Business owners who once maintained their focus on daily operations and workforce management are now responsible for brainstorming new COVID-19-responsive guidelines to maintain a clean facility.
Fortunately, the CDC developed a detailed guide for cleaning and disinfecting the workplace. Decision-makers who are responsible for maintaining a clean facility can use the CDC’s suggestions to reduce their time spent formulating a new workplace hygiene policy; and, most importantly, ensure safe spaces and clean facilities for workers.
Develop a Plan
The first step to improving workplace hygiene standards is updating existing sanitation protocols to address the current pandemic threat. The guidelines should cover all bases, including frequency of cleaning, equipment usage, and safety precautions. Referring to the CDC’s policies for maintaining good workplace hygiene is a great place to start, but employers should also be mindful of their team’s unique needs.
Mapping out the layout of the building will make it easier to identify all of the equipment, furniture, and hygiene facilities in the workplace, as well as highlight how employees navigate each space throughout a typical workday. Saving time and money on the heightened cleaning protocols is possible by performing routine cleaning to unused rooms and dedicating daily disinfection for high-traffic areas.
Upgrading the cleaning supplies used by the janitorial staff may also be worthwhile when developing a new sanitation plan. Hand sanitizing stations and frequent disinfection of areas are helpful but may be costly for small businesses. A good alternative for those with budget constraints would be a lasting disinfectant product. Avrika Life is one that is proven to continuously kill COVID-19 and other harmful germs from high-touch surfaces like handles, handrails, and buttons for a minimum of 7 days, which is cost-effective when increasing the frequency of cleaning.
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Enact the Plan
It’s easier to share the same standard procedures with teams of all sizes with a plan in place. To ensure that employees actually follow those new protocols, it’s important to stress the benefits that practicing good hygiene in the workplace has on their personal health.
Employees should routinely clean frequently touched surfaces in the workplace, such as workstations, keyboards, telephones, handrails, and doorknobs. Discourage workers from using each other’s phones, desks, offices, or other work tools and equipment when possible. Provide disinfecting wipes so workers can wipe down commonly used surfaces. Avrika Life is a great brand, as one wipe does the work of 18,276 competitor wipes and continuously kills the virus at 99.99%.
Do not mix bleach or other cleaning and disinfection products together. This can cause fumes that may be very dangerous to breathe in. Advise employees to always wear gloves appropriate for the chemicals being used. Be prepared to acquire additional PPE if necessary.
Revise the Plan
Once your plan is in place, it’s important to keep revising it to ensure that it aligns with your current goals. Consider if the current plan does the following:
- Allow you to make core business processes your only priority
- Discontinues complex and restrictive cleaning processes
- Confidently gets staff back to work and clients through the doors
If any of these can be approved upon, be sure to make adjustments to the plan as needed. These protocols are about peace of mind in a world where pieces are being put back together. A return to the old normal just became tantalizingly possible.