In a large office block, servicing the washrooms could involve lengthy and repetitive walks from one washroom to the next. According to our own studies, around 89% of dispenser refill checks are unnecessary, which means the task of having to cover a great deal of ground to monitor washroom dispensers will be a frustrating and thankless one for the cleaner. During the pandemic, too, the cleaner’s time would be better spent on carrying out other vital duties such as sanitising lift buttons, cleaning door handles and wiping down frequently-touched surfaces.
This is where a system such as Tork EasyCube comes into its own. Tork EasyCube enables dispensers to be checked remotely via a smartphone or tablet. Cleaning staff therefore no longer need to make multiple journeys to physically check on refill levels, which means time savings can be made and cleaning costs are reduced. Fewer manual checks also aids with social distancing, since office workers are less likely to be confronted by a cleaner in the washroom.
Besides allowing staff to keep tabs on refill levels, Tork EasyCube also incorporates people-counters that enable a facility to build up a profile of washroom visits. The office manager can then use this data to identify those areas of the building with the highest levels of traffic and the cleaner’s walking routes may be streamlined accordingly, again saving time and labour costs.
Keeping a check on washroom traffic has another advantage: it allows office managers to discover when washrooms are receiving particularly low levels of usage. Where this is the case there could be an argument for closing some washrooms – again saving time, money and resources since cleaners could then be redeployed elsewhere to attend to more urgent tasks.
Tork Digital Cleaning Plans can also help to ease the cleaner’s workload during the pandemic. The software
56 | WASHROOM HYGIENE
allows managers to digitally plan out cleaning rounds, ensuring that all routes are optimised. The fact that tasks and reports are logged immediately helps to improve cleaning efficiency and prevents vital jobs from falling through the cracks during these dangerous times.
There are several other ways in which employees can be made to feel safer when returning to the office. One-way systems around the building will help to reassure them and prevent any awkward encounters in the corridor. The use of ‘Vacant’ and ‘Occupied’ signs on washroom entrances will allow employees to signal to others when the space inside is free to prevent too many people visiting the facilities at once.
The provision of items such as hand sanitiser, tissues and surface wipes will also allow staff to take control of their own cleaning and hygiene requirements, and ensure they can regularly clean their hands and their workspace, keyboard and phone if they choose to do so. Essity’s Tork Hygiene Stand is ideal for shared office spaces, reception areas and meeting rooms, and because it accommodates a dispenser for Tork Alcohol Foam Hand Sanitiser and a box of Tork Facial Tissue in a prominent stand that encourages usage.
Cleaning and hygiene providers are doing what they can to support workplaces as they embrace the ‘new normal’. For example, we at Essity offer a series of Safe at Work Toolkits which provide tips on the ways in which various industries can operate safely during the pandemic. The Safe at Work Toolkits include checklists, informative posters, hand hygiene prompts and downloadable signage.
It's hard for any of us to feel completely safe in a shared work space during the global pandemic, but a combination of good planning, good products and good cleaning staff deployed in an intelligent manner will enable us to return to the office with confidence.
www.tork.co.uk/safeatwork twitter.com/TomoCleaning
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74
