Staying Healthy (NHMRC) Cleaning Guidelines for Childcare
If your policy says "cleaning follows Staying Healthy", this guide is for you: it sets out what the NHMRC childcare cleaning guidelines in the 6th edition actually say about cleaning, and turns them into a routine a room can follow. Most of it is simpler than people expect. Detergent, warm water, a rinse and a dry do most of the work, disinfectant has a narrow job, and the guide is specific about how often each surface needs attention. Directors who wrote their policy against the 5th edition should read this first. More on the rules around cleaning is in our childcare cleaning guide library.
What do the NHMRC childcare cleaning guidelines say?
Clean with detergent and warm water, then rinse and dry, because that removes most germs from hard surfaces. Keep wet areas and frequently touched surfaces on a daily clean. Bring in disinfectant only after the surface has been cleaned and dried, mainly for body fluid spills and outbreaks.
The guidance sits in Part 3 of Staying Healthy, the NHMRC's 6th edition from 2024. Its Table 3.1 is the closest thing the sector has to an official cleaning frequency list. Here it is in plain terms:
| Surface or area | How often Table 3.1 says |
|---|---|
| Bathrooms: taps, toilets, door handles | Daily, and whenever visibly dirty; check during the day |
| Toys children mouth, such as blocks | Daily, and whenever visibly dirty |
| Frequently touched surfaces: benches, taps, cots, tables | Daily, and whenever visibly dirty |
| Doorknobs | Daily, and whenever visibly dirty |
| Floors | Weekly, and whenever visibly dirty |
| Beds, stretchers, linen, mattress covers | Daily if children share them; weekly if each child keeps their own |
| Sofas, beanbags, cushions, low shelves | Regularly, and when dirty or contaminated |
Two points in the surrounding text matter as much as the table. First, the guide wants every toy washed once the day is over, and it singles out rooms with younger children, which goes further than the table's line on mouthed toys. Second, it tells services that use an outside cleaning company to pass Table 3.1 on to that company's staff. If your cleaner has never seen it, that is worth fixing.
Floors being weekly surprises people. That is a minimum, not a target, and most centres mop hard floors every day because babies crawl on them and food ends up on them. The table sets the floor, so to speak, and your policy can go above it.
How do you clean the Staying Healthy way?
In the same order every time: loosen, scrub, rinse, dry, and only then decide whether the surface needs disinfecting. Toys follow the same logic with warm soapy water at the end of each day, and body fluid spills get their own short procedure.
- Detergent and warm water
Detergent loosens the germs so they can be lifted off. The guide is clear that the scrubbing matters: mechanical cleaning is what physically removes them.
- Rinse
Clean water takes away the loosened germs and the detergent residue. Skipping it leaves a film that attracts new dirt and ends up on hands.
- Dry
Germs survive and grow more easily on damp surfaces, which is why wet areas such as bathrooms and the kitchen get daily attention.
- Disinfect only where needed
On a surface already cleaned and dried, with a product labelled hospital-grade or similar, mixed just before use. The guide warns against storing diluted disinfectant in spray bottles, because it loses strength.
- Wash the day's toys
Warm water and detergent, then a good rinse. A dishwasher is fine for suitable toys, but never in the same load as dishes, and sunlight is a good way to dry them.
- Keep a toys-to-wash box
A box kept out of children's reach, for any toy that is mouthed, sneezed on or used by a child who is unwell. The guide also suggests splitting toys into two sets that take turns: one out, one being washed.
- Handle spills separately
Gloves on, paper towel to lift the spill, detergent clean, dry, then disinfectant. The same steps apply on carpet or vinyl, and hands are washed at the end.
The guide also lists the equipment that makes this possible: hot-washable or disposable cloths, utility gloves, buckets, mops with removable heads, and a vacuum with a HEPA filter where available. It suggests colour-coding cloths by area, which stops a toilet cloth ever reaching a meal table.
Which products does the guide list for childcare?
A short list: detergent for general cleaning, a general-purpose disinfectant or bleach, dishwashing liquid or tablets, and laundry powder if you wash on site. Products must be ones made and labelled for cleaning, used at the right dilution, and stored away from children.
- DetergentFor almost every routine clean of hard surfaces and toys.
- DisinfectantHospital-grade or similar, for body fluids and outbreaks.
- BleachEffective, but not needed for routine disinfection.
- Not vinegarKitchen staples like vinegar and bicarb are not effective enough.
On bleach the guide is balanced: it works well, particularly against bloodborne viruses, but it can irritate airways and damage surfaces, so it should be made up to the maker's instructions and kept for when it is needed.
The guide also mentions combined detergent-disinfectant products, common in hospitals. Where a service uses one, the separate detergent step can be skipped. Most childcare services do not use them, and there is no need to: detergent for the daily work and a separate disinfectant for the few jobs that need it is simpler to train and easier to log. If two or more children in the service have gastro, the guide sends you to your state health department's outbreak advice, which in Victoria is the Department of Health's gastro guide for children's centres.
Where do services go wrong with Staying Healthy?
Usually in the same few places: disinfecting a surface that was never cleaned, keeping mixed disinfectant in a spray bottle for days, reaching for vinegar, washing toys once a week, and running the vacuum while children are in the room without a filtered machine.
- Disinfecting before cleaning
Food, grime and dried fluids protect the germs underneath. The guide is explicit: clean and dry first, disinfect second.
- Old spray bottles
Diluted disinfectant weakens with time. Mix it when you need it, not at the start of the week.
- Natural swaps
Vinegar and bicarb feel safer but are named in the guide as not effective enough for a service.
- Toys only once a week
The 6th edition wants toys washed daily, plus a set-aside box for anything mouthed or sneezed on.
- Dusty vacuuming
Without a HEPA filter, vacuum before children arrive so the dust settles before the room fills.
- A policy citing the 5th edition
The 6th edition replaced it in 2024. Update the reference and check your schedule against Table 3.1.
When should professional cleaners take over?
When the end-of-day list in Table 3.1, plus the day's toys, no longer fits into the time educators have left after the last child goes home. That point usually arrives around the second or third room, and it arrives sooner in baby rooms.
Educators should always own the in-the-moment hygiene the guide describes: the change table after each nappy, the toys-to-wash box, the spill kit. What they should not be doing is scrubbing toilets and mopping every floor at 6.30 pm. That work needs its own time, its own cloths and someone whose attention is not on the last family at the gate.
If you hand it over, give your cleaner Table 3.1, as the guide itself suggests, and ask how their method lines up with it. Their answer tells you a lot. Ask as well who washes the day's toys and empties the toys-to-wash box, because that is the task most often missing from a cleaning scope, and the one the 6th edition is firmest about.
Our compliance support maps the nightly clean to Table 3.1 and records it in a log you keep.
What else do educators ask about Staying Healthy?
Short answers to the two questions we hear most about the guide.
01How often does Staying Healthy say to clean?
02Which products does Staying Healthy recommend?
- NHMRC (2024), Staying Healthy, 6th edition: Part 3.2 Cleaning, including Table 3.1 and the sections on toys, disinfectants and spills
- Department of Health, Victoria: guide to managing gastroenteritis outbreaks in children's centres
Table 3.1, done every night.
Nightly cleaning that follows the guide, with a log to prove it.