RMT Speak: Soil Microbiology

If you are a certified plantito or plantita, or simply trying to sweep away the soil that got into your place, learning a thing or two about Soil Microbiology can help you stay healthy and your place clean.

Soil microbiology is the study of microorganisms in soil, their functions, and how they affect soil properties. As we all know, too much or too little is bad, not just for plants but for us humans too. Our in-house Medical Technologists have shared some insights and explained to us in layman terms how soil microbiology affects us in our daily life.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Soil, as boring as it looks, has more organisms present than the number of living human beings, and that’s just a handful of it. It ranges from bacteria, fungi spores, viruses, and worms (and its eggs). Majority of this help break down chemicals present in the soil to help plants grow, while some are sleeping, waiting for the perfect opportunity to infect a host to grow and cause harm.

The number of organisms in a patch of soil may vary depending on certain conditions – moisture and temperature. If it is wet and a bit warm, a very suitable environment for most organisms, the number will be high. If it is dry and extremely cold or hot, there will be less of them there.

Apart from Soil Microbiology, we should be concerned with the amount of harmful chemicals in soil that can affect us. Some fertilizers present in the soil can be toxic to us when touched with un-gloved hands. Our skin can absorb a large amount of chemicals when exposed for a longer time in soil contaminated with it.

“Up to 10 billion bacterial cells inhabit each gram of soil in and around plant roots“

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SHOULD I BE CONCERNED?

If you don’t wear gloves, habitually touch your face, nose and mouth while working with soil, and not wearing mask, you should be concerned. Poor hygeine practices when working with soil, account for some of the diseases that people suffer worldwide. Whether your immune system is strong or not, there are organisms found in the soil that can be harmful to you, so it is best to protect yourself while dealing with it. Disease by “Flesh Eating Bacteria” known as Necrotizing fasciitis is commonly caused by group A streptococcus (GAS) bacteria is found in soil. Washing your hands and disinfecting surfaces scattered with soil is the best key to ensure that no one will get sick.

“In addition to tetanus, anthrax, and botulism, soil bacteria may cause gastrointestinal, wound, skin, and respiratory tract diseases. The systemic fungi are largely acquired via inhalation from contaminated soil and near-soil environments.”

Dennis J Baumgardner

Department of Family Medicine, US National Library of Medicine

Q: Can the Coronavirus survive in soil?

Straight answer: Yes

Long answer: Though there are no substantial research conclusions that viruses survive in soil due to severe cross contamination of other organisms and that there are little trace amount of it present in the soil, given the conditions (wet and warm soil), viruses can survive in soil by either inactivating itself or attach to temporary hosts such as other organisms.

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Enjoy gardening, have fun with your plants, BUT, wear rubber gloves, wear face mask, don’t touch your face until you have washed your hands with anti-bacterial soap. For surfaces contaminated with soil, a simple disinfectant with all purpose solution can do the job in cleaning. Disinfecting or serilizing your soil will not be good to your plants, so it is best that you do the disinfecting on your own self after dealing with soil and its products.

Whether there is a pandemic or not, always wear rubber gloves and mask. We know it “feels different” when working with soil on your bare hands, but trust us, you and your plant will be healthier when you wear one.

Do you want to learn more on how CMDA Cleaning Services can help you, your family, or your office fight against COVID-19? Send us an email at inquiry@cmdacleaning.com, or call/text us on any number mentioned above.

Let’s all be well and healthy, wear a face mask, wash our hands frequently, maintain a 1-2 meter physical distance to non-family members, and stay at home if we can. Stay covid-free!

Brand names of Chemicals for Cleaning

This pandemic has gotten us cleaning our homes and space more than the usual, and with the challenge of going to the grocery to find the right chemical for cleaning, we might have researched for “Brand names of Chemicals for Cleaning”. Most searches might lead you to items found outside the Philippines, so we have compiled here for you the typical brand names you will find in your local grocery store.

