“The wealth of business depends on the health of workers.”
—Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health and Environment, World Health Organization
In 2010, the World Health Organization defined a healthy workplace as, “one where workers and managers collaborate to continually improve the health, safety and wellbeing of all workers and by doing this, sustain the productivity of the business.”
Today, as businesses and organizations continue to adapt to living and working with COVID-19, the efforts required to sustain a healthy workplace have changed, but the goals remain the same. Concerns about virus transmission and infection are continuing to transform protocols and standards for office cleaning and disinfecting, as well as for other public and shared indoor work environments. The priority of cleaning for appearance and comfort is being surpassed by the necessity of cleaning for health and safety as we continue to try and protect against this highly contagious virus.
What defines a healthy business and workplace? How much and what kind of cleaning and disinfection is necessary to achieve the proper standards of protection for health and safety? Facility and property managers need answers to these questions to help them develop commercial cleaning and disinfection plans specific to their industry sectors.
To help answer these questions, we must first understand that cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing are not the same thing, and the requirements for each may vary according to industry. Precautions and guidelines in food and restaurant environments for example, will often be much higher than those in other sectors.
As business owners and facility managers work to reopen and transition employees back to the workplace, they are developing policies and procedures for cleaning and disinfecting shared indoor spaces. To meet the new requirements, they must be aware of occupational health and safety regulations under the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) and establish processes for cleaning and disinfecting, including precautions in the event an employee or visitor develops COVID-19 symptoms.1
In response to the increased demand for higher standards of cleaning and disinfection in all public and workplace facilities, commercial cleaning services are using new technologies, including misters, foggers and electrostatic sprayers, to apply disinfectants. Electrostatic spray technology is an efficient system for disinfecting surfaces in business and organizations of any scale, and it is especially valuable for use in large area environments.
Another focus is the use of antimicrobial products and applications. The term antimicrobial indicates a product or material that kills or inhibits the growth or action of micro-organisms including bacteria, fungi and viruses. Anti-bacterial products, on the other hand, are designed to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria only. Some antimicrobials can also target specific groups of micro-organisms (e.g. antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral).
To address health and safety concerns as businesses and facilities reopen, ServiceMaster Clean has designed the innovative, science-based PROTECT-3 ADVANCE™ program to provide comprehensive cleaning and disinfecting services, including the use of anti-microbial products to provide continuous, preventative protection, for public and commercial facilities of any scale.
A core feature of the PROTECT-3 ADVANCE™ program is ATP testing, a technology that measures the amount of organic matter on a surface before and after cleaning and disinfection. ATP has been used in healthcare environments for decades because it validates the effectiveness of cleaning and disinfection at a micro level.
To reduce risk of disease transmission, and to maintain the highest standards of health and safety for your employees and customers, look for a professional commercial cleaning and disinfection company with the experience and resources to provide the most up-to-date cleaning and disinfection products and technology.
ServiceMaster Clean is aligned with Health Canada recommendations and has the experience and resources to implement effective preventive cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing protocols to help prevent outbreak and spread of infectious disease within facilities of all types and scale.
1 https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/cleaning-disinfecting-public-spaces.html