Office Sanitization: How to keep your employees safe at work.
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we think about cleaning and disinfecting in many ways. We find ourselves no longer just concerned with the dirt that we can see, but now we’re hyper aware of the dirt and germs that we cannot see. We knew we wouldn’t be home forever; the world is slowly opening itself up and people are finally making their way back to the office. It’s no secret that offices can be a breeding ground for all sorts of germs and infections. Many employees come into close contact with each other, share the same facilities and move around from one department to the next. This leads us to discuss the importance of office sanitization and how to keep your employees safe, even in the post-pandemic world. While life will never be the way we imagined it to be, it’s best to create an environment in the workplace that places importance on cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing.
Practicing good hygiene in the workplace.
The best way to start is through the two main channels of hygiene: cleaning and disinfecting. Although they may seem like the same thing, they each are different and play a different role in office sanitization. Cleaning removes germs and dirt from surfaces with water and detergent. This does not necessarily kill germs, but it lowers the risk of infection of people in the workplace. The process of disinfecting uses chemicals (For example, our 5-star surface disinfectant) that do not necessarily clean dirt, but they are capable of killing germs, further lowering the risk of infection in the office. Sanitization lowers the number of germs on surfaces to a safe level. Cleaning products that are used to remove dirt may not always be the same or as effective as disinfection and sanitization products but making use of all three is guaranteed to keep your employees safe at work. Using this understanding, you can now begin to move into the next phase of preventing infection:
- Developing a solid plan for the workplace.
It all begins with developing a plan of action, identifying where the threats are, what needs to be cleaned and where there are opportunities for better practices are. The more people who touch a surface, the higher the imposed risk is. For example, there is a higher traffic in the office kitchen and bathrooms which means that those areas will be prioritized twice or three times a day. Because disinfecting is stronger, you may use this in addition to cleaning in these high-risk areas.
- Choosing the right products.
Good quality cleaning products is the essential ingredient to office sanitization. Working with products that aren’t helpful, cheaply made and falsely advertised can be incredibly harmful to the office and all the employees inside it. You can find all the best products with us, and if you don’t know where to start we have trained professionals to point you to the right products for your office sanitization needs.
- Implementing the plan.
Now that all assessments have been made, a plan is in place and high-risk areas have been identified, implementing the plan comes next. This includes ensuring the cleaning staff are properly trained on using cleaning and disinfecting products. In addition to this, it is best practice to provide the necessary PPE not only for the cleaning and disinfecting products, but for all staff to have access to. You can now begin to implement the disinfecting schedules and inform employees to stick to the guidelines.
- Staying consistent.
It’s no use in creating a safe environment for employees if procedures aren’t followed over-time. Consistency is key to ensuring that offices are thoroughly disinfected, and employees are safe.
Implementing the Covid-19 guidelines in the workplace, and beyond.
The best form of defence and prevention ultimately lies in ensuring that your employees are following the correct safety measures and guidelines in the workplace. These are some of the guidelines given to us by the World Health Organization that can be implemented in the workplace:
- Practice social distancing. Keep physical distance of at least 1 metre from others, even if they don’t appear to be sick. This also means trying to limit the amount of people in meetings, or ensuring they sit apart from each other and keep their mask on.
- Wear a properly fitted mask when physical distancing is not possible and in poorly ventilated settings.
- Clean your hands frequently with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Dispose of used tissues immediately and clean hands regularly.
- If you develop symptoms or test positive for COVID-19, self-isolate until you recover.
- Outdoor gatherings are safer than indoor ones, particularly if indoor spaces are small and without outdoor air coming in.
- If you are feeling sick, do not come into the office and risk creating an infection.
These guidelines on how to keep your employees safe at work is effective, easy to implement and easy for people to understand. Many offices have made notices that can be put up on walls, notice boards, broadcasted on email and in the bathrooms. These guidelines may differ as we start to come out of the pandemic, however these practices can live on as a reminder to keep everyone in the office safe and as germ-free as possible.
Creating an environment with easy access to supplies
Any organization will benefit greatly from keeping supplies that their employees can have access to, that prevent the spread of infection and ensure workplace hygiene and ensures employee safety. This includes having sanitizer dispensers that are easily accessible to all employees, available PPE (for example, masks) for employees who may have forgotten to bring one into the building, high protection handwash in the bathrooms (as opposed to regular soaps that do not clean as effectively) as well as surface disinfection bottles in each department to allow employees to have an added measure of safety for their desks and other surfaces they use, or to disinfect surfaces of personal goods.
Following the necessary procedures and consistently practicing good workplace cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing is exactly how to keep your employees safe at work. Ensuring the safety of your staff and the hygiene of your building assures them that you are taking their health and the health of their environment seriously. Let’s work together to keep you and your employees safe from risk and preventing infection.
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