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Commercial Brand names of Chemicals for Cleaning in the Philippines

All Purpose Cleaners

These are chemicals for cleaning, removing dirt and some grime, and just lessening the amount of bacteria or other organisms, but may or may not be in the acceptable levels that will not cause diseases. Some have a low concentration of disinfectant, which is good. They can be used generally anywhere at home and at the office. They come in powdered, solid bar and liquid forms, and can be found in the your nearby sari-sari store, Lazada and supermarket. Their commercial brand names are:

ZIM CLEANSER
DOMEX – MULTI PURPOSE CLEANER
MR CLEAN – ALL PURPOSE CLEANER
MR MUSCLE – MULTI PURPOSE CLEANER
AJAX
CIF
LYSOL ALL PURPOSE CLEANER
PINE SOL
GREENEX
MESSY BESSY

Domex multi purpose cleaner sold in Lazada

Disinfectants

These are chemicals used to greatly remove the amount of disease causing germs in the air or surfaces. Most of these products are generaly for disinfecting only and may not be effective as a cleaning chemical, but some are combined with multi-purpose cleaners to help in that part. They are used on sanitizing the air, room, counter tops and floor. They come in aerosol spray, powdered, and liquid forms, and can also be found in the your nearby sari-sari store, Lazada and supermarket. Their commercial brand names are:

CHLORINE POWDER
CLOROX (BLEACH)
DOMEX – DISINFECTANT
MR MUSCLE – DISINFECTANT
LYSOL – SPRAY and DISINFECTANT LIQUID

Lysol Disinfectant spray sold in Lazada

Dishwashing Liquid

These are chemicals used to clean dishes and utensils for eating. They are combination of surfactants (chemical that separates things) and alkaline salts (another chemical that prevents things from sticking back together) and may or may not include anti-bacterial or disinfectant properties. They come in paste and liquid forms, and can also be found in the your nearby sari-sari store, Lazada and supermarket. Their commercial brand names are:

JOY
SUNSHINE
CHAMPION
SMART
AXION

Joy Dishwashing Liquid sold in Shoppee

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Commercial Brand names of Specialized Chemicals for Cleaning in the Philippines

Bathroom Tile Cleaners

These are specialized chemicals used to clean bathroom tiles, removing stains and grimes. They contain a mixture of all purpose cleaners and strong acids to get the tile cleaning done. If you want to know how to use them more extensively, you can read our tips on cleaning bathroom tiles. They come in liquid form only, and can only be found in the grocery, Lazada and supermarket. Their commercial brand names are:

DOMEX – BATHROOM CLEANER
MR MUSCLE – BATHROOM & TOILET CLEANER
LYSOL – TOILET BOWL CLEANER COMPLETE CLEAN POWER
TOILET DUCK – DUCK POWER

Toilet Bowl Cleaners

These are specialized chemicals used to clean toilet bowls, removing stains and grimes. They contain a mixture of all purpose cleaners as well, and stronger acids to remove hard water stains. If you want to know how to use toilet bowl cleaners more extensively, you can read our best toilet bowl cleaners to use. They come in liquid form only, and can only be found in the grocery, Lazada and supermarket. Their commercial brand names are:

DOMEX – TOILET BOWL CLEANER
MR MUSCLE – BATHROOM & TOILET CLEANER
LYSOL – TOILET BOWL CLEANER COMPLETE CLEAN POWER
TOILET DUCK – DUCK POWER

Toilet Duck – Duck Power bottle (Right) and Mr. Muscle Triple Action Bathroom Cleaner (Left)

Do you want to learn more on how CMDA Cleaning Services can help you, your family, or your office fight against diseases and keeping your space clean? Send us an email at inquiry@cmdacleaning.com, or call/text us on any number mentioned above.

Meet your Cleaning Expert (Jim)

Get to know more about the people behind the scenes as we clean and disinfect your homes. For almost a decade, CMDA Cleaning Services has hired and helped people who are coachable, trust-worthy, hard working and dependable, despite their challenges in life and in education. As long as they are willing to be trained and perform well, it doesn’t matter what they look like or what their gender preference is. Jim has been a member of the CMDA family for just more than a year but she has excelled in her work an now working on her promotion as Housekeeping Manager.

