Cleaning protocols for businesses

While the government has called for people to stay at home if they can, it’s not an option for all businesses. So how do you keep the workplace clean and manage what’s happening?

Cleaning doorknobs, etc.

Coronavirus can lurk for hours on doorknobs, handrails, keyboards, elevator buttons and other hard surfaces, just waiting to be passed on to someone else, according to Nancy Cleeland for SHRM.

So apart from asking staff to wash their hands thoroughly on arrival and keep on washing with alcohol gel throughout the day, it’s sensible to thoroughly clean shared workspaces. But how clean is clean enough? There’re stories about deep cleaning with special disinfecting equipment typically used by hospitals but that’s not always readily available in depleted supermarkets.

As well as encouraging staff to wash hands regularly, businesses might be better to have general cleaning protocols and follow them discreetly, with a plan to regularly clean handrails, doorknobs and other frequently touched places, cleaning any shared surfaces with effective cleaning solutions.

Disinfect shared spaces using diluted household bleach, alcohol solutions with at least 70 percent alcohol.

Cleaning phones

Individuals can be asked to clean their own areas, where practical, and asked not to answer any other person’s phone.

It doesn’t matter how much hand washing and sanitising you do, according to Oregon Live, if you turn around and pick up a dirty phone right away, you are potentially exposing yourself to the same germs you just got rid of on your hands. There are also some practices you should start adopting to help keep your mobile phone as germ free as possible.

Clean the screen and surface with Microfiber cloth, water and apparently, really carefully, with warm soapy water (making sure the phone’s unplugged, and you don’t get any water in the openings. Apple also indicates that you can wipe down its iPhones or other products with Clorox wipes or other alcohol wipes that contain 70% isopropyl alcohol, but check with your manufacturer.

Don’t wipe down your phone’s screen with rubbing alcohol or a disinfectant wipe. This can damage your device’s screen and remove the coating that protects your device from oils and grease.

If your device has any case or covering, it’s important to clean that too. Normal household cleaners that are not safe to use on your phone may be just fine for cleaning your case, but make sure to double check the material and manufacturer guidelines if you can before you use those products to clean your case.

Lessons from self-isolation

Those in self isolation are advised to use their own eating and drinking utensils, dishes, and towels. Consider whether you have enough hand drying towels in your premises, and whether you’ve provided adequate soap/sanitisers.

Should you all have a named mug, and use only that?

The toughest cleaning challenges: airplanes and cruise ships

Some cleaning jobs are bigger than others. It’s hard to imagine a more complicated disinfecting challenge than an airplane or cruise ship that has carried infected passengers writes Nancy Cleeland for SHRM.

Both industries have long-standing protocols for cleaning, refined through years of Ebola, SARS and other health crises.

Several airlines, including Delta, United and American, have issued statements regarding updated cleaning protocols, vowing to remove from service any flights that have carried passengers with COVID-19 so that the planes can be thoroughly cleaned and sanitised.

Princess Cruises has gone even further. In late February, the cruise line issued a high-profile request for proposals, asking for bids “for an extensive out of service cleaning, disinfection and refurbishment” of the Diamond Princess, the ship that became notorious for its excruciating weeks long quarantine in Yokohama harbour in Japan. Proposals were to address how companies would clean a long list of designated areas, including staterooms, galleys, deck areas and handrails, the medical centre, and entertainment venues on the 18-deck ship where nearly 700 people tested positive for COVID-19.