Lecture Report of the 125th Lumitester Seminar

Public cleaning service
and utilization of the ATP test
in a ‘Post-Coronavirus Era’

Presenter
Manager, New Standard
Promotion Project (concurrent post),
Healthcare FM Sales Promotion
Department, Sales Headquarters,
AEON DELIGHT Co., Ltd.
Sales Manager

Ms. Isoko Ono

Introduction
This is a summary of a special lecture explaining changes in anenvironmental hygienic management project (public cleaning
service) after the new coronavirus pandemic given by Ms. Isoko
Ono of AEON DELIGHT Co., Ltd. in the 125th Lumitester
seminar (video streaming from October 22-November 30, 2020).

Company overview of AEON DELIGHT
Our company was established in 1972 to manage buildings of the
AEON Group. The company has expanded to about 600 hubs
nationwide and performs contract management of facilities andcleaning of AEON stores (Photo. 1). Currently, transactions withclients other than the AEON Group account for about 40% of alltransactions. We acquire broad knowledge through the
management of various facilities, such as commercial facilities,
offices, hotels, and hospitals.
There is a wide variety in the main business areas of ourcompany, including a public cleaning service, facility management,
security business, material-related business, facility construction
business, vending machine business, and support services. The‘public cleaning service’ is a core business along with facility
management.
This ‘public cleaning service’ has changed due to the newcoronavirus pandemic. Society as a whole has needed to have more
forward-looking ways of the “post-pandemic” new life andbusiness and public cleaning services are no exception.

Contents
Company overview of AEON DELIGHT••••••

01

Changes in public cleaning service due tothe corona crisis•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 02
Fusion of New Standard Cleaning andinfection control •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 04
Staﬀ development (education program) •••••• 06
Examples of utilization of the ATP test••••••••• 08

Photo. 1
Examples of a facility managed by AEON DELIGHT

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Lecture Report of the 125th Lumitester Seminar

Lecture Report

Changes in the public cleaning service
due to Corona crisis(1)Relief and safety required forcleaning
Work styles, such as working from home and remote working,have become common. However, it is necessary to gradually
re-open workplaces (e.g., offices) and other buildings tomaintain social activities.
In addition, there are some businesses, such as stores andaccommodation, that are in danger of not even surviving if they
are not able to attract people to their business.
How to provide ‘places’ and ‘spaces’ of social activity andbusiness with relief and safety is an important task required for
public cleaning services in a society facing novel Coronavirus
outbreaks.

(2)AEON announced ‘preventive
protocol against Coronavirus’
To establish the relief and safety of ‘places’ and ‘spaces’,
AEON announced the ‘Preventive Protocol against Coronavirus’
protocol on June 30, 2020 (Photo. 2*)1 . In this protocol,‘continuous execution of infection control’ and ‘execution fromthe viewpoint of relief and safety of not only customers but also
employees’ are clearly stated. Especially, clarification of theintention of ‘continuous execution’ is very important, throughwhich each AEON Group company including AEON Delight,
Ltd., incorporated infection control measures in medium- tolong-term activities and services.
In addition, the following items were declared as our ‘oath ofthe prevention of epidemics’: 1) Execution of preventive
measures against epidemics based on expert advice with a sound¹: Please understand that the term, 'prevention of epidemics', is used as 'infection control'
in a broad sense.

Photo. 2‘Preventive Protocol against Coronavirus’ of AEON

02

scientific basis and the latest knowledge, 2) execution of
preventive measures against epidemics by all employees
working together, 3) development of an epidemic prevention
system with customers, 4) investments in measures to decrease
the number of touchpoints used by customers using digitaltechnology and reorganizing facilities to enabling social
distancing.

(3)Measures taken in the period of
the spread of infectious disease
In this section, new public cleaning service activities that will
be performed after the Coronavirus outbreak are introduced. Our
company prepared our ‘guidelines for dealing with Coronavirus’
a guidance document aimed at the continuation of business andsecuring the safety of employees in the aftermath of any
disclosure that infected persons were present in the facility(currently, the 3rd revision).
The burden that continues after the disclosure and removal of
an infected person is ‘environmental disinfection’. In
environmental disinfection, the activity area in which thepositive patients were found is disinfected by trained employees
wearing protective clothing (Photo. 3). In case of a positive
patient, our company follows the recommendations andinstructions stipulated by the health center. However, early in the
pandemic, there was little available information, such as
infectivity and mortality rates, and ‘a thorough disinfection
exceeding the instructions from the health center’ was requested
by customers. I realized that consideration for our customer’s‘emotional well-being and need to feel secure’ may be morenecessary than a sole focus on ‘rationality’ in infection control
by only considering invisible bacteria and viruses.
Currently, we are at a point of settling on a new cleaning
method that is both effective and sustainable while eliminating
any unnecessary effort and expense. (This new cleaning method
is described below).

