Mopping-Design Project

Design Project

Wet floors being stamped after mopping by

Ritwick Mukhopadhyay (Product Design)

To all the Cleaners around the World We love you and thank you for what you do. The effort to keep the working space clean is incompareable. Our daily activities get a head-start because of you. We feel you are an integral part of the entire system and your presence makes the space come alive to it’s full potential. This is a small token of appreciation for all the hardwork.

Candidate Name: Ritwick Mukhopadhyay Product Design, Woxsen School of Arts and Design Batch of 2020 Phone: +91-824-0244-470 Email: ritwickm12197@gmail.com Guided by, Agam Arora (Toy & Game Design, NID) Pritam Mandavkar (Transportation Design, NID) ABOUT THE BOOK This book is a two month culmination of a Design Process excecuted on the topic of “Wet floors being stamped after mopping� and further on coming up with a product which would help fight this issue. There has been a constant support from my guides and all the janitors who have been a part of the process.

“Wet floors being stamped after mopping�

The issue of wet floors being stamped after mopping is quite common and something that is ignored most of the times.This causes a lot of extra work for the cleaner who has to re-mop again. There is further issues to it to such as falling doen due to floor being too slippery. All of these issues add up a to a real time problem which needs solving.

Brief “Wet Floors being stamped after mopping�

Primary Research Observation Based

Secondary Research

Research paper, Ergonomics-Anthropometry, International Standards of Mopping

Research Analysis

Comparing the observation with international standards

Considerations

Things to be taken forward for ideation

Ideation&Mock-ups A hand-in-hand process

Final Product

Product and usage through simulation

What is Mopping?

The action of cleaning the floor or other surfaces, for hygienic and visually appealing reasons. There are specifically two kinds of majot mopping, wet and dry. Dry mopping is used to get the surface clean of heavy and solid dirts that may be visible to the naked eyes.

Wet mopping is used for removing stubborn dirts that need water and other solubles to be removed.

The Brief or problem area deals with Wet mopping since floors get stamped and issues arise when it is wet.

A small game

Can you spot the dirt in between the red boxes?

They are not present in real but from a whole-like view you might find them present there. The dirt between the floor tiles are similar. One needs to look deeply to see it.

The Types of Mopping There are mainly 2 main types of mopping, dry and wet. Dry mopping is usually done to removed lose dirt and dirt bunnies which may be visible to the eyes. There is no use of water in dry mopping. Dry mopping is done using mops with short stranded mop-heads but largers surface area. Wet mops on the other hand use water to mop and are usually the ones that have dreadlock mop-heads. They clean the sticky dirts that are hard to push out without water.

Ususally, they process of mopping happens to be in 2 stages. First there is a regular dry mopping procedure done to remove all kinds of dry dirts and bunnies. This is followed by a wet mopping session which cleanses the floor from all kinds of sticky dirts.

For our purpose of “Wet Floors being stamped after mopping�, we would be focusing on Wet mopping specifically.

Dry Mop

Wet Mop

There are a few steps that should be taken into consideration while mopping. They are stated as follows:

1.Quantity of water filled in bucket should be enough to make the mop damp, It should not overwet the mop-head.

2. There should be designated taps and pipes for filling of buckets or bucket systems used for mopping.

3. Mop should be dipped in water just enough to do damp-mopping.

4. The ammount of water soaked by the mop should be kept as low as possible.

Mop-head shouldn’t get damaged due to over-wetting.

5. Quantity of water should not be too high, that would lead to over-wetting of floors then raising many more problems.

6. Contamination should be kept as low as possible. This is possible by changing the water used for mopping at regular intervals.

7. Hand rinsing should be avoided. Three way bucket system uses lever rinsing which is suitable.

8. There is no such way of taking the mop to the desired location of mopping.

9. Ergonomics and Body postures should be maintained while mopping.

10. Mopping should be done in Figure-8 pattern.

11. Caution Signages should be used while mopping.

12. Time varries according to floor type, amount of water used, the exposed surface and temperature of surrounding.

13. Mop should be allowed to get dry after use.

14. Waste Water after mopping should be discarded separately and not inside wash-room or kitchen drains.

15. Water discarded permanently should be kept as low as possible.

Steps of Mopping

These are a few set of standard mopping stages. Depending on the primary research based on observations, we would be able to see the deviation in each stage of the process.

