FEATURE
be available and cloth towels should only be used for drying if they are single-use only.
Before instituting a new cleaning regime, a thorough COVID-19 risk assessment is essential—indeed, legally required. This should identify all surfaces that need special attention, and whether cleaning them produces any additional danger to cleaners. It should identify whether any items, equipment or workspaces are shared by many people or different companies, and work out whether that would require any additional policies.
You must also set clear guidance for how spaces are used, for instance by restricting the number of toilets that can be used, or putting social distancing markings on floors and desks to advise employees and cleaners alike.
If cleaning is required after a suspected COVID-19 case, extra steps must be taken. For instance, the personal waste, including PPE, disposable cloths and used tissues, of an individual with a suspected case must be double- bagged and tied in a plastic bin bag, and should not be placed in communal waste until the individual’s test results are known.
Cleaners must also wear PPE when cleaning up after a person with suspected symptoms. However, there is not necessarily any greater risk to areas in which a potentially infected person has spent minimal time, unless they have left any kind of bodily fluid there. Nevertheless, thorough cleaning practices must be observed.
Protecting cleaners Although not the most high-risk profession, cleaners are still putting themselves in serious danger of infection every day—particularly if they’re cleaning an area recently vacated by someone showing symptoms of COVID. As a result, disposable gloves, aprons and face masks have become part of a cleaner’s essential wardrobe, followed, of course, by extensive hand washing.
An organisation’s responsibilities towards its cleaning staff differ based on whether they have an in-house team or are subcontracting—and if any regular employees conduct light cleaning work. Regardless, health and safety teams need to perform a risk assessment to determine what work might put cleaners or other staff at risk of infection while cleaning and tidying, and what actions they need to take to reduce the danger.
Regardless of who’s doing the cleaning, social distancing measures must always be put in place. This reduces the risk to cleaning staff by ensuring they can avoid close contact with each other and with other employees.
Other employees do need to play their part to make life easier and more hygienic for cleaners, such as by ensuring they leave workspaces tidy when leaving the office. Not only is it an act of decency that they’ll appreciate, but it may prevent them from coming into contact with a potential vector of infection like a used cup.
Furthermore, mental health and workplace wellbeing have taken on a new dimension during the pandemic. Even before COVID-19, cleaners have worked in challenging
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conditions, often experiencing abuse and mistreatment, or working long hours on their own. With the added danger of a highly infectious disease, better mental health support must be afforded to cleaning staff to ensure they are not taking on an unfair burden.
Cleaners need robust support networks and access to mental health services, and those working alone need assurances about the security of a building to ensure they do not come under any additional threat.
Reducing the burden Organisations can take steps to reduce the amount of cleaning a workplace requires. Restricting occupants from using certain parts of the building is one way, as is reducing the number of permanent fixtures, and ensuring occupants are touching as few objects as possible.
“An organisation’s responsibilities
towards its cleaning staff differ based on whether they have an in-house team or are subcontracting.”
For instance, if employees are taking their work laptops to and from the office instead of using fixed computer terminals, cleaners will not need to disinfect them. Also, instead of using the office’s own mugs, plates and cups, employees can be encouraged to take their own or only use disposable coffee cups. The latter may not be the best environmental choice—although coffee shops are increasingly using recyclable cups—but it would remove something else the cleaners need to deal with.
There are other, perhaps more expensive options, like adding automatic doors that don’t require any human contact. A cheaper alternative is to provide employees with hooks that allow them to open door handles or use foot-powered hooks instead. There are plenty of options along these lines.
So long as workplaces and public spaces institute strict physical distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing policies, cleaners and all other employees can remain safe and healthy. Cleaners especially need robust health and safety policies; they put themselves at the frontline of the pandemic every day to keep workspaces clean and occupants safe. Risk assessments form the first line of defence for them.
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