With people working in packed places and sharing offices, desks, and equipment, it makes their shared space quite inviting for viruses and bacteria to pass from one person to another. And with COVID-19, it became even more dangerous to work in closely packed areas without covid cleaning.
When it comes to offices, people share desks, kitchen areas, and restrooms. The same thing goes for schools, warehouses, and healthcare facilities. Making cleanliness and disinfection the number one priority to any facility with employees or students.
But what precautions should be taken while cleaning shared areas? Don’t worry, Today on Cleaning Company, Clean Group, we will go through the tips to maintain cleanliness and sanitizing in shared areas to help reduce the risks of viruses spreading.
Keep Your Hands Sanitized
A study by the University of Arizona shows us how germs can spread at an alarming speed starting with one employee walking into an office and touching shared surfaces like desks, doorknobs, restrooms, and kitchens.
The spread of germs in a workplace is mainly down to the surfaces people touch with their hands, making it of utmost importance to keep your hands sanitized and clean at all times.
Placing hand sanitisers should be in areas where people cannot wash their hands, such as meeting rooms, classrooms, warehouses, and workspaces. It is a common mistake to place hand sanitisers in restrooms only as while in a restroom,
Washing your hands with soap and water is much more effective than using hand sanitisers, especially since restrooms are the breeding environment for all kinds of germs and dangerous bacteria.
Frequently Clean and Disinfect Surfaces
Cleaning and disinfecting high traffic areas such as desks and doorknobs can lower the risks of germs spreading, most importantly in flu seasons. The costs for frequently Sydney office cleaning these areas will be even less than the cost of sickness absence for employees.
Restrooms should be cleaned and disinfected frequently throughout the day due to high traffic, keeping in consideration that it is not only toilets to be cleaned, as the cleaning and disinfecting should include floors, doorknobs, and any surface that is frequently touched.
When it comes to the kitchen areas, microwaves, refrigerators, coffee machines, and copying machines are considered hotspots where bacteria and germs can live and linger. Cleaning those areas should be done frequently as well depending on the number of users or visitors.
Clean and Disinfect Items on Desks
Any desk surface can harbor plenty of germs if not cleaned properly and frequently. However, other items on desks such as computer mice, mouse mats, keyboards, mobile phones, and desk telephones can harbor plenty of dangerous germs as well.
While cleaning these areas, make sure to always wear a mask, use gloves, and use disinfectant sprays and alcohol wipes to not damage any electronics, as well as reading the disinfectant instructions thoroughly as some products need to stay on surfaces for a certain amount of time before wiping off to completely kill harmful germs.
Always Keep Communal Areas Clean
When it comes to keeping your coworking space clean and hygienic, you must keep communal areas clean and always disinfected. Cleaning the joint areas is something that should be done frequently while focusing your attention on places people touch but are regularly clean.
For instance, cabinets, doors, and doorknobs. These are areas that people always touch but many workplaces do not pay them much attention as they focus more on more exposed areas, hence, these areas should be cleaned on the regular with special attention.
Offer Cleaning and Sanitary Supplies
As a workplace owner, you should consider offering people cleaning and sanitary supplies, such as hand sanitisers and wipes. Because even though you are aware of the dangers of the common viruses, others might not give it the same kind of attention.
Consider making sanitizing hands and wearing masks before walking into an office or school a strict rule, that way, you can ensure reducing the risks of germs spreading between employees or students.
Additionally, you can consider adding disinfection products in each bathroom and urging your employees to always use them to disinfect toilet seats before using them. As well as supplying soaps in all bathrooms and keep in mind to check and refill them regularly.
Establish House Rules
It is quite important to establish ground rules for walking into the workplace whether it’s an office, school, warehouse, or healthcare facility. Otherwise, it will be challenging to get your colleagues to follow health and safety protocols.
If you work in a place where you get lots of visitors, you can consider requiring visitors to book before visiting instead of welcoming walk-ins. This could help you control the number of people in your workplace at the same time.
This could also be helpful to trace contact in case someone got sick so you can take the necessary health and safety precautions. As well as preventing any overwhelming flow of visitors in your workplace which could make it easier for you to schedule cleaning and disinfecting timings.
Following these rules, you will heavily reduce the risks of viruses spreading among employees or students.
Social Distancing
This is probably one of the most important rules you need to implement in your workplace, make sure to keep desks and chairs at a convenient distance to avoid infecting nearby members. This also goes for the break and kitchen areas and the number of people allowed on the same table.
In addition to social distancing in the office, make sure to urge your employees to keep a safe distance between them and other people outside of the office, this will help reduce risks of infection in workplaces and in their homes as well.
With the changes that COVID-19 has forced everyone to make, it is very important to follow the house rules and remove bad smells from hardwood flooring when it comes to working in closed spaces with other employees or even going to school with other students, as the spread of viruses could be very fast and quite dangerous.