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How long have you been with CMDA?

1 year and 3 months. I started as a custodian last July 2019, and lasted for 5 months, and then on January 2020, I started training as an Admin Assistant (Nag start ako as custodian/cleaner noong July 4, 2019 and nag last for 5 months and nung January 2020 nag start ng training as Admin Assistant).

How did CMDA Cleaning Services help you in your personal life?

Since I got hired here in CMDA, it helped me in paying my bills (helped financially), and naturally I could share in paying the bills with my husband, enhanced my knowledge being an employee and as a person, and I learned how to deal with people because there are people who teach me how to be strong, separate work from personal relationships. Example is “thinking” work during work, personal relationships is done after work. (Since nag apply ako sa CMDA nakatulong ito sa mga bills (Gumaan financially),natural kahit papaano nakaka share nako sa husband ko, naenhance ang kaalaman bilang empleyado at bilang tao at natututo ako makisama at makisalamuha sa mga tao dahil may mag tuturo sayo paano ka maging matibay,ihiwalay yung trabho sa pakikipagkaibigan.sample Trabaho trabho,kaibigan after work na un.).

As an employee, what makes you unique in CMDA?

As an employee of CMDA, it teaches you to become mature, teaches you how to be knowledgeable and how to improve your life, they will see your potential and talent (not just on the position that you applied in). Because in other employers, you will only be in that position you applied for. (Bilang Empleyado ng CMDA, tinuturuan ka (ng CMDA) maging mature, tinuturuan ka maging marunong at kung papano tumaas or umasenso, nakikita nila ang iba mo pang potential o galing (Hindi lang kung ano ang inapplyan na position) . Dahil sa ibang employer hanggang doon na lang ikaw kung ano yung pinasok mo.)

What are your dreams as a CMDA Employee?

I dream that all employees know the difference between our personal and professional life. We need balance, and if you have a friend who is also working with you, you also need to balance how we talk to them (as an officemate). Another thing why I dream about this is because work becomes lovely if you have peace of mind, it’s work when it’s work, and separate it from all the personal baggage we bring everyday. (Ang pangarap ko ay malaman ng mga empleyado kung ano ang pagkakaiba ng personal sa professional na buhay natin. Kailangan natin kase ng balance, at kung may kaibigan ka na katrabaho mo need natin mabalance ang ating mga totoong sinasabi natin sa kanila (Bilang kopisina at katrabaho). Isa rin na kaya ko ito pangarap ay dahil masarap magtrabaho kapag may peace of mind, kung trabaho, trabaho lang at ihihiwalay dapat ito sa mga personal na dinadala natin sa araw-araw.)

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What are the challenges that you are experiencing right now? and how can CMDA Cleaning Services help you?

Now that I am transitioning from being a custodian/admin staff to a trainee of housekeeping managerial position, the challenges that I experience now are the feeling that someone is pulling you down and does not see your worth as an employee. But I can go through with it, why? Because there are people who help me and easy to approach and someone I can speak my mind to (From Ms Ivy – Service Sales Manager, Sir Troy – General Manger, up to mam Renz – President). (Ngayon dahil na sa pag transition ng Custodian/Admin Staff to a Trainee of Housekeeping Managerial position, ang pagsubok na nararanasan ko ngayon ay ang pakiramdam na may nag dodown sayo at hindi nakikita ang worth mo bilang tao at empleyado. Pero nakakayanan ko naman bakit? kase may mga taong tumutulong saakin at madaling lapitan o pwede masabi kung ano yung nasa loob ko (Mula kay Ma’am Ivy, Sir Troy hanggang kay Ma’am Renz)).

What is the difference between being an Admin Assistant and being a Custodian?

As a cleaner/custodian, being clean will come out natural to you, there is an SOP and there are trainings being done. As an Admin Assistant, sometimes it’s difficult but there are people diligent to teach you. (Bilang cleaners ang pagiging malinis ay natural lang na lumalabas sa iyo, may SOP at may Training na ginagawa. As an Admin Assistant trainee, minsan nahihirapan pero matiyaga naman mag turo ang mga nkakataas na sina Sir Troy, Ma’am Renz at Ms. Ivy.)

