Good article in Cleaning & Maintenance Management, Feb. 2012, on the above.
The magazine's editor, Aaron Baunee, gives a useful overview on ATP measurement ("measures an energy molecule found in all living - or once living - organisms"), ultraviolet light inspections (UV, or black-light, causes bodily fluids to fluoresce - just like OJ's footprints), and airborne particle counters (to measure fine airborne dust, including germs). Was a bit startled to find myself quoted on the latter; I'd forgotten I'd given them a quick interview.
We have ATP measurement available for critical surfaces - think preschool and grade-school desktops. We also use UV lights extensively. We recently started having all of our crews use them to inspect their own work; we had been using them just at the supervisory and customer service level. Our crews bought into the program easily; it's given us a major improvement in restroom detail work in particular. We do a number of small "draw centers" - medical offices that draw blood and take urine tests. You'd be surprised where-all a bit of urine over-spray can hide.
Each quantifying method has its drawbacks. ATP measurement cannot tell if the offending organism is dead or alive, only if it's been removed, so you can get a positive reading on a surface that's been disinfected by killing the germs. UV light fluoresces substances other than bodily fluids (some restroom caulk, for instance), so one needs to look a bit further to see it you've really got a problem. And indoor air quality measuring counts the number of particles per unit of air, but does not tell you how many of those particle are germs, or spores, or of what variety.
But, used in conjunction, and with a bit of common sense, one can identify, and remedy, cleaning and sanitation issues.
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