How To Clean Your Office During The Coronavirus Outbreak

As experts in coronavirus prevention cleaning and cleaning up after confirmed coronavirus cases, we know all too well what it takes to ensure an office or workplace is fully sanitised – free from harmful pathogens, such as coronavirus.

You may be opening up your office as the lockdown comes to an end. While social distancing is being promoted inside and outside of the workplace, further measures (policies and procedures) to support the health and wellbeing of your staff should be drafted.

One of the most effective means to reduce the potential spread of coronavirus within the workplace is to carry out regular coronavirus prevention cleans.

To reduce the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection within the office or workplace, we recommend a more frequent and rigorous cleaning schedule be implemented to protect yourself and your staff, reducing the risk of transmission within the office environment.

If you are planning to clean your office or workplace then this coronavirus prevention cleaning guide will help you with that.

Coronavirus Cleaning Guide: How To Clean For Coronavirus

1. Cleaning Supplies & PPE

Cleaning Supplies:

• Hard surface sanitizer
• Hand sanitizer
• Glass cleaner
• Bleach
• Hard surface floor cleaner 
• Microfibre cloths/disposable blue roll 
• Sponge scourer 
• Bin bags
• Vacuum cleaner 
• Vacuum bags
• Mop and bucket x3

PPE:

• Disposable gloves 
• Disposable shoe covers 
• Disposable aprons 
• Eye protection (goggles)
• Face mask

2. When entering the property put on disposable shoe covers.  

Shoes can become contaminated from wearing them outside. If you wear them whilst cleaning the office or workplace, without first covering them or decontaminating them, you could bring germs and harmful pathogens from outside to inside the office, spreading it around the office floor as you clean.

We advise cleaning the properties when no staff are present, this will ensure you can clean the whole office thoroughly, as the staff cannot get in your way. This will also prevent a cleaned area from becoming contaminated. If you are in the process of cleaning, any staff present, who are not carrying out cleaning duties could touch a contaminated surface from an area that has yet to be sanitised, walkthrough and touch a door handle or office equipment in an area of the office that has been cleaned – contaminating that area once again. 

3. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds

Wash your hands with warm water and soap following a thorough and systematic handwashing method, as shown in the diagram below.

Once your hands have been washed put on disposable gloves to protect them, put on safety goggles to prevent splashes into your eyes and put on (optional) a disposable apron.

4. Open Windows

Ventilation helps to reduce the number of contaminated particles in the air – if the air is contaminated for that matter. Ventilation will help 

5. Clean hard surfaces with approved chemical sanitisers (viricides) proven to kill coronavirus.

Allway clean starting from the highest points, working your way down to surfaces closer to the ground, this will prevent contaminating clean surfaces.

Pay particular attention to the high-touch surfaces around the office –these are surfaces which people touch often throughout the day.

Touch point cleaning checklist:

• Tables
• Keyboards 
• Telephones
• Door handles
• Light switches 
• Lift buttons
• Stair balustrade 
• Cupboard handles
• Office printer 
• Kettles
• Microwaves
• Vending machine buttons
• Taps
• Bathroom surfaces/taps/doors/toilet 

If any surfaces are dirty they will need a deep clean before you sanitise it. You may need to use the sponge scourer to lift off the dirt and grime. You may also require degreasers to lift off the dirt – warm water and washing up liquid will work as a degreaser. Using a rung out cloth and a bucket of warm soapy water carefully wipe down the dirty surfaces, keeping the cloth a dry as possible to avoid contaminated water from going everywhere.

When cleaning, wipe surfaces in a slow and steady action to avoid water droplet from flicking up into your face.

If the surface is visually clean or if you have removed dirt from the surface you can now sanitise it. Using a clean dry cloth or disposable blue roll, spray the surface and carefully, in one action, wipe down the entire surface ensuring everything has been wiped.

Wiping down surfaces in a circular motion or back-and-forth direction can redeposit the germs you wiped off. Instead, you should wipe down surfaces in one direction and not go back over it in the opposite direction.

Toilets will require a separate pair of disposable gloves to be worn for hygiene purposes, which should be disposed of as soon as all of the toilets and surfaces have been cleaned. These could be worn over the top off the other gloves, carefully remove them once finished.

6. Clean soft furnishings 

Soft furnishing such as office chair cushioning should be vacuumed off. They could then be lightly sprayed with a sanitiser, as long as it is not bleach-based or the sanitiser states it should not be used for fabrics. Wipe with a clean microfibre cloth once lightly sprayed. 

Steam cleaning is effective at killing germs on furnishings. 

7. Vacuum

Ensure all floors are dirt free by vacuuming them once all surfaces have been wiped down. 

8. Mop hard surfaces 

Mop all hard surface floors with hot water and a hard surface floor cleaner/disinfectant. Mop in one direction, following the direction of the grain if one is visible. 

