Office Covid Cleaning during the Pandemic
The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has infected more than 180 million people worldwide and killed nearly 4 million human beings on the planet. More than 600,000 Americans have passed away from COVID-19 and there have been approximately 34 million COVID cases in the U.S.
In Washington State alone, the coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19, has taken the lives of nearly 6,000 people and infected more than 450,000 Washingtonians.
It is no wonder that workplaces in Kennewick, Moses Lake, Othello and other communities in the Tri-Cities take so seriously cleaning their facilities to keep employees, visitors, and others safe and healthy.
It is all the more imperative that business owners and property managers are extra thorough in their COVID cleaning and COVID disinfecting of their buildings as the coronavirus is extremely transmissible through the air and even on surfaces.
“By touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or possibly their eyes,” a person could become ill with COVID-19, warns the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Recommendations for Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Workplace to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19
There are many ways to do an extensive and thorough cleaning in your workplace to ensure everyone is protected and healthy. OSHA recommends classifying job duties according to COVID-19 exposure risk and putting in place control measures appropriate to risk levels.
Employees and other staff should also consider taking steps for social distancing.
If someone at your workplace has been infected with COVID-19, the CDC recommends that employers take the following actions for an extensive cleaning and COVID disinfecting of your building or facility:
Close off the areas that the sick person used, and this includes common areas and bathrooms.
Open exterior doors and windows to allow for outdoor air circulation in those areas.
Wait at least 24 hours to clean.
Clean and disinfect all portions of the workplace facility that the COVID-19-infected person came into contact with. Be sure to include touch screens, keyboards, and other shared electronic equipment.
After one week since the person who is sick was at the workplace, the CDC recommends continuing with routine or normal cleaning procedures.
As you prepare to clean a potentially contaminated area, it is best to use EPA-registered disinfectants that meet the EPA’s criteria for effectiveness against the coronavirus. Pre-clean with soap and water hard non-porous surfaces that appear dirty. Then disinfect. COVID-19 is one of the easiest types of viruses to kill, according to the EPA. The EPA keeps a list of disinfectants that are thought to be most effective against COVID-19.
When setting out to disinfect a workplace for COVID-19, it is important that treated surfaces be visibly wet for a particular amount of time – known as the contact time – and this could be 15 seconds to up to a half hour, depending on the cleaning product. Defer to the EPA for contact time information for each of its disinfectants.
After cleaning off surface dirt from areas in your workplace, businesses should disinfect shared spaces using diluted household bleach, alcohol solutions with at least 70 percent alcohol, or household disinfectants effective against the coronavirus. What’s more, cleaning crews are advised to wear gloves and wash their hands immediately after taking off protective gear.
For the most part, disinfectants are meant to be applied just to hard surfaces, nonporous surfaces, like doorknobs and stainless-steel counters. When it comes to porous surfaces, visible contamination ought to be removed first and the appropriate cleaners should then be applied.
Once cleaning is done, items that can be laundered, should be, and in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions using the warmest water allowed, followed by drying. For items that cannot be cleaned in the laundry, the CDC recommends using EPA-approved disinfectants that are appropriate for porous surfaces.
Protection that Should be Worn When Cleaning Areas Possibly Contaminated with COVID-19
The CDC recommends wearing disposable gloves and gowns for all cleaning tasks, and that includes handling trash. Once you finish cleaning, workers are advised to be extra careful when removing gloves and gowns to avoid contaminating themselves or their surroundings.
Additional personal protective equipment, or PPE, could be called for to protect against exposure to hazardous cleaners or disinfectants, according to OSHA’s PPE standards for general industry.
If an area at a workplace is contaminated with potentially infectious materials like body fluids or blood, workers should wear face masks and eye protection, according to OSHA regulations.
Dura-Shine Clean – A Premier Cleaning and Maintenance Company
As COVID-19 continues to impact our lives in these challenging and uncertain times,
Dura-Shine Clean is prepared during this unprecedented time to clean and disinfect your business according to the protocols set forth by the CDC.
Dura-Shine Clean provides enhanced cleaning services for businesses that include
touch-point cleaning and electrostatic disinfection to help prevent the spread of harmful viruses, germs, and bacteria.
Dura-Shine Clean services clients in Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, Moses Lake, and Othello.
Learn how Dura-Shine Clean can take care of your business’s cleaning needs today! If you are interested in our commercial cleaning services, we invite you to complete our online contact form!