The main objectives of each stage is taken and upon that observation is stated. The objectives are stated in the upcoming pages.

Observation Location The observations are done accross the city of Hyderabad, focusing mainly on commercial places where mop is used extensively. The places have a high avergae on the number of footfalls taking place.Furthermore a few eateries and a shopping mall are taken into consideration, since they would have much more spills on the floors.

HYDERABAD, INDIA

15

08.

Proc the desi 06.

Ammount of contamination happening?

Steps of Mopping

01.

Quantity of water filled in bucket for mopping.

02.

Method of filling the water.

0 P b

05.

Quantity of water correct/ incorrect for moppping 03.

Number of times the mop is dipped in the water?

04.

Ammount of water that is soaked in by the mop?

These steps were derived es. Variation of a few step and compared to the inte

cess of taking mop to ired location

07.

Process of rinsing it back to bucket

09.Ergonomics of Mopping

10.

Process of Mopping

11.

Intereference while mopping

12.

Time taken for the floor to dry up

d from observations upon the process of mopping in general, WW in commerical and non-domestic placps might be present all throughout the different observed locations. This can further be taken forward ernational standards of mopping for determination of loop-holes in the process.

13.

Condition of mop post usage

14.

Waste water destination

15.Amount of water discarded permanently

01

Quantity of water filled in bucket for mopping.

The quantity of water filled in, in all the observed cases are stated on the left. The usual container filled in with water was bucket and a three way bucket system in some cases. The right or wrong amount might be determined by comparing it to the international standards.

02

Method of filling the water.

The usuasl way of filling water is quite designated and simple.

The janitors have speciffic taps and pipes that fill up the bucket or the three way bucket system.

03

No. of times the mop is dipped in water.

The rate of dipping the mop into water depends upon the phase of mopping, which is basically the stage till which the mopping is done,. It can either be at initial stage, or at intermidiate stage or final stage. All them them vary with the number of times the mop iis dipped in.

In the initial stage for example the mop is dipped in for more than 3-4 times or greater than that. The mop being too dry is the main reason. Janitors dip it till they find it to be adequetely wet with water.

In the intermediate stage the mop is dipped for around 2-3 times or lesser than that. Since the mop is quite wet they arent subjected to water anymore.

In the final stage the mop is dipped from 0-1 time, reason being , the stage being the end of the process, the janitors stay in a state of hurry and try to finish it as fast as possible, therefore dip it once or even lesser.

04

Amount of Water Soaked in by the Mop. The Mop-head holds a particular amount of water after being dipped in the water. This quantity of water varies from 1 litre to around 50 mililitres depending on the stage of mopping.

A fully wet mop, which is dipped and just pulled out of water may have somewhere around 1 litre to 750 mililitres of water. Once it is is rinsed the quantity decreases to 500 mililitres to 250 mililitres of water.

Once one stage of mopping is done and the mop-head is yet to be subjected to water it may have around 500 mililitres of water still left in it.

All these quantities are determined by self-done experiements and observations through shadowing. There might be variation of quantity in a positive negative 50 mililitres.

05

Quantity of water correct or incorrect for mopping.

The quantity of water coreect for mopping varies according to the type of mopping being done dependant on the flooring, Sealed, unsealed tiles or wooden.

Wooden floors and sealed tiled floors need lesser water and a just enough wet mop-head or damp mop-head is good for mopping. However incase of unsealed tiles the mop-head can be a bit more wet since the surface is rough and can withstand some-amount of water .

06

Amount of contamination happening.

The contamination quantity is too high. This is because the water is not changed at a regular interval or within proper intervals. The mop-head is dipped in the same water again and again causing it to become dirty. This further-on results in degradation of mopping quality.

