A clean sweep

Whether it's a factory, catering facility or office, it’s vital that workplaces adhere to strict hygiene standards to ensure the health and safety of staff, clients and customers. Poor office hygiene alone cost the UK economy an estimated £4.2 billion in 2013 due to employee illness and absence, a large proportion of which could have been easily prevented. It is therefore in the best interests of all parties - business owners, facilities managers and individual employees - to find ways of improving the hygiene of their workplace, and the hygiene practices of those within it.

Consistent cleaning

Office environments with high densities of employees can often provide the perfect setting for bacteria, viruses and other germs to thrive if they are not properly cleaned. Therefore, it’s vital that businesses encourage both good hand hygiene and provide appropriate facilities, to ensure that the spread of germs, and the infection they cause, is kept to a minimum. This is also necessary to remain compliant with health and safety regulations that govern the workplace.

There are a number of ways in which this can be done, including the following:

• Encourage staff to practice good hand hygiene by regularly washing their hands with good quality soaps throughout the day. It is widely recognised, for example by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that good hand hygiene is the simplest way to control cross infection. It is recommended that you should wash your hands for as long as it takes to sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song twice (approximately 30 seconds). Thorough hand washing helps to reduce and remove potentially harmful bacteria and viruses, and is most effective when done for the proper length of time and when hands are dried well afterwards.
• Hand sanitisers should always be openly available in public areas. The most effective kind are those which are not alcohol-based, like Initial’s UltraProtect, which forms a gentle but long lasting barrier against microbes across hands, inactivating germs for hours after use and protecting against a wide range of bacteria and viruses, including Norovirus. Remember that hand sanitisers are best used after washing hands.
• Ensure regular, thorough surface cleaning takes place in all communal areas. It is recommended that bathroom and kitchen facilities are professionally deep cleaned at least twice a year to prevent the build up of embedded dirt and contamination, and to eliminate the associated microorganisms. This helps give surfaces long lasting protection against reinfection.
• Ensure storage rooms, refuse areas, canteens and washrooms are cleaned regularly using anti-bacterial wipes and surface sanitisers. When doing so, make sure that any cleaning activity is also logged, so that cleanliness becomes part of staff’s daily routine.
  

Deep cleaning

While routine cleaning is an essential part of any hygiene strategy, conducted in isolation this will not eliminate built up deposits of dirt, dust and grease in hard-to-reach areas. The gradual accumulation of these on less accessible surfaces, such as walls, ceilings, lights and appliance fittings, can provide a potential breeding ground for bacteria. In the warmer spring and summer months, this can lead to unpleasant odours, particularly in kitchens and washrooms.

One effective remedy for problem areas such as these is the employment of an expert supplier to completely deep clean your facilities, a practice which is recommended as a minimum of once a year. In a catering environment this can be booked to coincide with a ventilation clean to reduce the fire risk on the premises, and can also form part of fire risk assessment that catering facilities, such as commercial kitchens in restaurants, are required to undertake in line with their insurance provision. In offices this can be scheduled to be done at night or over a holiday period to limit the impact on the business.

Facility managers should always seek the advice of specialists before considering a deep clean - as there is a good chance every premises will require a tailored solution. Innovative specialist cleaning technology provides the highest possible levels of hygiene, while also ensuring downtime and disruption are kept to a minimum. The use of ULV (Ultra Low Volume) disinfectant fogging technology, for example, enables sanitising treatment of large areas in a short space of time, allowing a business to remain fully operational while a deep clean is taking place. Foggers generate a mist formed of ULV droplets, measuring 5-50 microns (μm) in diameter. These small particles can hang in the air long enough to be attracted to land underneath, on top of and on the sides of surfaces, where they can come into contact with unwanted microbes that might otherwise be missed by manual cleaning methods.

Specialist deep cleans are strongly advised, because their benefits can significantly outweigh the costs involved – they help to remove the threat of any widespread infection or contamination of equipment, while also offering managers complete peace-of-mind that they are maintaining their facilities to the highest possible standards.

If unsure of how to improve workplace hygiene, it is always best to consult the professionals. As with all external contractors, they are trained to understand the latest legislation requirements in their area of expertise and will ensure your premises remains compliant with regulation.