Were you looking for a particular position before you applied for a job in CMDA?

I wasn’t looking for a particular position, I just wanted to have a work and when I entered CMDA, I learned a lot and I became stronger. Before I got in at CMDA, I was working in a school as a teacher aid, so it was totally different, because before as a pre-school teacher aid there was less pressure because you were gentle in treating your students and colleagues. In CMDA, there is pressure but it helped me become stronger in life, that is what I saw here in CMDA. (Wala akong hinahanap na position, Gusto ko lang magkawork and nang makapasok ako ng CMDA mas marami akong natutunan at mas tumatag ako.Before ako mag CMDA kase, sa school ako nag work and as a teacher aid ,so magkaibang magkaiba talaga, because dati as a Pre-School Teacher aid less pressure because mas malambing ang pakikitungo because mga bata ang kasama mo. Sa CMDA Naman is mas may pressure pero mas nakatulong sila sakin na mas maging matatag in life.yan ang nakita ko dito CMDA).

Do you think the pressure you are experiencing in CMDA is helping you learn more and be stronger in life?

Honestly, yes, because I am not really that strong, but I am getting there, and it was only now that I felt this kind of pressure in my 41 years of existence becuase CMDA saw that I can get past through my weaknesses, especially with handling people. (Honestly, yes. Because hindi naman ako ganon KATIBAY/KATATAG… “but i’m getting there” and ngayon ko lang lang naramdaman yung ganitong pressure in my 41 years of existance dahil nakita ng CMDA na kaya ko pang lagpasan ang aking mga kahinaan o makakayahan lalo na sa pag handle ng tao.)

Would you recommend others to work in CMDA?

Yes, I recommend working in CMDA, because they can reach the potential beyond what they already know. (Yes! marerekomenda ko ang pagtrabaho sa CMDA dahil magkakaroon sila ng ng potential na tumaas pa sa higit sa kaalaman nila.)

Do you want to learn more on how CMDA Cleaning Services can help you, your family, or your office fight against COVID-19? Send us an email at inquiry@cmdacleaning.com, or call/text us on any number mentioned above.

Let’s all be well and healthy, wear a face mask, wash our hands frequently, maintain a 1-2 meter physical distance to non-family members, and stay at home if we can. Stay covid-free!

5 Best K-Pop Songs to Listen to While Cleaning

Get in the groove cleaning your place with these 5 K-Pop songs that will surely get you moving, cleaning and disinfecting your place stress-free.

Doing a home cleaning chore doesn’t have to be a drag, cleaning while listening to great music will help you turn a chore into a dance party!

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1. NCT U 엔시티 유 ‘Make A Wish (Birthday Song)’

Top of our list is NCT’s “Make A Wish”. Start off slow as you sweep the ceiling and overhead cabinets for cobwebs. Sweep through the beat and next thing you know, you got the room covered. Always start on top and always be gentle so as not to strain your body while cleaning. Enjoy the beat and go ahead if you feel like dancing a little.

2. Red Velvet 레드벨벳 ‘Bad Boy’

Next on our list is Red Velvet’s “Bad Boy”. Let’s continue with the slow rhythm while sweeping or vacuuming the floor. Going slow with sweeping or vacuuming would mean making sure you are getting all those dust and “bad boys” down (pun intended).

3. NCT DREAM 엔시티 드림 ‘We Go Up’

Let’s get things moving faster with the next song, NCT’s “We Go Up”. This song will get you amped up and get you scrubbing walls and wiping counter tops like a DJ. After giving attention to your floor, time to go up back to table surfaces and kitchen sink.

4. TWICE “MORE & MORE”

Keep the energy flowing with our fourth song, TWICE’s “More & More”. Get some extra boost while you make the bed, fold those clothes and sheets, and getting your table organized. This song will get you cleaning “more & more”.