Photo. 3
A scene of environmental disinfection

Lecture Report of the 125th Lumitester Seminar

Lecture Report(4)Current measures: Introduction of New Standard Cleaning(NSC)
At present, our company is dealing with reimagination of ourbusiness model in which both intangible (e.g., cleaning
specification) and tangible items (e.g., the use of non-contact
equipment) are divided and harmonized to the needs of apost-coronavirus environment.
①Intangibles
The new cleaning specification was termed ‘New Standard
Cleaning’ (NSC) and contains the following three key items as
its fundamental principles: 1) Displayed cleaning, 2) Reliablecleaning, and 3) Support for self-defense. (Fig. 1).
‘Displayed cleaning’;cleaning conducted in a way that is aseasy to understand as possible and is aimed including
consideration of the emotions and feelings of customers. The
final goal is to be able to understand what work is performed bywhat kind of person by just looking at their uniforms andcleaning tools.

Fig. 1

The term ‘reliable cleaning’ refers to the use of tools andproducts (e.g., detergents) with proven and reliable efficacy andwith the capacity to prevent human errors. This change wasbased on the recognition that our previous cleaning methods
tended to ‘overemphasize the appearance or aesthetics’ and‘prioritize the cost’.
‘Support for self-defense’ means making facility employees
self-defensive cleaning.
cleaning.
and users able to perform what we call self-defensive
This is based on the realistic idea that prevention plays a role in
the process and ‘infection cannot be prevented by cleaningalone’. We found in a demonstration experiment that when
AEON store employees were provided with materials (e.g.,
disposable wipes, alcohol, etc.) for their own personal hygiene
and the cleanliness of their work areas (i.e., self-defense
self-defense)
hygiene tended to improve.
②Tangibles
Another demonstration experiment to show the effect of tangible
renovation projects, such as installing ventilation equipment andnon-contact doors in existing stores is currently underway.

Three directions of NSC

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Lecture Report

Fusion of NSC and infection control(1)Shift from attaching greater
importance to aesthetics to‘aesthetics + infection control’(3)Integration of the main points ofstandard precaution to “3 key words”

The previous purpose of cleaning general facilities was tomaintain a ‘good appearance’ ( i.e., aesthetics). Of course,
keeping facilities looking clean is important, but the purpose of
our work has been expanded to include infection control in NSC(i.e., aesthetics + infection control) and is based on the ‘hygienic
cleaning’ that is performed in hospitals.

The following 9 items are included in the points of standard
precaution in a medical setting: 1) hand hygiene, 2) use of
personal protective equipment, 3) environmental improvement
and handling of linens, 4) prevention of blood-borne infection(e.g., needlesticks), 5) respiratory hygiene/coughing manners,6) handling of equipment, tools, and apparatuses used for patientcare, 7) arrangement of patients, 8) safe injection technique, and
9) infection-preventive measures in lumbar puncture.
In NSC, first three of these are the cleaning-related items andare the program’s focus and these are expressed as “key words”
to better organize the points and make them easier to understandand relate to.
We decided to categorize cleaning related items into three.
1) Hand hygiene, 2) use of personal protective equipment, 3) andenvironmental improvement. The three categories wereconverted to keywords, ‘avoid contact’, ‘exposure’, and‘remove’ microorganisms respectively and incorporate them into
the field (Fig. 2).
In previous operations, ‘the inconsistent use of gloves and afocus on speed rather than effectiveness’ were pointed out as
issues that in some cases needed to be addressed. However, ourprocedures changed through a fusion of our operations withthese new considerations of standard precautions.

(2)Incorporation of standard
preventive measures into cleaning
In order to effectively meet the rational specifications forinspection control, the basics of the standard prevented measuresused in nosocomial infection control were incorporated.
Nosocomial infections are often likened to an “iceberg” where‘the source of the problem is hidden’. In a case where thecondition is an infectious disease revealed by examination of
only limited persons (i.e., “the tip of the iceberg”), the realmagnitude of the problem likely lies in infected persons who are
not tested, in whom the pathogen is undetectable, or persons
infected with an unknown infectious disease who may remain“hidden under the water”. For these reasons, it is necessary toalways consider that ‘there are innumerable undetected sourcesof infection’.
Consideration of these undetected risks and consistently
taking preventive measures should be the guiding principle ofpreventing the infections of oneself and others.

