Childcare cleaning requirements in NSW: what the regulations and Staying Healthy say

If you run a childcare centre, long day care or early learning service in NSW, your cleaning has to do more than look good. It's part of how the service meets the National Regulations and the National Quality Standard, and it's one of the main ways to stop illness moving through a room of young children. The expectations are written down in three places. Here's what each one says, how often to clean what, and how to split the work between educators and your cleaner.

Where the requirements come from

These apply to education and care services approved under the National Law, which in NSW includes long day care, preschools, family day care and outside school hours care.

• The National Regulations. Regulation 103 says premises, furniture and equipment must be safe, clean and in good repair. Regulation 77 covers health, hygiene and safe food practices.
• The National Quality Standard. Element 3.1.2 (Upkeep) says premises, furniture and equipment are safe, clean and well maintained. Element 2.1.2 says effective illness and injury management and hygiene practices are promoted and implemented.
• Staying Healthy. ACECQA's guidance for Element 2.1.2 points services to the NHMRC's Staying Healthy: Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services. The current 6th edition (2024) is online, and it's where the practical cleaning detail sits.

What assessors look for: the ACECQA cleaning checklist

There's no single official "ACECQA cleaning checklist", but ACECQA's guide to Element 3.1.2 lists what assessors may observe, discuss and sight. On cleaning, that includes:

• areas used by children that are regularly cleaned
• schedules for cleaning all toys and equipment used by children
• the arrangements for laundering soiled items
• documented procedures and schedules for cleaning buildings, premises, furniture and equipment
• following manufacturers' advice when using and cleaning furniture and equipment

In practice, write the cleaning schedule down, including the parts your cleaner does. If your service shares space with a school, assessors may also ask how cleaning works in the parts you don't fully control.

How often to clean what

Table 3.1 in Staying Healthy sets out how often to clean different surfaces:

• Daily, and when visibly dirty: bathrooms (tap handles, toilets and doorknobs, with a check during the day), toys and objects children put in their mouths, surfaces children touch often like benchtops, taps, cots and tables, and doorknobs.
• Weekly, and when visibly dirty: floors.
• Beds, stretchers, linen and mattress covers: daily if children don't use the same items every day, weekly if they do.
• Regularly, and when visibly dirty: sofas, soft chairs, beanbags and cushions, low shelves, and other surfaces children rarely touch.

The kitchen, toilets and nappy change areas are "wet areas". Germs thrive in damp conditions, so Staying Healthy says to clean them at least once a day, and again if they become dirty.

The basic steps for routine cleaning

The guidelines say routine cleaning with detergent and water, followed by rinsing and drying, is the best way to remove harmful germs from hard surfaces. For hard surfaces, the steps are:

1. Put on utility gloves and mix detergent with warm water in a clean bucket, not a handwashing basin.
2. Wet a clean cloth with the mix and rub the surface firmly. Scrubbing is what physically removes germs.
3. Rinse with a fresh cloth and clean water to take away loosened germs and detergent.
4. Dry the surface, because germs survive longer on damp surfaces.

A few other points from the guidelines:

• Make the detergent mix fresh each day and don't top it up with water during the day.
• Spray bottles: spray the surface heavily and rub. A fine mist wiped straight off isn't enough to dislodge germs.
• Work from clean to dirty, so germs aren't carried from a dirty room into a clean one.
• Equipment: washable or disposable cloths, mops with detachable heads that can be washed hot, and a vacuum with a HEPA filter if possible. Without one, finish vacuuming before children arrive so the dust settles.
• Colour coding: the guidelines suggest separate colours for each area, such as red for bathrooms and green for the kitchen.
• Outdoors: clean often-touched plastic and metal surfaces when they're dirty. Spraying cleaning products or disinfectants outdoors isn't necessary or effective.

Products: eco-friendly is fine, vinegar isn't

Staying Healthy says to use products labelled and intended for cleaning, diluted as the label says. It specifically says not to use vinegar or bicarbonate of soda as cleaning products, because they're not as effective against germs. Eco-friendly cleaning products are fine, as long as they're sold as effective cleaning products.

When disinfectant is needed

Disinfectant is for specific situations, not every surface every day. Clean and then disinfect after any spill of body fluids, such as urine, faeces, vomit or blood. During an outbreak, your local public health unit will advise on extra cleaning. A few rules to know:

• Disinfectant only works on a surface that's already been cleaned with detergent and water and dried.
• The guidelines suggest disinfectants labelled "hospital-grade" or similar, diluted just before use and not stored in spray bottles.
• Bleach isn't needed for routine disinfection. Never use it in a spray bottle, and never mix it with other chemicals.
• Food-grade sanitiser on tables after cleaning isn't required to stop infection, but follow your service's own policy if it asks for it.

Who does what: educators and cleaners

Most centres split the work. Educators handle cleaning during the day, such as nappy change surfaces, spills and mouthed toys, while the cleaner does the full clean after children leave. Staying Healthy makes two points about this:

• If a separate organisation does your cleaning, tell its cleaning staff about the frequencies in Table 3.1.
• Keep cleaning equipment and products on hand even if an external provider usually does the cleaning.

What to ask a childcare cleaner

1. Will you work to our cleaning schedule, including toys and equipment, and help us keep it documented?
2. Which products do you use, and are they sold as effective cleaning products?
3. How do you keep cloths and mops for bathrooms and nappy areas separate from the rest?
4. Do you clean from the cleanest areas to the dirtiest?
5. Can you arrange Working With Children Checks and police checks for the people who'll attend?

How we approach it at Clean Spaces

We provide regular, scheduled cleaning for childcare and early learning centres, usually after children and educators have left, with before-opening and weekend cleans also available. We bring our own equipment and use eco-friendly products, and we can supply soap, paper towel and bin liners on request. If your centre needs cleaning staff to hold a Working With Children Check or police check, we arrange it on request. Quotes and site visits are free, there's no lock-in contract, and we can usually start within a day or two.

This guide is general information, not advice. Check the current regulations and your service's own policies, and contact your local public health unit about outbreaks.

Sources

• National Health and Medical Research Council (2024). Staying healthy: Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services, 6th edition: A healthy environment.
• National Health and Medical Research Council. Staying healthy guidelines (6th edition).
• ACECQA. Element 3.1.2: Upkeep. Guide to the National Quality Framework.
• ACECQA. Element 2.1.2: Health practices and procedures. Guide to the National Quality Framework.
• NSW Legislation. Education and Care Services National Regulations.

Keep reading

• Medical centre cleaning requirements in NSW: what GP and allied health practices need
• Are cleaning sprays bad for your lungs? What a 20-year study found
• All cleaning guides