Cleaning and Infection Prevention Tips for Your Commercial Property

With COVID-19 disrupting and impacting all of our lives in some way, everyone's doing their part to prevent the spread of the virus, from companies shifting to medical equipment production for frontline workers, to people staying indoors for the greater good of their community.

As an owner or property manager of a commercial building, you can do your part to ensure the safety of your building tenants and staff with thorough commercial cleaning and infection prevention. Here are a few tips to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in your commercial property:

COVID-19 Infection Prevention Tips

The best way you can encourage your commercial property staff to prevent infection on the premises is, first and foremost, to make sure they're staying home if they feel unwell. Employees with acute respiratory problems in particular should not be asked to come to work, and to seek medical attention instead.

Many employees still come into work despite this, putting themselves and fellow co- workers at risk of contracting the coronavirus. Provide peace of mind for staff with flexible sick leave policies, with looser requirements on hours, and if they need to tend to family members at this time.

Besides that, for staff coming into work, good personal hygiene is the best method of preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Ask your staff to keep the following practices in mind:

• Wash hands with soap and water for at least 15 seconds; use an alcohol-based sanitizer if soap and water is inaccessible at the time
   
• Avoid touching their faces, especially if their hands are unwashed
   
• Cover sneezes with tissues, or even sleeves and shirts - never cover mouths with hands

Disinfecting and Cleaning Tips

Your commercial property staff should follow these guidelines for cleaning and disinfection of the building:

• Any common cleaners and disinfectants used pre-COVID-19 are still effective, so continue diligent application throughout the property
  • In terms of disinfectants, use products that have a Drug Identification Number (DIN), an 8-digit number that denotes products approved for use in the country by Health Canada
  • Be sure you're checking the expiry dates on all cleaning and disinfecting products you're using, too
     
• Ensure high-traffic areas and places with frequently touched surfaces are cleaned more regularly than ever. These are the areas at highest risk of contamination. Try to clean these areas at least twice a day, and when they're dirty.
  • Examples of frequently touched surfaces to clean thoroughly include things like door knobs and handles, elevator buttons, light switches, counters, handrails, keyboards, etc.
     
• When necessary, staff should always wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like gloves and masks, especially in high-traffic or commonly used areas
   
• Do your part in encouraging everyone on the premises to wash their hands by keeping bathrooms consistently stocked with soap and paper towels
   
• Consider setting up hand sanitizer dispensers in commonly used areas of the building, like laundry rooms, playrooms, gyms, etc.
   
• There's no evidence that you need to change the way you dispose of waste, but continue doing so regularly, of course

Residential Properties with Tenants in Self-Isolation

If you own or manage a residential property and have tenants in self-isolation, be mindful of these considerations:

• If a tenant/tenants are in self-isolation as instructed by public health officials, visits to the unit from family, friends, or your maintenance crew should be postponed for 14 days if possible
   
• If service work can't wait, advise staff to do their best to maintain personal hygiene practices, and to avoid as much contact with the tenant as possible; ideally they keep a six-foot distance between them at all times
   
• After working on a unit, staff should again wash their hands for 20 seconds with soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water isn't available

The A&G staff hopes you and your family are staying safe and healthy at these times. But if you're in need of cleaning and infection prevention upkeep on your property, we will do what we can to help - get in touch with us today to chat. Remember, we're all in this together!