The time has come for retail and hospitality businesses to start opening back up to the public, and that means taking extra precautions to ensure the health and safety of all facility occupants, including guests and employees.
Coronavirus Facility and Occupant Policies for Retail and Hospitality Businesses
The time is rapidly approaching for retail and hospitality facilities to reopen their doors to the public, which means each facility must be clean and hygienic with an ongoing plan in place to protect all facility occupants, including:
- Policies regarding traffic throughout the facility, including restricting the number of occupants allowed in a facility at any time.
- Sick leave and illness reporting and tracking policies.
- A dedicated and trained outbreak management team.
- Facility sanitation policies, and;
- Hand hygiene policies and hand awareness training.
Retail and Hospitality COVID-19 Cleaning Checklist
For the purposes of thoroughness and to ensure the safety of everyone, your facilities' checklist should include both policies and procedures.
Further, hand hygiene stations in and out of the restroom with posters reminding occupants of the importance of washing their hands have proven vital in reducing the spread of the virus and protecting the health and safety of facility occupants.
COVID-19 Retail and Hospitality Facility Cleaning Policies
Facility cleaning policies should include:
- Documentation pertaining to employee training regarding ongoing facility hygiene and safety, specifically distancing, hot spots, and ongoing wipe downs.
- An inventory of cleaning and sanitation supplies cross-references with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) list of approved disinfectants for pathogen removal.
- Emergency contact information.
- A list of all required personal protective equipment, including proper wear and disposal methods.
- A list of assigned sanitation responsibilities and schedules, and;
- Potential illness and exposure recognition and reporting procedures.
COVID-19 Retail and Hospitality Facility Cleaning Checklist
Facility cleaning checklists should include:
- General clutter cleanup and removal.
- Sweep the entrance, service entry and walkway mats, and clean the glass doors and windows.
- Empty all trashcans and sweep and mop the floor with microfiber technologies.
- Wipe down glass displays, counters, cash registers, POS stations, and self-service kiosks with microfiber towels and an approved detergent, returning to disinfect the surfaces with an electrostatic disinfection appliance.
- Clean the shelves and tidy up any furniture.
- Scrub the restroom top to bottom, including toilets, urinals, mirrors, counters, and sinks, then restock any low supplies.
Hand Hygiene Policies
All facility occupants and guests should follow strict hand hygiene and awareness policies, including:
- Washing their hands with soap and water for a minimum of twenty seconds after using the restroom, cleaning, coming into direct contact with another person, coughing or sneezing, and before eating.
- Dry hands thoroughly before exiting the restroom.
- Avoid touching their face and others, and;
- Apply hand sanitizer after exiting the restroom or if soap and water are not immediately available.
References & Resources
Takeaway
It has recently been determined that COVID-19 can survive for several hours to several days on various types of surfaces commonly found in retail and hospitality facilities.
Fortunately, regular cleaning and disinfection services have been shown to effectively remove and kill the virus when implemented correctly.
Two recent studies have investigated how long coronaviruses survive on different surfaces.
The research looked at a number of different viruses including SARS-CoV-2 – the coronavirus that has caused COVID-19.
And it found that the survival times varied according to the type of surface.
The virus survived for longest on stainless steel and plastic – for up to nine days. The shortest survival times of one day was for paper and cardboard.
Cleaning Products Can Kill The COVID-19 Virus. Here's What to Use in Your House
Combined with well-documented hand hygiene and awareness policies, enhanced cleaning and disinfection procedures will maintain the sanitation levels and safety of your facility until the threat of pandemic spread has passed.
Outsourcing these services to an experienced, trained, and well-equipped provider has proven to be a cost-effective solution for rapidly implementing and onboarding these critical services in the shortest amount of time without the hassle of recruiting, supplying, and training in-house janitorial staff.
If you would like more information regarding the effectiveness of high-performance infection prevention and control measures, or if you would like to schedule a free, no-obligation onsite assessment of your facility's custodial needs, contact us today for a free quote!
In Bakersfield CA, call (661) 437-3253
In Fresno CA, call (559) 206-1059
In Valencia CA, or Santa Clarita CA, call (661) 437-3253
In Palmdale CA, or Lancaster CA, call (661) 371-4756
