Pressure Wash News Summer

CALLING IN THE
BIG GUNS
that as much as 44% of a playground’s
surfaces tested positive for contaminants
such as feces, urine, mucus, saliva and other
blood borne pathogens. That compared to
only 25% of public restrooms containing
the same contaminants.
It stands to reason the same percentages
must apply to shopping carts, or
water Parks, exterior stairwells and railings,
outdoor seating and tables, high
school stadiums, municipal parks, business
plazas, shopping malls/centers -- on
and on the list goes.
The virus also can be carried around
on people’s shoes, according to the CDC.
That research, published in the agency’s
Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, tested
surface samples at Huoshenshan Hospital
in Wuhan, China, finding that the contamination
was on floors, and that half of the
ICU staff’s shoes also tested positive.
“In addition, as medical staff walk
around the ward, the virus can be tracked
all over the floor, as indicated by the 100%
rate of positivity from the floor in the
pharmacy, where there were no patients,”
the authors wrote.
HERE’S THE BOTTOM LINE: Although society
generally thinks of indoor cleaners and
sanitization when responding to fears of
the new, novel coronavirus, there is at least
enough valid concern about high-traffic
outdoor areas to warrant more attention
from governments and private businesses
alike for the routine cleaning of public
outdoor spaces.
ENTER THE
BIG GUNS--
PRESSURE WASHING
Though it may seem a bit unseemly
to talk about industries that can or will
benefit from the current and ongoing
pandemic, the fact of the matter is that
such outcomes are always the case in
life-disrupting scenarios.
24 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 2, NO. 3 | SUMMER 2020
Restoration specialists are not
to blame for profiting amid disaster
recovery efforts. Nor should professional
cleaners, who, other than perhaps
pharmaceuticals concerns and remote
technology platforms, feel guilty about
being in demand, or offering a service
intended to transform our heretofore
germ-infested society.
A recent Fortune magazine article
titled “The coronavirus cleaning boom
is coming” stated that “businesses from
restaurants to office buildings to airlines
will be going above and beyond to show
customers that they’re keeping workers
and guests as safe as possible.”
Experts say that will mean “a big
surge in spending for cleaning equipment
and staff,” according to the article.
Tim Mulrooney, a commercial services
equities analyst for William Blair, was
quoted in the article stating that will be a
“fundamental change for the industry.”
None of this is meant to infer that
exterior cleaners are happy about the rise
of the pandemic. It’s simply the reality
though that the virus is here (and may
increase in severity again in the future)
and that the pressure wash industry is
well-positioned to seize new business
opportunities that perhaps didn’t exist
before—including new, niche lines of
business easily bolted on to an operator’s
current operations.
Jimmy Welch, vice president,
engineering, at American Pressure in
Robbinsdale, Minnesota, also serves
as senior vice president of CETA (the
Cleaning Equipment Trade Association),
which works to represent all members
and the industry. Welch also chairs both
CETA’s technical committee for the
pressure washer industry and the (UL)
harmonization committee for pressure
washer safety standards. Welch has
more than four decades of experience
in all aspects of the cleaning equipment
industry, including tenures as head of
R&D/engineering for MiTM, General
Pump, Pressure Pro, and FNA group.
He is also credited in numerous industry
... businesses
from restaurants
to office
buildings to
airlines will be
going above and
beyond to show
customers that
they’re keeping
workers and
guests as safe
as possible.
patents, and has had a hand in the
design of many of the best pumps on the
market today.
Welch agrees that the current business
market is expanding for pressure wash
services. But he also offers a different
perspective on the role of the cleaning
market in fighting the pandemic.
“It is a big market out there,” Welch
said. “But I look at it differently. I look at
JIMMY WELCH
it as we are here to fight the disease, I look
at it as we’ve got a battle raging out here,
so let’s all get together and let’s go against
this full force. Let’s do our part.”
Such altruism lifts the industry in a
way that is perhaps even more important
than financial gain – it makes the industry
extremely relevant to society and gives
operators a renewed sense of purpose
that their work is meaningful and can
make a difference in people’s lives.
A CLEANER
FUTURE
Setting such altruism and warm
feelings aside for a moment, though, the
realty is (again) that as Fortune magazine
described above, business is booming and
opportunities galore are available in a
time period now often referred to as the
“the new normal.”
Welch provides the example of
the New York City subway system, which
has been utilizing nightly cleaning crews
to clean and pressure wash cars all the
way to Coney Island.
Closer to home, Welch references a bus
stop across the street from his Minnesota
offices that he says he’s witnessed being
cleaned twice in the past few months
compared to its normally scheduled maintenance
of perhaps twice in a year.
Perhaps the best example of the
increasing role pressure washers and exterior
cleaning might have on the future of
a more germ-free America is evident in
the Windy City of Chicago. There, the
Loop, Chicago’s “official” downtown
neighborhood, which includes (famously)
shopping on State Street, as well as one
of the country’s largest art museums
is scheduling weekly power washings
of its sidewalks. Part of the Chicago
Loop Alliance’s (CLA) responsibility
in managing State Street from Ida B.
Wells to Wacker drives includes these
weekly pressure washes.
“Now that the spread of COVID-19
is a worldwide concern, CLA and its
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