The water should be changed at regular intervals for lesser contamination and better mopping

CONTAMINATION LEVEL AS DISCOVERED THROUGH COLOUR OF WATER

First rinse

Last rinse

07

Process of rinsing it back to bucket.

The two main processes that are used in rinsing the water from mop-head is either done by hand or the 3-way bucket system is used.

The hand-rinsing process is neither effiicient nor safe for wrist. It causes pain and further-on injuries, while the water quantity left in the mop is too high. The 3-way bucket system on the other hand is a bit more safe but the efficiency is not high. This process too leaves some presence of water in the mop-head.

08

Process of taking the mop to the desired location.

The process of taking the mop to the desired location is quite cumbersome. When the janitors use a bucket they have to carry it all the the way through to the location.

Sometimes they may even push the bucket using the mop.

The 3-way bucket system is way-better here. The wheels help in moving the entire system however the space occupied by it is too high.

09

Ergonomics

THE GOOD THE BAD & THE UGLY

Ergonomics has a major role to play in the entire process of mopping. The process of mopping might be observed to be correct in almost all cases. It is evident that people follow a “Figure-8� pattern while mopping, that is they move the mop in the way an 8 is. This process leads to proper cleaning and covering of all the places.

However the method leads to some humanitarian problems or ergonomic issues. Before going into deep we must understand from our observations how the mop is held, where does the mop have problems in handling and which activities while mopping aren’t correct.

THE GOOD Mopping is done in a figure-8 pattern almost in all the commercial places, voluntarily or involuntarily. This helps in a proper cleaning and reaching out to all the corners that ussually arent accessible.

THE BAD There are a few elements of mopping as a procedure that arent safe. The height, weight and their ratio dont match up properly. This causes a problem in manouvering the mop-stick with ease. As a result it turns out that people suffer from RMI (Repetative Motion

Injury while working.

THE UGLY The mopping process in general involves all the muscles and tendons of the body to be involved in it.

However not all get the wear and tear. There are basically two muscles and a tendon disorder that takes place in the process.

Human Body Kinetics during Mopping The Height The height of the mop directly affects the users.

When it is too short there is a bent in the body of the user (Left user). When it is too large it causes an upraised back-hand ( Lower user). All of them affect the upper torso.

Deltoid Muscles get effected due to larger heights

Spinal Cord gets effected in smaller heights

Upper Trapezius Fault

Posterior Deltoid Fault Tennis Elbow

Movement The movement of arms happen in a repeatative order althroughout the process. This causes wear and tear of some of the muscles and tendons. It is clearly observed that the movement of front arm is much lesser as compared to the movement of the back-arm.

This causes the issues.

Manouvreing Issues As the Load increases due to wetness of the mop, the manouvering capability decreases. This leads to pain in the Upper Trapezius Area and causes a speciffic tendon issue called “Tennis Elbow� which happens due to losening of tendons due to Repeatative Motion. This is often addressed by changing the length or distance of action ( By bringing the mop closer or pushing it further).

However that decreases manouvreability in general..

10

Process of Mopping.

The Figure-8 Pattern Mopping is ideally done in a figure-8 pattern and that helps in cobvering all the areas without any left-out dirt.

The observed janitors more or less did in the same manner as the Figure-8 pattern which makes it almost a good process in use presently.

11

Interference Situations.

What happens when someone steps in while mopping?

Does he/ she wait or go ahead without any stoppage?

One of the most prime focuses in the mopping process that needs immediate addressal is the stamping of wet floors while mopping is going on. This has been a major issue and faced by almost everyone around us. The observed people mostly didnt wait for the floor to get dry, they went ahead unhesistantly and very few were there who felt hesitant however had to go ahead. To understand better a small experiment was run on the behavioural analysis of people through posters infront of the place being mopped.

The “Caution Floor is Wet� signs were removed and instead a placard was placed signifying the maids and janitors and their tough schedule of remopping after someone stamps.

Behavioural Analysis The Behavioural Analysis on Wet floors being stamped after mopping was addressed through posters and placards one of which is on the left hand side. It was observed that almost all the people read what was present on the placard but very few agreed to it. Out of 30 people 2 actually waited while the rest of them moved ahead hesitantly. On a longer run this might have a higher effect, however it also shows the exact nature of the people. Therefore this experiment was not a permanent solution to the problem being addressed.

