Back To Work Cleaning Guide

In the last year we have all been experiencing a worldwide pandemic that has changed thousands of lives in many different ways. I think you will agree most of us would like our routines to return to normal as soon as possible, to regain a slice of ‘normality’. To help aid our recovery we need to think about cleaning our working environment to prevent the spread of the virus. Clemas & Co Ltd have compiled some useful cleaning advice to assist in a safe return to work. This article will guide you through effective floor cleaning, an insight into touchpoint cleaning and healing the air we breathe indoors.

Floor Cleaning

Floor types vary hugely depending on the type of business or organisation, you maybe office based where the floor is carpet, you may work in a warehouse with a painted concrete floor, or perhaps you work in a building that has multiple floor surface types and these will require different methods to ensure effective cleaning. Whatever the floor type there are cleaning equipment solutions.

The traditional method of sweeping the floor is to use a broom. This is hard work and the dust generated will quickly disperse back into the environment, so although you will collect some debris from the floor, the finer particles are not collected and will re-enter the atmosphere only to settle later on surfaces such as the floor, equipment and products.

The best option to sweep would be to use a vacuum sweeper machine, available as either a pedestrian machine (walk behind), or for larger spaces a ride on machine (sit on). Most small to medium machines tend to be battery powered, the larger versions make use of either engine or again battery power. The sweeping machines will not only effectively collect the debris, they will also control dust by a vacuum and a filter system, preventing it re-entering the air. Using sweeping equipment will maintain health and safety, enhance your facility image, and will take far less time than using a broom!

Once the floor surface has been swept clean of loose debris and dust, you may then need to scrub the floor to remove the dirt that has not been removed by sweeping. The traditional way would be to bring out the mop and bucket!

As with sweeping by broom, manual mopping is hard work too, having to lift and carry the cumbersome mop and bucket wherever you go! Once the mop has been used on the floor once, you then must rinse it in the mop bucket, but of course this makes the water dirty. Once the water has been soiled you are then using the same dirty water to clean the rest of the floor.

The preferred and far more productive solution would be to choose a machine that will scrub the floor and vacuum up the dirty water as the machine passes over, this is called a scrubber dryer machine. Just like the sweeping machine types mentioned earlier, these machines vary in size and ability, and careful choices need to be made to choose the correct machine for your individual needs. There are pedestrian scrubber dryers and ride on scrubber dryers. Clemas & Co Ltd have the experience to help you choose the right solution. This will depend on many factors but include the size of the area you need to clean, floor surface type and how often you wish to clean.

Along with much improved productivity and performance the use of a scrubber dryer machine means you are constantly scrubbing the floor with clean water then immediately picking up the dirty water which is collected into a separate tank. This means that there is a continual cycle of clean cleaning solution being used to clean the floor unlike the mop, bucket, and dirty water!​

Touchpoint Cleaning

Since the pandemic we are understandably all very conscious of the surfaces frequently in contact with many people’s hands. We have been advised to wash our hands regularly for 20 seconds with soap and warm water.

To help prevent spread of any virus cleaning touchpoints is vital. Before any touchpoint can be sprayed evenly with disinfectant the surface needs to be clean first and this will need to be done by hand. There are different ways disinfectant can be applied but the type of room and exposed surfaces have different requirements. If fogging, misting, or spraying takes place you need to consider the surface that it is being applied to. Most places have computers so mixing electric and moisture is never a good idea! There are often surfaces that cannot be wiped clean because they absorb water, and this could damage them. Surfaces can be hidden behind another object so effective spray coverage can be an issue. Clemas & Co Ltd have compiled an area on our website that covers the specialist equipment needed but you may need a little advice so please give us a call so we can discuss your requirements and recommend the correct equipment.

Air Cleaning

Cleaning the air we breathe indoors has become an extremely important part of our ‘new way of living’. We have already talked about floor and touchpoint cleaning to help prevent the spread of infection, we now think we are in a clean environment, but what about the air we are breathing?

Did you know that indoor air quality can be up to 5-10 times worse than outdoor air quality?

Getting a good airflow through an enclosed area will help, such as simply opening the windows. This seems like a good idea until you realise there are gale force winds outside and the draft is making your desk untidy, and the rain is making you wet! Windows in some buildings cannot be opened and finally what about the cold of winter?

Clemas & Co Ltd have invested in the i-air PRO high capacity air healer for our office space. We can all safely distance ourselves in our office, but we are unable to open the windows all of the time. After some intense research we discovered the i-air PRO which is a portable system that filters out solid contaminants (particulate matter), breaks downs VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) and neutralises all living harmful microbes including viruses (microbiological contamination) in medium to large spaces of up to 500m2. This machine delivers air to a MERV19 level which is the same standard as an operating theatre. In short: the i-air PRO delivers the best air you can breathe indoors.

You can simply lease this equipment (subject to status) for as little as £36.61p +VAT per week over 3 years!

Call us for more details on 01684 850777 or CLICK HERE to read more.