Even amidst the uncertainty and the rise and transmission of COVID variants, schools and businesses can safely transition their facilities back to pre-pandemic operational status by adhering to a few health and safety guidelines.
Post-Pandemic Guidelines to Return Your Facility to Operational Status
More and more facilities are transitioning from a work-from-home, reduced capacity, or outdoor-only status to a more conventional, full-time, indoor work, shopping, learning, and dining environment.
The transition to indoor operations from a year or more of working from home, shopping in reduced capacity stores, and dining outdoors has proven stressful for consumers, office workers, students, and faculty.
According to a poll cited in a recent article published by the Harvard Business Review;
Seventy percent of over 1,000 workers surveyed by PwC said there are several factors preventing them from wanting to return to work, with 51% citing fear of getting sick as their major worry.
For others, fear of using public transportation and having no reliable solutions for childcare or homeschooling are also concerns.
To alleviate these fears, protect facility occupants, and ensure public health and safety, facilities managers, school faculty, and business owners should follow proven infection prevention and control guidelines, including:
- Ongoing facility inspections.
- Proactive preventative services, and;
- Enhanced cleaning and disinfection.
Pre- and Post-Transition Inspections
Performing a walkthrough before and routinely after your facility opens will help identify critical areas of concern, such as:
- Outdated HVAC systems.
- Whether modern air purification systems are in place and, if not, where they should strategically be placed.
- The availability and functionality of touch-free systems in restrooms.
- The absence of a discernable cleaning strategy and checklist.
- Documentation, including safety data sheets, of cleaning and disinfection products.
- The availability of supplies, with a list of multiple distributors and an estimate of life-span in the event of transportation delays and supply shortages.
- Hand hygiene product availability, and;
- The presence of occupant safety and facility hygiene signage.
Tips for success include:
- Outlining initial and ongoing goals for the facility, keeping occupant health and safety at the forefront of your strategy.
- Taking photos of each space and adding those to your documentation, and;
- Using an electronic checklist that the photos can be attached to and easily shared with all stakeholders.
From this, your team should be able to develop clear, long and short-term strategies that include continuous walkthroughs to check on the status of each project and ensure the facility is keeping up with its stated targets.
Proactive Preventative Facility Decontamination
During the height of the pandemic, numerous technologies surfaced claiming efficacy against SARS-CoV-2.
Of all the technologies and claims, electrostatic disinfection chemicals and delivery methods were fast-tracked to approval for use against SARS-CoV-2 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and published to its List-N of disinfectants with verifiable claims against the virus that causes COVID-19.
Further, proactive electrostatic disinfection services have proven effective in classrooms, gyms, and other large, difficult to sanitize facilities against well-established pathogens, such as influenza.
Proactively implementing this technology in concert with routine cleaning and disinfection services will help reduce the presence of pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, and pathogenic bacteria, such as C. diff, resulting in safer working, learning, dining, and shopping environments.
Enhanced Cleaning and Disinfection
Enhanced cleaning and disinfection services focus on:
- The use of commercial-grade cleaning detergents and disinfectants listed by the EPA as effective against specific or a broad spectrum of viruses and bacteria.
- Microfiber towels, mops, and brooms to replace conventional, less effective cotton, cloth, string, and fiber materials.
- The targeted disinfection of high touch surfaces multiple times per day.
- Ongoing custodial team training in the latest practices, PPE safety, products, and technologies.
- Proactive equipment care and maintenance, such as laundering, cleaning towels, and servicing electronic equipment.
- Increased cleaning frequencies during community or localized outbreaks, or in the event of facility contamination, and;
- Team cleaning, which takes advantage of the specific skills and training of each member to enhance facility cleaning efficiency and efficacy.
References & Resources
- 6 Tips To Prepare Food Service Areas For Post-Pandemic Challenges
- Four Steps To Transition Facilities Back To In-Person
Takeaway
Transitioning from a year and a half of quarantines, lockdowns, and reduced capacity shopping experiences has proven challenging for many people.
Alleviating those fears will go a long way toward helping your organization quickly transition from whatever stage it currently finds itself to pre-pandemic operational status.
That process will involve an ongoing commitment to improved facility safety and hygiene, resource management, and upgrades to publicly available facility services, which can be cost-prohibitive.
Outsourcing is a proven method for onboarding increasingly in-demand sustainable cleaning for health services, tools, and expertise for a fraction of the cost of maintaining a similar service in-house.
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
