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Introducing Compliance Club Digital
If you’re a Compliance Club member, you already know the drill: complete your audit, send us your results, and wait for your certificate to land
Team Aura Infection Control
1st October 2026
Surface cleaning and disinfection is a vital part of infection prevention and control procedures, but how do we monitor the effectiveness of our cleaning protocols? A surface may look clean, but when we’re dealing with microscopic bacteria and cells, how do we know a surface is clean? One method we can use to check the effectiveness of surface cleaning protocols is known as ATP monitoring.
ATP stands for adenosine triphosphate.
ATP is an energy molecule found in all plant, animal and microbial cells. It fuels metabolic processes such as cellular reproduction, muscle contraction, plant photosynthesis, respiration in fungi, and fermentation in yeast. All organic matter (living or once-living) contains ATP, including food, bacteria, mold and other microorganisms. The detection of ATP on a surface or in water therefore indicates the presence of biological matter that may not otherwise be visible to the eye.
ATP testing devices contain a natural enzyme found in fireflies. This enzyme, called luciferase, produces simple bioluminescence (light-producing) reaction when it comes into contact with ATP.
Measuring the amount of bioluminescence from an ATP reaction provides an excellent indication of surface cleanliness or water quality because the quantity of light generated by the reaction is directly proportional to the amount of ATP present in the sample. The bioluminescence reaction is immediate so results can be processed at the testing site in seconds. Results are expressed numerically on the luminometer screen in Relative Light Units (RLU). So the higher the RLU the more contamination on the surface.
ATP monitoring has many benefits for all type of facilities, from dental and healthcare to food production facilities and care homes.
Improve Cleaning
• Measure effectiveness of cleaning tools, products, and procedures.
• Identify hard to clean areas.
Improve Training
• Provide on-the-spot feedback.
• Identify training opportunities.
Motivate Teams
• Engage staff in infection prevention.
• Promote teamwork among EVS and IP.
Track Progress
• Post reports in common areas.
• Show performance to management.
EnSURE™ Touch is the next-generation cleaning verification and monitoring system. It collects, analyzes, and reports data to help you prove the effectiveness of your facility cleaning and infection prevention programs. The EnSURE Touch is designed to adapt to your workplace and provides the data you need to optimize infection prevention and lower HAI rates.
Using the EnSURE Touch is simple, swab an area with the Ultrasnap Swabs (10 x 10cm), snap the top of the swab and shake. Place the swab into the EnSURE Touch and within 10 seconds you will have a result in RLU.
SureTrend Cloud is an easy-to-use data analysis software that comes free with every EnSURE Touch. It enables users to monitor testing results and manage user access across multiple facilities, making risk management easier than ever.
Data reporting with SureTrend has a host of benefits including.
We hope you found this article useful. We stock both the EnSURE and the previous ATP monitoring system from hygiena, the SystemSURE plus (which was subject to a case study at North Tees NHS Trust).
If you would like to discuss the benefits ATP monitoring can bring to your facility, and for your specific prices get in touch with our team below.
If you’re a Compliance Club member, you already know the drill: complete your audit, send us your results, and wait for your certificate to land
In the dental decontamination cycle, disinfection is a bridging step between cleaning and sterilisation. It is commonly misunderstood and often conflated with cleaning – they
