Expo lessons a potential lifesaver for aged care facilities

The 2022 ISSA Cleaning & Hygiene Expo will showcase the latest cleaning products and health lessons at a time when aged care and retirement facilities are combatting a new wave of COVID-19 outbreaks.

The latest innovations around disinfection and sanitisation for aged care and retirement facilities will go on show at the 2022 ISSA Cleaning & Hygiene Expo in Sydney on 14-15 September.

The Expo will allow cleaners, chemical suppliers and hygiene-product distributors – who have been at the forefront of safeguarding aged care centres and healthcare facilities during the pandemic – to come together for the first time since the start of COVID-19.

ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, is hosting the event at the Sydney International Convention Centre. Lauren Micallef, Oceania manager ISSA, says the event gives aged care CEOs, decision-makers and procurement officers access to the latest industry trends and knowledge. “They’ll be able to see and hear about innovations that could potentially save lives in facilities where people are residing or being cared for,” Micallef says.

Market innovations

This year’s event will feature more than 3,000 attendees, 70 exhibitors, more than 40 speakers, 16 free-to-attend speaker sessions, plus four other workshops. 

Mark Phelan, commercial director – Professional at Freudenberg Home and Cleaning Solutions, silver sponsor, will be attending the event. He says the Expo is the “perfect stage” to introduce new products and solutions to the market. “We’re looking to this event to show our cleaning solutions and see what the other exhibitors are proposing,” he says.

Phelan believes that making connections and understanding the latest trends in healthcare and other sectors is the key at the Expo. “It’s the possibility to talk to people, understand what the new directions and challenges are and be inspired to improve and be better in what we do.”

At the two-day event in Darling Harbour, Associate Professor Dr Gavin Macgregor-Skinner, senior director of the Global Biorisk Advisory Council, will co-present a session on ‘How Unseen Is Now the Seen in Cleaning, Disinfection and Infectious Disease Prevention for Facilities’. It will cover technical issues on cleanliness testing, cleaning challenges and methods, and the best methods of disinfection to ensure that human safety is improved.

“With more people realising that the built environment influences their health, cleaning for health is a key issue for everyone,” Dr Macgregor-Skinner says. “When you clean you need to follow evidence-based practices to create a healthier clean, avoid cross-contamination and avoid potentially toxic cleaning procedures.”

He urges aged care and retirement facility managers to use third-party programs such as ISSA’s GBAC STAR to make sure cleaning procedures, products and equipment focus on the health requirements of the built environment, as well as cleaning workers and building occupants.

“We’re finding more people with chemical sensitivities and that improper cleaning can damage surfaces and be very costly to repair or replace. Our goal of ‘first, do no harm’ is that we don’t harm the building occupants, our workers, and the built environment, but at the same time we eliminate the germs that make us sick.”

Dr Greg Whiteley, executive chairman of Whiteley, will co-present the session with Dr Macgregor-Skinner. He says the Expo is a vital part of the cleaning industry, “especially this year as it gives all attendees the ability to tap into the latest industry trends as businesses emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.”

Education to the fore

The education program at the Expo promises to be a highlight and will cover a wide range of important topics, including corporate social responsibility; technology and innovation; aged care cleaning and hygiene; and the risk of working with chemicals.

Micallef encourages aged care and retirement facility representatives to attend the Expo. “There is no other event like this in the southern hemisphere and it gives facilities a chance to be industry leaders when it comes to cleaning, health and hygiene.”

To register for free to attend the 2022 ISSA Cleaning & Hygiene Expo, visit www.issacleaninghygieneexpo.com