Cintas’s new foodservice Safe Floor Program

October 12, 2011 – Cintas Corporation has launched a new comprehensive
Safe Floor Program designed specifically for the foodservice industry.

According to the U.S.-based National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI),
floor safety is a significant concern with more than 3 million
foodservice employees and over 1 million guests injured annually as a
result of restaurant slips, falls, strains and sprains. Cintas' Safe
Floor Program helps foodservice operators maximize the life of their
flooring, improve safety and image, and aid in the reduction of risk.

"Safety is ingrained as a core value in our corporate culture and we are
dedicated to the safety excellence of our partners and our customers,"
added Dan Braun, senior president of operations, with Cintas
Corporation. "Using our health and safety expertise, we have developed a
program that lets us deliver a safer foodservice workplace for
everyone."

Cintas' Safe Floor Program for restaurants consists of four steps:

• Protect Cintas' mat system protects flooring in four
  major areas, including entrance, high risk, high traffic and
  productivity zones. The mats are certified "High Traction" by the
  National Floor Safety Institute (NFSI) to help reduce slips, trips and
  falls. Cintas provides a variety of mats including standard carpet, logo
  and message mats to help further extend a facility's brand inside and
  outside the building. Cintas assesses the customer's needs then creates a
  placement plan that includes scheduled delivery, pick up and cleaning.
  Cintas uses healthcare-quality wash formulas to disinfect the returned
  mats.
• Maintain Cintas helps foodservice operators maintain
  floors on a daily basis by providing the right tools and the right
  cleaning chemical for different floor surfaces. By designating cleaning
  tools for specific areas, customers can reduce cross contamination of
  soils like grease and dirt between zones. For example, tools used to
  clean restrooms would not be used to clean surfaces in the kitchen. The
  Signet cleaning chemical service developed in partnership with Diversey,
  comes complete with dilution control systems to ensure that the correct
  ratio of chemical to water is dispersed into the cleaning solution.
  Cintas installs the dilution control system and manages the chemical
  inventory. With proper training any employee can use the Signet system 
  to help maintain safe floors.
• Deep clean Cintas provides periodic restorative
  cleaning services. The tile and carpet service uses a truck mounted,
  patent-pending high-pressure steam system to remove dirt and deep clean a
  variety of carpeted and hard-surface floor coverings. The deep cleaning
  process sanitizes to remove dirt, breaks down build-up and extracts all
  contaminants from the floor. The Sanis Ultraclean service uses custom
  portable equipment to provide floor cleaning for restroom and kitchen
  hard surface floors.
• Train An educated employee is a core element of a
  safe floor program. The Cintas First Aid and Safety division provides
  training programs on topics like established safety protocols, cleaning
  operations and inspection procedures. For a successful safe floor
  program, workers must understand the proper application methods for the
  chemical products and receive proper training and testing on their
  general responsibilities. For example, employees should know what daily
  activities they must complete to minimize the risk of an employee or
  customer injury via slip and fall.

"Slips and falls are the largest source of general liability insurance
claims within the restaurant industry," said Brian Garry, Cintas' senior
director of foodservice. "Our Safe Floor Program gives foodservice
management both the daily items for use by their staff and the
professional services requiring trained experts."

For more information, visit www.cintas.com/safefloormats.