4 Ways to Help Prevent the Spread of Coronavirus in Your Facility
As a facility manager, you want to do everything possible to keep your facility clean and healthy.
With the growing concerns about coronavirus (COVID-19), it’s more important than ever to be vigilant about cleanliness in your facility in order to help prevent the spread of this virus.
We want to stand with you during this challenging time and help you respond appropriately to keep your employees and tenants healthy. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of things you can do to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in your building.
PLEASE NOTE: The following advice is taken directly from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
What can your facility do to help prevent COVID-19?
1. Create a Response Plan.
It might feel like it’s too late, but it’s important to codify necessary plans for your facilities. Not only will it improve the way you face the coronavirus, but it will also remain in place in case of future infectious disease outbreaks.
The CDC has a detailed list of how to effectively create an infectious disease/pandemic outbreak plan. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the list.
2. Clean Touch Points Daily.
Touch points are items or surfaces that are touched by a lot of different people on a daily basis. Cleaning these items daily can help prevent the spread of germs.
Healthcare providers are already familiar with this protocol. Offices and other facilities should take the same precautions. Work with your janitorial staff to ensure these surfaces are cleaned with products that will kill microbes.
Focus on surfaces that are in common areas (lobbies, breakrooms, kitchens, bathrooms) that are touched by a lot of different people, such as:
- Door Handles
- Light Switches
- Key Pads
- Faucets
- Water Fountains
- Phones
- Toilet Seats and Handles
- Counters, Desks, and Tabletops
3. Sanitize Surfaces.
Deep cleaning and sanitization can help eliminate germs and microbes that may be on your existing surfaces. Let your tenants know when you are doing a deep clean to put their minds more at ease.
DPM Care’s proprietary cleaning process eliminates up to 99% of microbes lurking in your carpets and on your hard surfaces. This includes germs, bacteria and viruses, such as the coronavirus. Our sanitization process can also help aid in the prevention of spreading germs.
Contact us to talk about the steps we can take to sanitize your building during our next cleaning. And if you don’t have a cleaning on the books, but want one, let us know. We want to help you keep your office clean and healthy.
4. Encourage Employee Prevention Measures.
One of the best things you can do to help keep your facility healthy is remind employees and tenants about the steps they can take to stay healthy and prevent the spread of germs.
Here are some things to communicate to the people in your facilities:
- Reinforce the importance of washing hands regularly. Include signs in bathrooms and breakrooms as helpful reminders.
- Remind employees about cough and sneeze etiquette. You can print your own signs or buy a ready-made one to post in common areas.
- Remind employees to avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Encourage employees to stay home if they feel sick. Provide the link to the CDC page on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 if they are sick.
Additionally, you can make additional resources available to employees and tenants to help with sanitation efforts. For example, you can:
- Provide hand sanitizer in common areas and conference rooms. Not only will it give employees another means by which to clean their hands, but it will also remind them to do so.
- Provide disposable wipes or disinfectant spray so employees can wipe down their commonly used surfaces (keyboards, mouses, copier buttons, shared coffee pot handles, remote controls, laser pointers, top of cubicles, etc.) before they touch them.
- Make sure you have an ample supply of EPA approved coronavirus killing soap, hand sanitizer, and disposable wipes/sprays as well as paper towels. None of these tips can be effective if you don’t have the proper materials!
Let us know how we can help keep your facility healthy
We all want to keep our community healthy and functional. Taking precautions like the ones listed above is our best first line of defense against coronavirus – and any communicable disease.
DPM Care is poised and ready to help you keep your facilities as clean and virus-free as possible. Give us a call and let us know about your specific concerns so we can make a plan together.