“It may also be necessary to set up health surveillance in order to monitor exposure.”
Instituting infection controls
Here, the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc) asks and explains what can help during the Coronavirus crisis.
Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, it’s important to understand what cleaning operatives can do to help prevent the spread of infection whilst also protecting themselves. The virus, believed to be from the same strain as the SARS virus, has presented as a respiratory illness with varying levels of severity, from minor symptoms to death.
As with any virus, the spread can be rapid with person- to-person contact enabling it to spread at pace. Any form of infection is created by exposure to harmful micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and internal parasites.
How can the cleaning industry help?
Standard precautionary measures need to be applied in order to help prevent the risk of spread of any infection. Not all infections are possible to identify straight away, or how any infection is spread may not be known in the early stages of an outbreak. We can help and contribute to the prevention and reduce the risk by applying good standard precautionary practices such as the following:
• Improving hand hygiene.
• Correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE). • Disposing of waste appropriately. • Achieving and maintaining a clean environment.
56 | INFECTION CONTROL & PREVENTION • Achieving good hand hygiene.
Effective hand hygiene is one of the simplest and most important measures we can adopt to help control the risk of infection. Handwashing needs to be thorough and methodical to ensure your hands are sufficiently cleaned.
Handwashing should always be carried out after the following:
• Before and after personal contact with individuals. • Following cleaning activities.
• Before handling food, eating, drinking, smoking, taking medication or inserting contact lenses.
• After contact with body fluids or removing gloves.
Whenever hands are visibly dirty or after any activity or contact that contaminates the hands, including using the toilet, coughing, sneezing, or handling waste.
In addition to hand hygiene, a precautionary measure to adopt when coughing or sneezing is always to use a tissue. Remember: Catch it, flush it, kill it, then wash your hands.
Handwashing alternatives
The use of alcohol or antibacterial hand gels, wipes and creams are a suitable alternative in cases where access to soap and water and washing facilities are not
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