5. BTS (방탄소년단) ‘Dynamite’

Cool down and appreciate your work while listening to the last song on our list from BTS, “Dynamite”. After doing a hard work cleaning your place, after exploding your energy like “dynamite” to get things in order, you deserve doing a victory dance with this song.

Do you want to learn more on how CMDA Cleaning Services can help you, your family, or your office fight against COVID-19? Send us an email at inquiry@cmdacleaning.com, or call/text us on any number mentioned above.

Let’s all be well and healthy, wear a face mask, wash our hands frequently, maintain a 1-2 meter physical distance to non-family members, and stay at home if we can. Stay covid-free!

How To: Clean Up Your Home After Flood

Cleaning up your own home is quite a challenge already, much more if you need it cleaned after it got flooded. A flooded home is a disaster in itself, but something you can manage with the right people and equipment.

Every year, the Philippines encounter 20 to 30 storms and typhoon, not including the days with heavy monsoon rains. Despite the speed of home development and road improvements, there are still homes that experience being flooded yearly. Here are some steps that can help you clean up your place after it gets flooded.

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START WITH SAFETY IN MIND

There are a lot of safety issues when your place starts to get flooded. You have to keep in mind the safety of your family, pets and other property. Typically some Filipinos start moving appliances to their second floor area (if they have) or start raising the base of their furnitures and appliances so that flood waters will not destroy them. Apart from these, make sure to remember these:

Switch off your circuit breaker to avoid electrocution and damage to your electronics
Wear boots to avoid wading in flood water during flood and during cleaning
Wear rubber gloves to prevent your hands from touching dirty flood water during the flood and during cleaning
Wear a mask to avoid inhaling bacteria and aerosol found in flood waters
Keep children and pets away from flood and debris left after the flood

Some of the hazards you can encounter cleaning after a flood includes:

Leptospirosis (still present even if there are very little flood water left)
Tetanus (bacteria called Clostridium tetani is very common in soil and flood water)
Electrocution
Cuts and bruises from glass and sharp debris washed in by the flood
Diarrhea (if you accidentally touch your mouth without washing your hands after cleaning)
Intestinal parasites like amoeba and worms
Respiratory diseases brought about by spores rising from the flood

Some possible property damage you can encounter after a flood:

Burnt out busted fuse in breakers and appliances
Water damaged engines in cars
Watermarks on walls and furniture
Floor erossion

WATER WASH

As soon as you have determined that it is safe to clean your place already, and after wearing safety equipments like gloves, boots and face mask, get a water hose and plug it to your faucet. Start spraying water from inner most part of your home going outside to wash away mud and dirt. Since water got those in, water should get it out. Make sure your curcuit breakers are still switched off so that you won’t have to worry about your power outlets. Use flash light if there is not enough light to work with, or better if you do this during daytime.

It may sound like a joke that after water comes in your home, you use water to flush it out, but this is easier than using a plastic broom or walis tambo to sweep out the debris. If the surface is still muddy and dries up, it would be harder to remove them, so keeping the mud and dirt wet will help you in cleaning and keeping your surfaces protected.

Flood in your home would most likely leave thick mud that is hard to remove. It is easier and faster to clean it using water.

SOAP AND RINSE

Once your place is clear of mud and other flood debris, you will then need to wash your flooded surfaces with soap. Combine 2 part all-purpose cleaner and 1 part bleach (chlorine or chlorox) with 10 parts water, and use this mixture to soap up surfaces. This will be your liquid cleaner and disinfectant. Spread out the mixture and scrub a little to remove other dirt that wasn’t washed away by the water.

This soap and bleach mixture can help greatly reduce the amount of bacteria and parasite eggs on surfaces, ensuring that there won’t be any health hazards left by the flood. Too much soap would make rinsing hard and too much bleach may cause respiratory problems, so it is best to keep these 2 dilluted.

Rinse surfaces to remove the soap and bleach by spraying water again. Rinse thoroughly to remove any other residue, be it the soap or flood debris.

MOP DRY

Finally, at this point, things will look back in order, except everything is wet with clean water. Using a mop, wipe all floor surfaces, and a clean wash cloth to wipe walls to get rid of the remaining water. Mop at the same direction – from the innermost part of your home going out to your main door or gate.