Make sure to use separate colour-coded mops and buckets for the three main differentiated areas: kitchen/canteen, toilets, and general areas of the office.

9. Dispose of or clean mop heads

Cleaning the equipment you use is just as important. Ensure the wastewater from each bucket put either down the toilet or a designated drain. Then rinse each bucket out with hot water and disinfectant. 

The mop head could either be disposed of, carefully placed into a wastes bin and tied up, or it could be placed on a cycle in the washing machine along with the microfibre cloths. 

First, ensure the mop heads have been rung out fully. Carefully remove the mop heads after use and place them into a black bag ready to take them to the washing machine. Carefully remove them from the bag and place them into the washing machine without them touching the floor or other surfaces. The washing machine should be set to a high temperature (60C +) to kill any germs, add detergent as usual and add 5ml of bleach also, alternatively use a bleach-based laundry product.  

10. Dispose of your gloves and other PPE (or disinfect them)

Remove the apron and place into a waste bag, then remove your gloves carefully and slowly pulling them off inside out. Then remove your eye protection leaving then aside to disinfect. Last, remove your face mask by gripping the edges and turning it inside out. 

11. Wash your hands/use hand sanitizer

Once your PPE is off wash your hands following the same method of handwashing laid out in the diagram shown earlier. 

Alcohol hand sanitiser could then be applied to your hands (optional).

What Sanitizer Should I Use For Coronavirus?

A chemical viricide must be used to kill viruses, such as coronavirus. A sanitiser that is proven to kill coronavirus is the best option. We use amongst other proven sanitiser at Simply Cleaning, Purell surface sanitising spray, active against viruses and proven to kill coronavirus.

Purell surface sanitising spray is also an NHS approved sanitiser that kills coronavirus used in NHS hospitals throughout the UK.

You can use other sanitisers that are proven to kill coronavirus that use the active ingredients shown in Table 1. 

Table 1. Active Ingredients and The Working Concentrations Required to Kill Coronavirus.

How To Make Your Own Disinfectant?

Always read and follow the directions on the label to ensure safe and effective use.

• Wear adequate skin protection and consider eye protection for potential splash hazards
• Use no more than the amount recommended on the label
• Avoid mixing chemical products. 
• Use water at room temperature for dilution (unless stated otherwise on the label).
• Ensure adequate ventilation.
• Label diluted cleaning solutions.

Making a Bleach-Based Disinfectant

Diluted household bleach solutions may also be used if appropriate for the surface.

• • Check the label to see if your bleach is intended for disinfection and has a sodium hypochlorite concentration of 5%–6%.
  • Unexpired household bleach will be effective against coronaviruses when properly diluted.
• Follow manufacturer’s instructions for application and proper ventilation. Never mix household bleach with ammonia or any other cleanser as a toxic gas can form.
• Leave the solution on the surface for at least 1 minute.

How To Make a Bleach-Based Disinfectant?

To make a bleach solution, mix on the following ratios depending on your needs:

• 150ml of water with 1.5ml of bleach
• 300ml of water with 3ml of bleach
• 1000l of water with 10ml of bleach 

Policies & Procedures To Keep Your Office or Workplace Safe From Coronavirus

• Update your office or workplace health & safety policy and procedures and make sure your staff have easy access to this information.
• Train your staff on the new health & safety systems in place.
• Install rubbing alcohol stations at doors to office.
• Leave doors open (as long as it does not pose a fire risk i.e. if it’s a fire door).
• Install disinfectant mats at the entrance to the office to disinfect the soles of your shoes and prevent contamination from entering controlled areas.
• Supply PPE to staff (facemask and gloves).
• Keep the office well ventilated by opening windows.
• Digital signing-in form to avoid paper and pens.
• All staff to avoid using the kitchen/canteen, instead, eat at their desk or outside. 
• Ensuring food such as crisps and sandwiches should not be left open for communal sharing unless individually wrapped.
• Employers should encourage employees to routinely clean and disinfect their workstation and frequently touched objects and surfaces such as telephones, keyboards, door handles, desks and tables.
• Employees should routinely disinfect their smartphones and tablets.
• Work in secluded areas, allow for more space between each workstation or use partitions.
• Cover your office chairs with easy to wipe covers to cover up the cushioned base and back support.
• For large offices, have a dedicated cleaner to clean all high-touch points surfaces throughout the building, continuously throughout each shift.

If you want a thorough clean of your office regularly to prevent the spread of coronavirus, professional and experienced cleaners is one of the best ways to protect you and your staff from the spread of infection.

For reassurance, get your office or workplace professionally cleaned by our experienced cleaning team. Book our coronavirus prevention cleaning services today, contact our team for further details!

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

Call us now!

Categorised in: Industry Cleaning News

This post was written by Tony