The safety and wellbeing of our staff, at their specific sites, is paramount to us at Cleaning Technique. We have moved swiftly to implement any additional guidance during the coronavirus outbreak and it now is clear that businesses across all sectors will have new ways of working for the foreseeable future.
The Government issued guidelines on May 11th 2020 to assist businesses to follow 5 steps to Safer Working Together. As an essential cleaning service provider, this company policy includes the measures we are actively taking to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
Cleaning Technique has a detailed risk assessment, identifying measures to control the risk that COVID 19 poses to our staff, clients, their staff and visitors.
Due to the nature of our business in providing an essential office cleaning service to businesses across a 40 mile radius, we our office manager is working remotely from home.
We have regular clear and concise communication with our cleaning operatives and they have been given the measures detailed in our risk assessment and how it applies to their individual site.
The points highlighted are:
- The importance of handwashing. All staff are issued with a handwashing technique guide
- The instruction to stay at home and self- isolating for 7 days if they experience symptoms of coronavirus. These include a high fever, cough, loss of smell taste. They must report these symptoms to us if they experience them.
- Where possible they must avoid public transport and walk, cycle or drive to their site.
- They must work at a 2 metre distance from other operatives and anyone on the client’s site. The 2 metre distance must be kept when they are working or on rest breaks.
- Sites are serviced by a single cleaning operative or cleaning operatives in a fixed team. No rotation systems are used.
- Those who are travelling together in vehicles must be from a household group, practice social distancing where possible, or wear a face covering with increased ventilation in the vehicle.
- They must keep contact/ touch surfaces clean, by increasing the frequency of cleaning with disposable blue roll and detergent.
- Operatives have also be issued with their own pen for completing signing in records.
- The wellbeing, including the mental health of all that work at Cleaning Technique will be prioritised by encouraging employees to share any concerns they have.
Staff at Cleaning Technique have always had PPE in accordance with HSE guidance for our industry. This is now enhanced with the issue of:
- A visor for all staff to wear when working.
- Different PPE measures have been put in place for certain specific sites, such as health and social care settings, or if any of our operatives have underlying health conditions.
Guidance for Working Safely during Coronavirus Section 5 sets out responsibilities for individual businesses to have a clean workplace with additional hand washing facilities or hand sanitiser, switching to paper towels rather than air or roller driers and to increase the frequency of cleaning. We have these facilities at our head office and seek to assist our clients by:
- Updating all our clients as to the measures being taken within their existing cleaning schedule, to maintain a high standard of cleaning and assisting with any increased requirements.
- Issuing a printable hand washing technique poster to laminate and prominently display as a visual reminder to all that use the building.
- Making available hand sanitiser, antibacterial spray and hand wash to purchase.
- Making availability paper products such as hand towels and blue roll to purchase.
- Advising clients, where possible, to have a sanitising station for their own staff to regularly wipe down high contact areas during the day.
- Reducing deliveries of washroom products to once per month
- Conducting contactless deliveries. We are suspending signature requirements. The client is to check delivery from a distance of 2 metres.