Could your carpet extractor make you sick?

By Brian Clark

In every building on any day of the week cleaners use commercial vacuuming equipment. Many of
these units are dry vacuums fitted with special filtration to control dust emissions from the
Vacuum exhaust, which, we all know, is essential to prevent exposure of the cleaners building
workers and visitors to the hazards of fine particulates in the indoor air. The question therefore
arises, if we are so concerned about the emissions from dry vacuums, why are we not concerned
about atomised particulates from wet vacuuming?
Wet vacuuming or water pickup devices include wet vacuums, floor scrubber driers and carpet
extraction machines. They utilise vacuum motors, or air pumps, to lift wastewater from the floor
and into a waste tank. The standard vacuum motors used in these machines can pump over 45
litres of air per second, or the equivalent of the air in a 10m3 room cycling through the system
every 4 minutes, and some units utilise 2 or more vacuum motors to increase performance. The
common denominator with this equipment that the exhaust air is nearly always unfiltered.
Studies from the dental industry show that airborne water droplets can stay suspended for extended
periods. One publication advices that ‘aerosols generated by rotary instruments produce airborne
particles, which vary greatly in size from 0.001 microns to 10,000microns’ and that aerosols
consist of small airborne particles of less than 10 microns ‘that are capable of remaining in the air
for several hours and of travelling on air currents for long distance’. What raises concern for this
industry is the statement that ‘contaminated aerosol can be inhaled into the respiratory passages
or deposited on the skin, or the mucous membranes of the eyes and mouth’. i
The diseases caused by indoor bioaerosols fall into two categories: hypersensitivity diseases and
infectious diseases. ii In order for microorganisms to release indoor bioaerosols they must get
indoors, grow and multiply on some material and then get into the air. Dirty floors, detergent
residues and the warm, wet humid recovery tanks of portable cleaning machinery provide the
perfect environment while powerful air pumps (vacuum motors) provide the ideal method for
building contamination. It is easy to imagine the enormous volumes of aerosols that are generated
daily in buildings by Scrubber dryers, wet vacuums and carpet machines that have the potential to
ride the air currents in the HVAC system for hours.
This brings in another potential concern – Legionella. According to literature, most hospital &
commercial hot water systems are colonized with legionellae, which is introduced into institutional
water distribution systems from public/municipal water systems.iii It is well documented that
infection with L. pneumophila is caused by inhalation of contaminated aerosols. iv Identified
sources include air conditioning HVAC systems, humidifiers, foggers, water misting systems,
Spray humidifiers, air washers and wet scrubbers, Eye wash showers, Sprinkler and hose reel
systems, Lathe and machine tool coolant systems, Horticultural misting systems, Indoor fountains
and water features and specialist equipment v. And last of all and possibly the least area of research
– commercial cleaning equipment.
In 1997 the US CDC reported that a legionella variation, Lp-6, was cultured from samples
obtained from various sources, including a carpet-cleaning unitvi. This discovery was part of an
extensive search for the source of nosocomioal Legionnaires disease infections that had persisted
in two US hospitals between 1987 and1996. While the hot-water systems in the hospitals were
identified as the source of the organisms, the disturbing implication is that the carpet cleaning unit
may have been a contributing factor in spreading the infection.
The design of wet extraction systems in commercial cleaning equipment has barely changed in 100
years. The airflow is used with specialist floor tools, detergent and warm water to release
contaminants, including food spills and human waste, from flooring and to collect the residue in a
sealed recovery tank, which is regularly emptied but rarely cleaned, disinfected or allowed to dry.
The corrugated extension hoses used with much of this equipment are wound up and stored,
usually without rinsing, with excess liquid collecting in the lower corrugations, ready to be
released after a period of incubation between uses.
The most important component for bio-aerosol generation & contamination is the vacuum
motor(s). These are powerful fans, spinning at high speeds, atomising collected waste into large
numbers of tiny droplets that are forcefully ejected through the exhaust port of the machine. The
exhaust port is usually a straight route out the side of the machine, conveniently at desk level, or
directed downwards onto the floor under the machine. Disturbingly, on the majority of these
machines, there is little or no provision for filtration or ability for end-users to adapt filters to
match the enormous amount of moist airflow.
Manufacturers of these machines should carefully consider the potential for infection and
environmental contamination from unfiltered wet exhaust units and take the matter in hand with
future designs. Users of wet pickup equipment should also carefully consider selection criteria
including the availability of suitable exhaust filtration and the ease and accessibility of the waste
tanks for cleaning and air drying between usages. In especially sensitive environments it may be
necessary to develop risk management strategies to minimise the potential for this highly mobile
equipment to become a source of indoor contamination with potentially infectious organisms or
consider alternative cleaning methodologies.
i
http://www.infectioncontrolservices.co.uk/dental_surgery_disinfection_zoning.htm
ii
Indoor Bioaerosols New Jersey Dept of Health and Senior Services Revised March, 1997
iii
http://www.aspenycap.org/nycap/pdf/legionella.pdf
iv
LEGIONELLOSIS RESPONSE PROTOCOL FOR NSW PUBLIC HEALTH UNITS NSW Health Revised 6
September 2004
v
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/safety/UPS0707.shtml Appendix 1
vi
Sustained Transmission of Nosocomial Legionnaires Disease -- Arizona and Ohio. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Report May 16, 1997 / 46(19);416-421 Center for Disease Control and Prevention