Some traditional Filipinos use plastic brooms or walis tambo to sweep away water, though effective, can cause back problems and re-contamination. If you use plastic brooms or walis tambo to remove dirt, chances are, those same dirt are still in them, causing the newly cleaned surface to be dirty again.

Flood affects up to 700 areas across 6 regions in the Philippines, with damages amounting to up to P1.37 billion. (source)

FLOOD PROOF YOUR HOME

Finally your place is cleaned, and you don’t want to go through the same ordeal again, not anytime soon, not ever. Though you can hire a professional cleaning company to do your home cleaning after a flood, it is still best to make measures to prevent it in the first place. Here are some tips to help you flood proof your home:

Sandbag your entrance
Elevate your garage floor
Keep your ground floor exclusively for your garage only (all other rooms on the second floor or higher)
Join a clean up drive in your place to declog drainages

Do you want to learn more on how CMDA Cleaning Services can help you, your family, or your office fight against COVID-19? Send us an email at inquiry@cmdacleaning.com, or call/text us on any number mentioned above.

Let’s all be well and healthy, wear a face mask, wash our hands frequently, maintain a 1-2 meter physical distance to non-family members, and stay at home if we can. Stay covid-free!

Preparing Your Office for the New Normal

The pandemic has already made things hard for everybody, getting back and transitioning to the “new normal” at work should be made easy, but can it? Depending on how prepared your office is, going back to work under the “new normal” would easy or difficult. This is why planning how to return to work under the new normal is important.

In our latest COVID-19 update, we have elaborated the steps we did before and during the time we transitioned to the General Community Quarantine (GCQ). Though this is us, and the approach we did may not apply to other businesses, we are going to share below common and helpful tips to help your business bounce back to the new normal. These are based on the InterAgency Task Force (IATF) guidelines and the good practices we observed during the time we did office cleaning to our clients.

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Audit what you have

Check what you have, in terms of available health related equipment and facilities, and which employees are willing to report back to work. This will help you sort out what else you need to buy and would be cost efficient eventually. The number of foot disinfection pad would depend on the number of entrance and the number of people reporting to work. Thermal scanner or infrared thermometers and alcohol dispensers as well would depend on the number of foot traffic.

There will be consumables like alcohol/sanitizers and disinfectant wipes you will need to consider. You might want to add batteries for the thermal scanner in the list as well

Sign up to get the ultimate office cleaning checklist here:

Send out info

It is in the human nature that we take change very hard, but it can be less hard if we are informed at an earlier time. Send out an email (or a chat message) to all concerned regarding all the changes that are being made under the “new normal”. Let them know what they need to expect when they arrive at the office, from the door to their table.

The information may include steps like accomplishing the visitor’s checklist honestly (very important!), wearing their face mask (and face shield if needed) inside the office premises at all times, observing physical distancing, and reporting areas or instances that can pose as a health hazard to everyone in the office. If you are going to implement one-way traffic directions within the office premises, this would be a good time to orient them so they will be able to follow.

Requiring your employees to secure a health certificate from their respective barangay or city health office is also good, and you may opt to schedule a monthly rapid test if your office budget permits – including these details would be great in your email.

Do a general cleaning of your office

Your office may have been empty for at least 3 to 6 months, and may or may not have any coronavirus in it, but surely, there are already dust and other nasty things in there that could pose as other health risks like allergies and other forms of infection. Get your office cleaned thoroughly before returning back to normal or partial operations.

If you need a walk through or a checklist on what you need for your office general cleaning, check out our ultimate office cleaning checklist, or, if you find it very difficult to do, you can always outsource your office cleaning.

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Do you want to learn more on how CMDA Cleaning Services can help you, your family, or your office fight against COVID-19? Send us an email at inquiry@cmdacleaning.com, or call/text us on any number mentioned above.

Let’s all be well and healthy, wear a face mask, wash our hands frequently, maintain a 1-2 meter physical distance to non-family members, and stay at home if we can. Stay covid-free!