave Wakely, director of environmental services at Blessing, said the hospital is nearly a million square feet and requires many man-hours to clean and disinfect each floor.
“Typically, it takes three full-time positions to get the full square footage of the hospital each night, which will almost eliminate one full-time FTE,” Wakely said. “That way we can allocate resources elsewhere.”
Unlike other automated scrubbers that require sensors to be installed throughout an entire facility, Wakely said Blessing’s machine uses on-board cameras to scan an area.
In addition to sweeping a floor, the onboard ultraviolet irradiation technology allows the scrubber to also disinfect the area.
The operator then receives text messages when he completes a floor or if something obstructs it.
With the scrubber cleaning hallways and lobbies to proper healthcare standards, staff can engage in other critical work like disinfection of the treatment area.
Currently, the scrubber is only scheduled for a few floors, but Wakely said he needs to schedule it to clean the entire hospital.