In undertaking disinfection (bacteria and viruses)
and cleaning work

Avoid contact(hand hygiene)

Fig. 204

Avoid exposure(use protective
equipment suchas a mask)

Removal(cleaning)

Expression of the main points of NSC as simple key words

Lecture Report of the 125th Lumitester Seminar

Lecture Report(4)Reliable cleaning of high-touch surfaces is importantpractices takes time and discipline and this is especially true indifficult tasks such as the reliable cleaning of high-touch
surfaces. A “high-touch” surface is a term describing places andparts frequently touched with human fingers (e.g., handrails,
light switches, doorknobs, etc.). To reliably clean these surfacesthat at first glance may not appear dirty takes a level ofdiscipline and the understanding on the part of each person doing
the work. This takes a clear sense of purpose, with effective staff
education plays an important part in developing this work ethic.

As shown in Table 1, standard precaution-incorporated NSC isa program requiring firm preparation and a more faithfulexecution when compared with previous processes. We areplanning to improve our written materials, education, closely
examine the tools we use and formulate solid rules for the use of
the ATP test for quality evaluation.
Our change to NSC is a drastic reformation for our cleaning
staff and the adoption of this new culture is not as simple asreading the applicable. Getting staff to adhere to the newPrevious CleaningVS.

New Standard Cleaning

PurposeAesthetics

Aesthetics + Infection control

TargetFloor surface, Windows

Floor surface, Windows
High-touch surface

Material

Cost-effectivenessCost-effectiveness but with efficacy forhygiene and anti-microbial effect

Procedure

Attaching greater importance toefficiency (speed)

Attaching greater importance to hygiene(Elimination of cross contamination)

Quality

Qualitative evaluation (visual)

Qualitative evaluation (visual)
Quantitative evaluation (ATP)

Table 1 Difference between new and old cleaning specifications05

Lecture Report of the 125th Lumitester Seminar

Lecture Report

Development of staff (education program)(1)Step-up education program(2)Educational devices

Prior to the launch of NSC, we operated an education program
comprised of three levels 1) Basic course, 2) Standard course,and 3) Advanced course.
The basic course includes all cleaning staff, and the focus ison execution of reliable NSC (routine cleaning) and personal
hygiene.
In the standard course, they learn specific procedures for
infection control-related cleaning and focus on the application ofthese techniques to high-touch surfaces. They also learn how to
use and apply the ATP test. Individuals who have completed andpassed the exam of the standard course acquire the right to wear
the designated clothes shown in Photo. 4. This leads to themotivation of staff.
The advanced course targets those in managerial positions,and they develop a deeper understanding of the principles of
NSC, including, for example, the difference between hospitalcleaning and infection control of commercial facilities andoffices.

To expand the applicability of the training to diverse types ofpractice sites, staff can continue their achieve education throughonline training and conventional textbook methods. The content
is delivered primarily using short video instructions as thecurriculum is geared toward visual learning.
An example of the educational content can be seen below. The
question asked in Fig. 3, in the actual video there is acommentary narration. Trainee must understand the principle ofthe cleaning procedure (i.e., ‘clean part→ unclean part’) in orderto answer correctly. The correct answer is to first clean cleaning‘parts touched by hands’ (e.g., arm rest, upper part of thebackrest). They should also be able to identify that since thedegree of cleanliness is equivalent between an arm rest andbackrest, the order in which they are cleaned is irrelevant. They
then need to be able to explain that the leg parts are wiped next.
Since the potential for contamination of the contact area parts at
a level of about 50 cm above the floor may be higher, these arecleaned after wiping the clean areas. Then, they are asked ‘What
to do when there are two chairs? What is the order of cleaning?’.
To correctly answer this question, it is again necessary tounderstand cleaning principles and to use cleaning tools
appropriately.

Question
To wipe this chair, what partdo you wipe ﬁrst and whatpart do you ﬁnish?

