Maintaining a clean and hygienic industrial facility is crucial for productivity, safety, and compliance. However, running an industrial facility presents unique cleaning challenges that can be difficult to navigate. Business owners, facility managers, and in-house staff face a range of obstacles daily, from dealing with stubborn grime and hazardous materials to ensuring efficient workflows.

In this blog post, MWAC’s industrial cleaning specialists help you explore the top challenges in sanitizing and disinfecting industrial spaces and provide practical strategies to help you overcome them.

Whether you manage a manufacturing plant, a pharmaceutical lab, a food processing plant, or any other type of industrial business, these insights will equip you with the knowledge needed to optimize your cleaning operations and maintain a spotless, safe, and compliant work environment.

Safety First: Managing Hazards in Industrial Environments

Safely navigating the hazards present in industrial environments should be a top priority for your business.

The first step is to conduct a thorough risk assessment to identify all potential hazards like:

Toxic chemicals
Biological waste
Fall risks

With this knowledge, you can select a cleaning agency that implements robust safety protocols. You’ll also have the opportunity to provide comprehensive training to ensure your in-house cleaning technicians are equipped to handle these hazardous substances properly.

Personal protective equipment (PPE), including hazmat suits, respirators, and chemical-resistant gloves, are essential to shield cleaners from exposure to harmful substances.

Warehouses, manufacturing plants, and processing facilities that don’t outsource cleaning responsibilities to a third-party industrial cleaning business should invest in specialized equipment and cleaning solutions designed to neutralize and contain hazardous materials. Proper labeling and storage are necessary to mitigate environmental risks, and following strict disposal procedures for hazardous waste is essential.

Whether your cleaners are employed at your facility or contracted to sanitize and disinfect your space, ensuring all cleaning staff follow these protocols remains the key to safeguarding your operations and everyone on its premises.

When you proactively address safety concerns and empower your cleaning teams with the proper knowledge and tools, you protect your workers, clients, and your surrounding community from the dangers posed by hazardous industrial environments.

Tackling Tough Stains and Contaminants

Getting rid of tough stains and contaminants involves identifying the composition of stubborn deposits and then applying the correct techniques to remove them.

Stains can be oil-based, mineral-based, or made from a combination of materials.

Identifying a stain’s specific composition means your cleaners can select the most effective cleaning agents and techniques to break down and remove the contaminants without damaging sensitive surfaces or equipment.

High-powered pressure washers, industrial-grade scrubbers, and custom-blended detergents are just some of the tools commonly used by experienced industrial cleaners.

Strategies for Cleaning Large Spaces Efficiently

Cleaning expansive industrial facilities, including warehouses, manufacturing plants, and distribution centers, requires a strategic, systematic approach to maximize productivity and minimize disruptions to your ongoing operations.

Experienced industrial cleaning crews leverage a variety of techniques to tackle these large-scale cleaning challenges.

Here’s how they do it:

Planning cleaning schedules and workflows to align with your facility’s operational goals.
Identifying optimal times and methods to avoid interfering with critical workflows.
Using ride-on scrubbers, auto-scrubbers, and other specialized equipment to cover vast floor areas quickly and efficiently.
Employing innovative cleaning solutions, including microfiber mops and electrostatic sprayers, to reach high ceilings, catwalks, and other hard-to-access areas without requiring extensive manual labor.

It’s possible to match the highest standards of cleanliness and safety by breaking down your facility into manageable zones and deploying teams of cleaners trained to work in coordination with each other. Doing this makes it much easier to maintain even the largest, most complex spaces.

Navigating Regulatory Compliance in Industrial Cleaning

Different industries have unique regulatory standards for sanitation, hygiene, and waste disposal that industrial sites must follow to avoid penalties and business disruptions.

Developing customized compliance frameworks and training cleaning staff is crucial to meet these diverse requirements.

Here’s what you can do to safeguard your business, your employees, your clients, and your surrounding community:

Conduct frequent audits and inspections.
Implement robust safety management systems.
Stay informed about evolving regulations and best practices.
Maintain air quality and ventilation systems.
Engage environmental health and safety consultants to develop, implement, and audit compliance programs.
Invest in cleaners with experience disinfecting facilities and equipment like yours.

Optimizing Industrial Facility Cleaning Schedules to Minimize Downtime

Maintaining a clean and well-functioning industrial facility requires a carefully orchestrated cleaning schedule that minimizes disruptions to critical operations.

Experienced industrial cleaners work closely with facility managers to develop customized cleaning plans that align with production workflows and peak activity periods. By mapping out cleaning tasks on an hourly, daily, and weekly basis, they identify optimal windows to perform essential maintenance without impacting productivity.

Strategically scheduling tasks like floor scrubbing, equipment sanitization, and waste removal during off-peak hours or scheduled downtime ensures your facility remains spotless and compliant without causing costly delays.

Industrial facilities like yours can maintain the highest cleanliness and safety standards while maximizing uptime and operational continuity through this collaborative, data-driven approach to scheduling.

Addressing High Traffic Areas and Soil Buildup

Almost every industrial space has certain high-traffic areas prone to more soil accumulation than other parts of your building.

Here’s what you can do to stay on top of hygiene in these spaces:

Spot clean where possible: Implement spot cleaning procedures to address spills and stains promptly before they have a chance to become deeply embedded. Quick response to spills can prevent soil buildup and maintain the cleanliness of high-traffic areas.
Increase floor protection: Use protective measures, including entrance mats, rugs, or floor coatings, to reduce soil accumulation in high-traffic areas.
Optimize traffic flow: Analyze your facility’s layout and consider optimizing traffic flow to reduce congestion in frequently used areas. By rerouting traffic or implementing designated walkways, you can minimize wear and tear on specific areas and distribute traffic more evenly throughout your building.
Schedule regular cleaning services: Establishing regular cleaning schedules for high-traffic areas ensures they’re cleaned frequently enough to prevent excessive soil buildup. Daily or weekly cleaning routines help maintain cleanliness and prevent soil from becoming difficult to remove.

Overcoming Complexity: Cleaning in Specialized Environments

Cleaning in highly specialized industrial settings like food processing plants and manufacturing facilities presents a unique set of challenges that require a tailored approach.

These environments are often characterized by complex equipment, sensitive materials, and stringent regulatory requirements that demand heightened expertise and precision from industrial cleaning crews.

To overcome this complexity, facility managers should partner with cleaning providers with extensive industry experience. These specialized teams understand the hazards, contaminants, and cleaning protocols required to maintain compliance and operational integrity.

Working with an experienced commercial cleaning agency helps ensure sensitive environments remain spotless, safe, and fully compliant, even in the face of unique cleaning, disinfection, and hazardous material management challenges.

Strategic Industrial Facility Cleaning Services Protect Your Business Operations

You may already be familiar with the top challenges that affect industrial facilities because you spend your day in one. Now, you can employ our suggested solutions and lean into operations, knowing your commercial disinfection responsibilities are handled.

Strategic industrial cleaning services act as a safeguard, protecting your business from the unexpected and preserving your competitive edge. Do you want to learn more about industrial cleaning best practices or hire an industrial cleaning partner? Call MWAC at (905) 846-7796 to set up an obligation-free initial consultation.