EXTREME CLEANING FOR AN EXTREME CRISIS
Specialist cleaning contractors are at the frontline battling COVID-19. Steve Broughton, MD of SafeGroup, shares lessons learned so far.
A teenager told a reporter it felt like being in a movie. How right he was. The COVID-19 virus is challenging business continuity planning to destruction. Like a scene in a Hollywood blockbuster, when amazed realisation is seen spreading across the faces of the actors, my movie moment came in the middle of the first week of March when the phones and online enquiry forms went frantic.
COVID-19 is the biggest challenge to the cleaning and FM industry I’ve ever experienced. What made it worse was the lack of clear facts. COVID-19 is a coronavirus, like the common cold virus. But the scientists couldn’t say what its precise properties were.
Business continuity crisis Callers into our office were operating in this environment. Most of them were clearly launching their business continuity plans. The more senior the caller, the quicker they were to ask for help. I think they could sense this crisis was off the normal scale.
Since then, our decontamination teams have been dispatched to all kinds of organisations, all over the UK. We have been cleaning NHS facilities, financial institutions, retail spaces, even helicopters.
The first call we had, came from one of London’s airports. A senior business continuity manager needed urgent support to provide a rolling, continuous decontamination service across all airport areas.
Thankfully for our client – and for us – we had just invested in new technology that electrostatically charges a broad-spectrum disinfectant spray, so it coats any surface more effectively. It has high efficacy against viruses (including the coronavirus), bacteria (including mycobacteria and bacterial spores) and fungi. Importantly, it allowed us to quickly decontaminate large spaces.
High risk touch points We have been deploying two teams of four operatives, working early morning and late-night shifts. Their task has been to spray high risk touch points across the whole airport.
Based on a risk assessment, these teams wore standard PPE with masks. The aim was to provide an effective decontamination service without alarming passengers.
Critical reassurance This was important for staff, also. In a crisis, it is vital that staff can give customers credible messages. Our presence provided a true story about the significant action being taken to improve passenger safety.
Higher risk areas have been treated with an appropriately higher degree of caution. For example, when decontaminating the airport’s isolation pod in the medical centre, an operative wore full hazmat PPE protection, including a respirator and taped body suit.
22 | TOMORROW’S FM
Protecting essential services Millions of people have found they can work from home. But many more cannot. These people need effective protection against COVID-19. They include emergency service providers, financial institutions, the NHS, military bases, care homes, food retailers and data centres. They also include businesses critical to us pulling through the crisis – food factories, logistics providers and food delivery specialists.
Employers have a duty of care for their staff. COVID-19 is already causing significant anxiety. Legitimate fears need to be allayed. Employers will also need protection against claims of negligence. What lessons can the FM industry learn from the COVID-19 crisis so far?
1. There is demand for, and a need for, legitimate and effective COVID-19 decontamination services.
2. Reassurance and supporting mental wellbeing are legitimate and important benefits.
3. There is a need for decontamination regimes that support skeleton teams or that can be deployed in workspaces that may need to be reopened multiple times during such an emergency.
4. Decontamination services will be needed as the crisis ends. As workplaces reopen, best practice indicates they need to be decontaminated to give assurance over COVID-19 and other viral and bacterial threats.
www.thesafegroup.co.uk twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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