Greener and Cleaner: Sodexo Combines Cutting Edge Technologies with Health Care Best Practices to Provide Tailored Environmental Services

(3BL Media) Gaithersburg, MD - April 11, 2012 - Demonstrating that what is best for health and wellness is often beneficial to the environment as well, Sodexo health care environmental services combines the latest technologies with best employee engagement practices to maximize cleanliness that is so critical in a hospital environment.

The latest technologies enable Sodexo, the leader in quality of life services including environmental services and cleaning, to reduce labor by a third, eliminate 90 percent of chemicals and two-thirds of the water used. Knowing which are most effective in a variety of health care settings has enabled Sodexo to reduce hospital acquired infections, improve patient and staff satisfaction and contributed to bottom line savings for its more than 1,700 client hospitals.

“We partner with our clients, assess their needs and bring them the best solution, or blend of solutions to enhance their performance,” says Larry Garrone, Environmental Services Research & Development Brand Manager. “Thanks to great partners like Clarke, Tennant, 3M, Ecolab, and Xenex we can provide a level of cleanliness and service that is unmatched.”

• Reducing infection rates 20 times: Sodexo leads the market by using pulsed Xenon ultraviolet light to disinfect patient rooms, silently killing a variety of the most dangerous superbugs, including Clostridium difficile endospores (C. diff), MRSA, VRE, and Acinetobacter without chemicals. Sodexo’s program combines the Xenex technology with state of the art cleaning training and standards which research shows is 20 times more effective than standard cleaning practices.
• Reducing slips and falls in a quarter of the time: The orbital scrubbing technology from Clarke floor cleaning equipment matched up with 3M’s floor pad technologies has enabled Sodexo to remove floor finish without the use of high alkaline chemical stripping solutions.  Use of this system improves indoor air quality, reduces slip/fall hazards and improved productivity from more than an hour to 15 minutes. In addition, this has eliminated the need to coordinate with nursing staff to ensure that people with chemical sensitivities are not present.  
• Reducing water by a third: Sodexo utilizes Tennant automatic floor scrubbing machines equipped with ECH2O technology to improve productivity, eliminate the use of chemicals during routine daily cleaning of floors and cut the use of water by a third.
• Decreasing labor costs and minimizing waste: Sodexo has selected Ecolab Maxx Durable finish, the most advanced floor finish technology available. It provides our customers a long lasting uniform appearance and gloss that resist the negative impact of alcohol hand sanitizers, minimizes the frequency needed to perform routine burnishing and disruptive labor intensive floor restoration processes. Maxx is applied utilizing the Phazer applicator which minimizes floor finish waste, decreases labor costs, minimizes product packaging waste and most importantly improves indoor air quality.

“When we clean the floor or prepare a room we know that we are having an impact on the patient experience as well as their outcome,” explains Garrone. “That’s why we see our role in environmental services as a part of the health care team.”

Sodexo’s Better Tomorrow Plan for sustainability includes commitments to reduce water intensity, promote health and wellness solutions, to reduce waste and to source and promote sustainable equipment and supplies.

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About Sodexo

Sodexo in North America
Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), leading Quality of Daily Life Solutions company in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, delivers On-site Service Solutions in Corporate, Education, Health Care, Government, and Remote Site segments, and Motivation Solutions such as Esteem Pass. Sodexo, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., funds all administrative costs for the Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $17 million in grants to end childhood hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at www.sodexoUSA.com/blog.

Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Daily Life Solutions
Quality of Life plays an important role in the progress of individuals and the performance of organizations. Based on this conviction, Sodexo acts as a partner for companies and institutions that place a premium on performance and employee well-being, as it has since Pierre Bellon founded the company in 1966. Sharing the same passion for service, Sodexo’s 413,000 employees in 80 countries design, manage and deliver an unrivaled array of Quality of Life Services. Sodexo has created a new form of service business that contributes to the fulfillment of its employees and the economic, social and environmental development of the communities, regions and countries in which it operates.