Ah yes. It’s flu season again. That wonderful time of year where the influenza virus can stop us in our tracks at a moment’s notice and decimate otherwise clean and healthy workplaces. In fact, according to the CDC, 38 million people suffered from the flu during the 2019 – 2020 season. Flu activity was unusually low throughout the 2020-2021 flu season. Preliminary reports by the CDC estimate that between 8 and 13 million people suffered from the flu illness in 2021-2022 season. That’s a whole lot of sick days being used. So how can businesses protect their employees while also protecting workplace productivity? By following these helpful flu season cleaning tips.
Tip 1: Identify Common Contact Points
While influenza can certainly be passed through airborne transmission, it can also be transmitted from person to person through commonly accessed contact points throughout your office. In fact, the virus can last on surfaces for up to 48 hours. Because of this, you’ll want to identify the areas in your office that people touch the most so you can focus your cleaning time more efficiently. Some common contact points include:
• Door handles and knobs
• Light switches
• Hand railings
• Countertops
• Desks
• Phones
• Touch screens
• Keyboards
• Toilets
• Faucets and sinks
Tip 2: Use Hospital-Grade Disinfectants
Not all disinfectants are created equal. And while it’s possible to have your workspace cleaned with traditional home-grade disinfectant products, the extra protection and peace of mind that you get by using commercial-grade cleaning products and techniques can’t be overstated. At Corvus, our EPA-approved medical grade chemicals are applied to surfaces using an electrostatic sprayer or ultra-low volume (ULV) fogger to ensure maximum coverage and effectiveness.
Tip 3: Prevent Cross Contamination
One of the biggest risks in trying to clean multiple surfaces with the same cleaning materials is that you risk cross contamination of already sanitized areas. To prevent this, take a tip from Corvus and use different colored clothes and wipes for different areas in your workplace. For instance, use only green cleaning items for bathrooms, or only blue cleaning items for desks and chairs. That way you won’t accidentally spread contaminants from one area to another.
Tip 4: Keep Employees Informed and Prepared
When it comes to fighting the flu, you can’t do it alone. Make sure that your employees know that they can stay home from work if they’re feeling sick. Better to lose one day of someone’s time than have that person come in and infect the whole office, right? Another thing you can do is make sure that your employees have personal cleaning supplies that they can use to keep their own workspaces clean, such as sanitizing wipes and disposable cleaning clothes.
Tip 5: Make a Plan
The most important thing you’ll want to figure out is who is going to be doing the cleaning. If your business has a full-time cleaning person on staff, that’s great. If not, you might want to consider hiring a professional cleaning service, such as Corvus, to help you with all your deep cleaning needs. Drop us a line and we can help you create a custom cleaning plan for your facility.
Conclusion
While the flu season is just a fact of life, you don’t have to just sit around and accept it. The more prepared and informed you and your employees are, the better the chance you have of avoiding a major outbreak in your office.
