"Each zone is a person. Add a zone, add a person," says Ms. De Vito.
"Trained hands on defined zones hone speed."
Train all staff about zone cleaning so anyone who enters a room to join
in the fray will know the routine. Reassign zones if a staff member isn't
able to do it well. For
example, don't assign
a short person to tall
equipment. As a gener-
al rule, everyone
moves from the high-
est point of cleaning in
the room to the lowest
point. And whatever
you do, don't cross
zones. Otherwise, you
risk repeated motions
and cleaning the same
surface twice. Four
words you never want
to hear: "Did you wipe
this?"
When not doing
turnovers, the same
staff can work the
central core, restock,
or prepare specialty
beds and equipment
according to the
schedule. "People
shouldn't sit around,"
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