How to Clean and Disinfect Offices? The emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID -19) has changed the way we live and work. Many businesses have closed, while the few that are open are acting as the breeding grounds for this deadly disease. To reduce the chances of spreading the virus, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending the decontamination of common public places, including offices.
Every person now has a role to play to help flatten the curve. When taking care of yourself, you also need to keep your employees and customers safe. Disinfecting your offices and workplaces is one of the best things that you can do to help keep both your workers and customers safe. Here is everything that you need to know to keep your office safe and reduce the risk of spreading virus, specifically thorough cleaning and disinfecting.
What is the difference between cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting
Cleaning
Cleaning your office will help remove germs, impurities, and dirt from surfaces using water and soap (detergents). You need to know that cleaning your office will help reduce the risk of spreading the infection by removing the germs, but it does not kill them.
Sanitizing
Sanitizing will help lower the number of germs on surfaces, but won’t kill all of them. Spraying sanitizers will reduce the number of infectious agents on surfaces, but it isn’t 100% effective. Sanitizing alone will not keep your workers and customers safe.
Disinfecting
Disinfecting objects and surfaces on your office using chemicals will help kill germs. Disinfecting or decontaminating your office will help kill the infectious agents, but it will not remove dirt.
To keep your office clean and germs free, you should regularly disinfect and clean it. Providing your workers with alcohol-based sanitizers and encouraging them to sanitize their hands frequently will help lower the risk of infection, which will then reduce absenteeism cases.
How to Clean and Disinfect Offices? –
Clean and disinfect the objects and surfaces that are touched often
Disinfecting the objects and surfaces in your office that are touched often will help reduce the risk of infection. Some of the objects that you should sanitize more than once in a day include doorknobs, desks, computer keyboards, mouse, countertops, faucet handles, and phones.
But you also need to know that not every chemical or detergent that is available is capable of killing all types of germs. After cleaning your office with detergents and water, let it dry and then disinfect all surfaces and objects using EPA-registered disinfectant to kill germs.
How to clean and disinfect computer keyboard
Computer keyboards are the most neglected by the sanitization staff. They have more germs than any other surface or object in an office. You should not neglect cleaning your computer keyboard during this pandemic. Here is how you should clean it.
- Turn the computer off, if the keyboard is not wireless, unplug it from the computer.
- Use a gentle vacuum or compressed air to blow out dust from the keyboard
- Dip cotton swabs into rubbing alcohol and then use it to rub the surfaces of each keyboard key. Use a toothpick to remove build-up that may be on the spacebar and Enter Key.
- Dip a towelette or cloth into the rubbing alcohol and then use it to wipe all the other surfaces of the keyboard.
After making arrangements on how all your offices and working places will be regularly cleaned and disinfected, you should provide your workers with hand sanitizers. Having them frequently sanitize their hands will help lower the risk of infection by about 40 percent.
Phones
Mobile phones harbors germs from the mouth, nose, ears, and hands. Unfortunately, many people don’t remember to clean and disinfect their phones regularly. Disinfecting your phone will help kill the germs that may be on its surface, which will lower the risk of infections. After providing your workers with hand sanitizers, you should go ahead and show them how they can safely disinfect their phones.
How to disinfect a phone
- Unplug the phone
- Use a cloth and rubbing alcohol to wipe all over the surfaces of your phone.
How to Clean and Disinfect Offices?
You don’t have to be the one cleaning and disinfecting your office. You can work with the local cleaning companies to be cleaning and disinfecting your office.