Photo. 4
Clothes designated for staff who have completed the standard course

06

Fig. 3
Understanding of ‘rule and principle’ is important in education

Lecture Report of the 125th Lumitester Seminar

Lecture Report(3)Preparation of tools unlikely tocause human errors(5)Preparation of a speciﬁc work
manual (embodiment of work)

Failures cannot be prevented by education alone. The
selection and use of tools that reduce the incidence of humanerror is also important. Our company has developed unique tools
to address this need. For example, when a cleaning cloth getsdirty, it is refolded, and a new clean surface is used (this method
is termed ‘refacing’). To prevent making a mistake when
keeping track of which side to use in refacing, we preparednumbered cloths. In addition, we also prepared color-coded
cloths corresponding to the degree of cleanliness of the area toreduce the risk of cross-contamination during cleaning (Fig. 4).
We are constantly considering methods which enable staff togain knowledge and a sense of purpose and creating devices
unlikely to cause human errors.

If education is to have them understand ‘the way of thinking
about work’, a work manual is to give them direction of specificwork. Our training manuals were renewed in conjugation withthe development of NSC. In the example shown in Photo. 5,yellow and red colors indicate the colors of the clothes to be
used in that place.
In this manual, cleaning range is stated with each cloth color.
The environment of the targets of cleaning has diverse shapes.
The intention may not be conveyed by simply saying ‘wipe thegarbage can’. Specific instruction is essential.

Development of a cloth
easy to reface

Color coating of the cloth

SampleRed Cloth

In a multipurpose toilet

Yellow Cloth Near the door of amultipurpose toilet

Fig. 4 Selection and development of tools unlikely to fail(4)Important points to be consideredin the conﬁrmation test
To measure the effectiveness of our education program, eachstage is confirmed by a confirmation test (completion test).
In the preparation of questions for the confirmation test, it is
not necessary to set irregular or difficult questions. It is
important, however, to be able to confirm that the trainee
understands the basics of the material and the principles we arelooking to transmit to them. If too many participants cannot
answer correctly (low correction rate), or too many answer
correctly (high correction rate) it is necessary to review theeducation content or improve the questions. Ranking is not the
purpose of education. Our goal is for the training to bepractically useful education in a flexible manner to develop
members able to correctly practice NSC as well as possible.

Elevator button

Escalator belt

Water
detergent

Handrail of stairs

Input port of garbage can(including eating space)

Parts touched with thehands
are focused on in cleaning.

Parts touched with thehands
are focused on in cleaning.

Photo. 5
Renewal of the manual clarifying the method and range of cleaning07

Lecture Report of the 125th Lumitester Seminar

Lecture Report

Examples of using the ATP test
(1)The ATP test is also utilized forthe evaluation of cleaning ofgeneral facilities
The ATP test plays an important role as a practicalquantitative evaluation method in the NSC process.
The ATP test is not a method to directly quantify bacteria andthe test result may fluctuate due to the nature of the materials of
the surface being tested. Therefore, although it has been used foryears in medical settings and kitchens, its use in general facilities
has not been established. However, because the test can produce
a result in about 10 seconds and provide quantitative feedback
provide to the user, the ATP test provides a clear advantage overother inspection methods.
Thus, we decided to first select commercial facilities,
amusement arcades, and movie theaters as model practice sites
and use the ATP test to survey the current situation, investigate
specifications (planning), and confirm the validity of the method.

(2)Procedure of preparing acleaning speciﬁcation
The development of a cleaning specification (cleaning
method, cleaning tool, cleaning frequency, etc.) is proceeded in
the flow chart shown in Fig. 5: Field survey→ planning, on-siteverification→ confirmation of validity. The ATP test is effective
in investigating and validating the current status.
Some actions taken by our company are introduced below.

①Field survey
In the step of investigating the specification of NSC, the ATPtest was performed at a total of nearly 1,000 sites (an example isshown in Fig. 6). In this investigation, we uncovered a trend thatwhen the surface is hard, it is easier to keep the surface clean
after cleaning. Softer surfaces were easily accumulating soils andmore difficult to keep clean.

②Planning of a cleaning speciﬁcation
Based on this knowledge, tentative cleaning specifications
were prepared with the expectation that they would be optimized
in practice (e.g., cleaning soft surfaces with certain patterns ordesigns (embossing) will require an increased cleaning
frequency).

③Validation
After preparation of the tentative cleaning specification,
confirmation of cleaning efficacy is completed using the ATPtest (as shown in Table 2). It is important to optimize thecleaning and testing plan using Plan‐Do‐Check‐Act (PDCA)
methodology.

