covid secure office cleaning

Why You Need To Increase Office Cleaning To Stay COVID-Secure

June 7, 2021 9:49 pm Published by

The UK government has set out a roadmap as a system to ease lockdown restrictions.  We are currently moving through several phases, with Step 4 soon approaching. Step 4 of this roadmap, which the government hopes to be in a position to remove all legal limits on social distancing, is scheduled to take place no earlier than June 21 2021.

Many businesses have re-opened since the initial phase of the lockdown had pushed many to shut for months on end.  Though many office or workplace throughout the UK have reopened, they have done so with additional health and safety measures as advised by the Health & Safety Executive – the UK government agency responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare. 

As an employer, it is your duty to do what is reasonably practicable to keep your workers’ safe while at work. This includes visitors, such as, clients, contractors and members of the public who enter your premises.  

 

 

Coronavirus (Covid-19) is a risk that could arise within the office or workplace.  You must take reasonable step to protect your workers and other from coronavirus, just like every other risk identified within your risk assessment.

Before you open up an office or workplace you should carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment. 

 

Your Covid-19 risk assessment must:

  • identify what work activity or situations might cause transmission of the virus
  • think about who could be at risk
  • decide how likely it is that someone could be exposed
  • act to remove the activity or situation, or if this isn’t possible, control the risk

 

Unless you have fewer than 5 employees, you must have a written risk assessment. This should be periodically updated to reflect any changes in regulation or at the moment you identify further risks that may impact how you carry out your work activity.  

The Health & Safety Executive have produced guidance to help keep your office or workplace safe and be COVID-secure. There are practical considerations you can put in place, for example:

  • putting in place social distancing measures
  • staggering shifts
  • providing additional handwashing facilities
  • increasing cleaning frequency to the workplace and facilities 

 

If you haven’t already done so, we suggest that you review all cleaning procedures. You should determine what is needed for your business based on your risk assessment.

Some workplaces may be small, therefore cleaning may be carried out in-house by office staff. In such instance, cleaning duties can be scheduled and delegated between each staff member. If you are unsure how to set a cleaning schedule, take a look at our staff cleaning checklist for work communal areas for guidance on how you or your staff should carry out the cleaning to your workplace.  

Regular cleaning plays a vital role in limiting the transmission of COVID-19. Government guidance (gov.co.uk) suggest an “increased frequency of cleaning of general room surfaces” to reduce the presence of viruses. In addition, they state “as a minimum, frequently touched surfaces should be wiped down twice a day, and one of these should be at the beginning or the end of the working day”. 

Businesses also need to factor in the number of people who use the office, a large and busy office should have a more frequent office cleaning schedule – “cleaning of frequently touched surfaces is particularly important in bathrooms and communal kitchens”.

Remember, companies must ensure that their offices are COVID-secure and the UK Government has released clear guidelines on what that means – including increased frequency of office cleaning.

 

How to keep the workplace clean

Objective: To keep the workplace clean and prevent transmission by touching contaminated surfaces.

You will usually need to:

  1. Clean work areas and equipment between uses. Use your usual cleaning products. 

  2. Frequently clean objects and surfaces that people touch regularly. This includes door handles and keyboards. Make sure there are adequate disposal arrangements for cleaning products.

  3. Clear workspaces and remove waste and belongings from the work area at the end of a shift.

  4. Limit or restrict the use of high-touch items and equipment. For example, printers or whiteboards.

  5. If you’re cleaning after a known or suspected case of COVID-19, refer to the guidance on cleaning in non-healthcare settings.

  6. Provide extra non-recycling bins for workers and visitors to dispose of single-use face coverings and PPE. You should refer to the guidance on how to dispose of personal or business waste, including face coverings and PPE.

 

Why you should be considering daily office cleaning services to help make your office COVID-secure

For most businesses, time is valuable and costs dearly. Focus your attention on where it matters most! Both your and your workforces time is probably better utilised growing the business and servicing clients.

With our Daily Office Cleaning Services, we can help make your office or workplace COVID-secure, freeing up precious time to focus on what matters, while knowing that the safety and wellbeing of your workers is enhanced through our services. 

 

covid secure

 

In addition to a regularly scheduled cleaning service, such as daily office cleaning, it may be in your best interests to further protect your workplace with a daytime office cleaner. A full-time office cleaner will disinfect surfaces and busy areas – including washrooms – throughout the day will play a key part in maintaining a hygienic and COVID-secure office. 

Simply Cleaning provides Office Cleaning Services – both full-time and part-time daytime – scheduled to suit your needs.  

 

A daytime office cleaner can boost hygiene levels by:

  • frequent cleaning of washrooms, kitchens and meeting rooms
  • frequent cleaning of high-touch areas
  • maintaining office hygiene consumables 
  • cleaning office equipment after usage 
  • cleaning workstations thoroughly after usage (essential if you use a hot-desk work system)

 

What to expect from Our Daytime Office Cleaning Services 

Simply Cleaning, with over 25 years of professional office cleaning experience, provides a tailored service to suit your exact requirements. 

We can schedule office cleaning to minimise disruptions within your workplace with our hour’s cleaning, such as evening and weekends.

We also proved janitorial services. Daytime office cleaners can significantly improve the hygiene levels throughout your workday, maintaining a Covid-secure environment all day, every day.

If you operate a hot-desk system, our daytime office cleaner will clean each desk thoroughly, reducing the worry and improving the safety and wellbeing of your next staff member. Meeting rooms can be prepped and cleaned down after each use, ensuring the wellbeing of your staff, visitors and clients. 

Providing a Covid-secure workplace environment is now critical for your business. If you are looking to improve the standard of your cleaning and overall office hygiene levels, Simply Cleaning’s Office Cleaning Services will provide you with added security and peace of mind. 

To improve the health and wellbeing of your staff and to make your office or workplace COVID-secure, get your workplace professionally cleaned by our experienced office cleaning team. For further information on our Professional Office Cleaning Services, contact our team today.

Email our cleaning services on: info@simply-cleaning-uk.com

 

Call us now!

 

Tags: , , ,

Categorised in: ,

This post was written by Tony

Comments are closed here.