12

Time taken by the floor to dry up.

The time taken by the floor to dry up is usually dependant on the amount of water used to mop and the type of flooring. However on both unsealed and sealed tiles it was observed that aroud 5-10 minutes of average drying time is needed for the entire floor that has just been mopped to dry up. For a square tile of dimensions 2 ft X 2ft the average time to dry up was around 2-3 minutes keeping the area of exposed surface constant and of same temperature.

2

minutes

13

Condition of Mop Post usage.

Heavy usage of water and very less rinsing leads to a poor state of mop post usage. This is further on kept in dark places leads to growth of pests and insects arond it which leads to more degradation, The mop needs to be in a dry state when not in use for best results. The photos on left show the difference between a dry and new mop and a wet and used mop.

14

Waste Water Destination.

There is no proper way of discarding the dirty water. The water after its use for mopping purposes holds some of the most harmful particles that might not easily get off through regular drains, therefore the janitors in the observed areas discard it through other means which too are not right.

Some of them are discarded off through pans while others are thrown out through windows, neither of which are proper or standard.

15

Amount of Water Discarded in total The total water that is being discarded is pretty much surprising.

On the account of an experiment it was observed that the first user used 24L of water and when she discarded the bucket still had 19L of water. While in another case where 17L of water was used the total water discarded was 10L. All these numbers are roughly equivalent to what it really is.

Therefore it can be observed that there is a huge amount of water that goes into wastage for the mopping purpose.

Method of Filling (Correct way already in usage)

No. of times mop is dipped in (Too many number of times)

Quantity of Water filled in.

(Too much of water used)

Ammount of water soaked in by the mop (Too much amount of water soaked in due to more dipping)

Quantity of water correct or incorrect for mopping.

(The water used is too much)

Process of rinsing it back to bucket (Hand-rinsing usually done, however that is not a standard procedure also a reason for muscle aches)

Ammount of contamination happening.

(Colour of water determines a lot of contamination)

Process of taking the mop to the desrired location.

(Not proper way)

Ergonomics (Many issues with ergonomic)

Wellness Score 2/15

It can be easily be observed that we have a clear issue with mopping which makes it a process that needs immediate revamp. The entore concept needs fine tuning from almost all sides which may lead to a better scenario.Therefore, not only wet floors but points more than that are present and interconnected that needs change. Change for the common good.

Process of Mopping (Almost all follow a standard process)

Interference Situation (Bahavioural analysis determined) Condition of Mop Post Usage (Not in workable condition after 2-3 weeks of intense use)

Time taken by the floor to dry up (Takes more time because of too much water being used)

Amount of water discarded in total (Too much amount of water wasted)

Waste Water Destination (Not in the right drain)

Research Analysis It is very important to understand and iterate on the further steps. All the steps for the process of mopping are interconnected and their flaws may be solved by minor adjustments in one or two steps.

After the research phase an intense session of brainstorming was carried on which resulted in finding a loop hole and also a hypothesis that would make it fine.

Too much water soaked

Mop gets Heavy

Tough to mop

Too much interference Too much wastage

Lots of water filled Dirty bucket water Tough to maouvre Back pain, Wrist Pain, Pain-o-Pain

Iteration If we look closely into the process of mopping we will be able to find out a link between each process and that would eventually lead to the loop hole. Therefore it can be stated that, the amount of water filled is too high, this makes a lot of water to be soaked through the mophead. Further that makes floors over-wet and it takes more time to dry up. Moreover it becomes tough for a person to manouvre a mop which is heavier due to water being soaked up by the mop-head. This leads to ergonomic issues such as Pain in muscles and wear and tear of tendons. The huge amount of water being used leads to more amount of wastage and makes the discarding process tough.

Design Direction Understanding the loop-holes it was necessary to further proceed towards the directions that would lead to the refined brief or scope to further work upon.