Measuring instrument ʻLumitester Smartʼ andmeasurement reagent ʻLuciPac A3ʼ

08Lecture Report of the 125th Lumitester Seminar

Field survey

Planning

Lecture Report

Test

Validity conﬁrmation

MethodMaterial

Frequency
Target 2

MethodDecision on speciﬁcation

Target 1

Trial (tentative speciﬁcation)

Frequency

ʻLumitester PD-20ʼ
(old model)

Material

Bagging table (hard material)

Beforecleaning

Cleaning 1

Pollution 1

Pollution 3

Pollution 4

Cleaning 2

Fig. 5Specification constructionof the ATP wipe test

Sofa (soft material)

Pollution 2

Beforecleaning

Cleaning 1

Pollution 2

Cleaning 2

Pollution 1

Fig. 6
Cleaning effects on hard andsoft materials and tendency of
uncleanness accumulation

Table 2
An example of confirmation of the validity of cleaning specification by ATP test09

Lecture Report of the 125th Lumitester Seminar

Lecture Report(3) Speciﬁcation and effect (merit) of the ATP test
The program calls for conducting ATP tests once a month.
Three sites are to be tested, 1) the operation board ofwarm-water washing toilet seat for customers, 2) the call buttonof the passenger elevator, and 3) the handrails of stairs used bycustomers. Other selectable parts are also set (Table 3). The
testing of the selected parts will be continued for at least 6months and adjustment and optimization in the threshold values
will be confirmed.
Table 4 shows the format of the ATP test report. The initialthreshold standard is set at 3,000 RLU with lower targets
Periodic inspection (as of 9/30/2020)

adopted provisionally as changes from the previous testing areevaluated. This comparison allows for the focus on the program
to be “continuous improvement” with progressively cleaner
levels being achieved over time.
The fact that the ATP tests produces quantitative results isuseful in various scenarios, such as validating that a proposed
improvement to a cleaning method is actually an improvement,
and measurement of continuous improvement of the staff’s
cleaning performance and motivation through the feedback fromquantitative measurements.
Selected parts
Handrail of stairs
Input port of garbage can (including the eating space)

Indispensable parts

Chair

Point

Fixed point

Toilet for customers①1 part of operation board ofwarm-water washing toilet seat

Elevator for customers②2 parts of call button

Stairs for customers③1 part of handrail

Sofa (large) armrest* 2-seat or larger
Sofa (small) armrest* 1-seat
Handle of coin-operated locker (locker for customers)
Refrigerator (freezer)
Handle of locker (locker for customers)
Handle of cart locker (locker for customers)
Vending machine buttons
Input port of recycling container
Bagging table
Handle of basket/cart
Handle of frozen food display case
Acrylic glass of self-checkout
Handle of dry ice/ice machine
WAON Station touch screen
ATM touch screen
Buttons of capsule toy
Outlet port of umbrella box
Buttons of parking fee adjustment machine
Buttons of parking lot ticketing machine
EV Station charging port

Table 3
Items of periodic
testing (as of
September 30, 2020).
The selected parts
can be selected
depending on thestate of the practicesite

New Standard Cleaning ATP Monitoring Record
Site nameName of inspector

Table 4
An example of the
ATP wipe test report.
It is devised so as tobe able to intuitively
grasp changes fromthe value (RLU value)in the previous test10

Lecture Report of the 125th Lumitester Seminar

Lecture Report(4)Appendix: Veriﬁcation of the effect of the ATP test as ‘support for
self-defense’progressively decreased (Table 5). The employees were able toassist in the maintenance of a cleaner environment because they
had the tools to keep the area cleaner on their own. We willcontinue to use this principle to support the continuous
improvement of the cleanliness of our facilities and to enlist thehelp and support of employees in their own self-interest.

Another benefit to the use of the ATP test was found in the
improvement of the cleanliness levels in employee areas withinstores.
One of the principles of NSC that we discussed earlier is“self-defense” (Fig. 1). We found that when disposable wipes
and alcohol-based sanitizers were provided to the employees in astore, the values of the ATP tests collected in those areas

ATP target sites
Employees
break room

ATP value
BeforeAug, 3 (Mon)

Sep, 9 (Wed)

After

Desk

7,834

775

Desk

10,548235

Switch of
air conditioner

13,513247

Telephone

22,783

4,981

Dressing room (3F)

Bench

66,282

52,341

Food ﬂoor room

Printer

13,864

7,808

Checkerʼs
break room

LuciPac A3 Surface was used.

Table 5 An example of verifying the effect of ‘support for self-defense’ by the ATP test

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