Wet, slippery or sticky floors are one of the primary causes of accidents—whether in a school, an office complex, a hospital, or a retail facility. Throughout Bauman’s maintenance career, floor safety and cleanliness have been his two biggest concerns.

“I’ve always wanted to have clean floors that are also safe, but for much of my career it seemed the two didn’t go hand-in-hand,” he said. “Then I learned about an automated foam scrubbing system that claimed it could actually make my schools’ floors cleaner and safer. I wanted to learn more.”

The technology behind the foam scrubbing system, though revolutionary, is really quite simple. A water and detergent mixture is injected with air to create a foam, cleaning agent. The detergent is pre-measured so there’s no overuse of chemicals. In fact, the system uses 90 percent less detergent than
conventional automated scrubbers, which means there’s virtually no slippery or sticky detergent residue after cleaning.

And, the system uses 70 percent less water than conventional automated scrubbers, so floors are drier faster after cleaning. The foam scrubbing system was the first and only automated cleaning system to receive “High-Traction” product certification from the National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI), a
nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of slip-and-fall accidents.

“This foam scrubbing system is a real breakthrough in safety within the floor cleaning industry,” said Russell J. Kendzior, founder and executive director of NFSI.

Not only does the foam scrubbing system leave floors drier, but our comprehensive clinical examination also showed that it removes the slippery residue left behind by conventional automated cleaning systems, and it does not leave behind a residue of its own.”

In September of 2001, Bauman purchased a walk-behind automated scrubber that used the foam scrubbing system and started using it in one of his grade schools.