It is clearly understood that if the amount of water used is limited almost all the problems would disappear and by keeping an eye on the ergonomics we may achieve a suitable and safe product. Hence we can derive that, If water quantity used is less then, mop will soak less water and floor wont get over-wet hence it will dry up fast and number of people travelling over it would also decrease since it dries up fast. Once mop-head has less water content in it, it would be lighter and easier to manouvre. Therefore probably the ergonomics would fit in the right gaps.

Less

Less Water Used Faster drying process of floor Easier to Manouvre the mop Lesser Ergonomic issue

ser people stamping floors beacuse of faster drying

Based on all the considerations and directions it was necessary to start off with the development phase by following a few guidelines through the refined brief

“To design a mop that uses less water and is Ergonomically safe�

Mock-up and Prototyping The ideations directed to one thing which was testing them with the users. For the purpose of the same, there was a constant cyclic process of Mock-up and Prototyping and thereby finally arriving to the ultimate solution of Spline.

Wood and PVC was used primarily for the mockup process, since stanless steel or plastic would’nt have been available.

Self and Public Testing After making the prototypes all of them were tested by self, public and user. This added cumulatively to the further models and brought development in every steps.

Final Prototyping The final prototype was made using wood and the liquid compartment was made using a bottle of almost cyclindrical shape. Guard Rails are made using PVC pipes and a soft padding is added too. This further was sent for User-testing.

User Test The Janitors did the User testing and had a positive review from them. The only concern was the weight which would be reduced once made in real materials, stainless steel/ plastic.

Real-time Simulation via Renders

Introducing the Spline

Balancing Nature There is a particular balancing nature of the mop that is simply implemented by the the act of self weight. The mop-head becomes easier to manouvre now.

No More Dipping, No more Rinsing With the click of a button the water is sprayed from the mini-tank to the front mop-head making things easier by eliminating dipping and rinsing.

The button to spray water

The tube that carries water to the mop-head

All the parts have been shown and described in details. All of them have a key function to play for the overall wellness of the product.

Water tank and tube Guard Rails for balancing

Adjustable rod size

The spline, most important part of the mop

Conclusion The entire process of Mopping is culmination of lot of shorter steps that come together to form a process in general. Almost all these steps presently have a few loop holes some way or the other. There is a dire need of solving these loop-holes and coming up with a solution that not only fixes wet floors after being stamped but also cures the other issues in general. Ergonomics, plays a major role here. If the ergonomic issues are solved almost all the problems might have an answer.

Spline tries to cope with almost all the issues targeting one thing in common which chain reacts to solve other aroused problems which is usage of less water. Moreover the shape of Spline is created in such a way that it provides maximum output with minimum input. If companies adapt to such a form of mop there might be a much better scenario, which will satisfy mutual wellness both for the janitors and also for us.

Acknowlegdement The entire project was conducted with the help and support of my Faculty, Friends and Parents. I would like to thank Mr. Agam Arora for guiding me through the project and Mr. Pritam Mandavkar for being there and guiding me in every step. My friends and family have been through the process althroughout.

Webliography Housekeeping Tips How to Clean a Floor the Right Way With Mopping (https://www.thespruce.com/ how-to-mop-a-floor-1901114) Training Employees On Proper Mopping Techniques (https://www.cleanlink.com/cp/article/ Training-Employees-On-Proper-Mopping-Techniques--15736) How to Mop a Floor (https://www.wikihow.life/ Mop-a-Floor) A RESEARCH PAPER ON “DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF FLOOR CLEANING MACHINE (http://www.ijaerd.com/papers/special_papers/ NCSOSET33.pdf) Effects of mop handle height on shoulder muscle activity and perceived exertion during floor mopping using a figure eight method (https://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4791294/)

The Efficacy of Cleaning Regimes (http://www.hse.gov. uk/research/hsl_pdf/2005/hsl0526.pdf) ENHANCING MEASURE OF PERFORMANCE (MOP) THROUGH METHODS IMPROVEMENT (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312316776_ ENHANCING_MEASURE_OF_PERFORMANCE_MOP_ THROUGH_METHODS_IMPROVEMENT)