A new white paper endeavours to explain why a greater emphasis will be placed on facility cleaning and maintenance following the coronavirus pandemic, including an increase in cleaning program and product analysis. The paper claims this shift will apply not just to building cleaners and facility managers but also to C-suite executives in a variety of industries.
Prepared by Secure Clean Building Services, “Cleaning in the Post-Coronavirus Environment” illustrates how professional cleaning will change following the COVID-19 pandemic with a specific emphasis on its impact on facility managers and cleaning contractors.
“One of the points I tried to make is that ‘looks clean’ and ‘good enough’ clean will not suffice in the post-coronavirus world,” says company founder and CEO Rick Vanderkoy, the author of the paper. “Managers will demand cleaning that stops the spread of infection.”
Another change, he notes, is that C-suite executives will take a more hands-on approach as to how their facilities are cleaned and maintained
“Top executives are now responsible for their staff’s health and welfare, continued business operations, brand reputation, and the bottom line,” he writes. “Whereas effective cleaning has played a relatively minor role in C-suite responsibilities in the past, it now plays a commanding position.” As an example, Vanderkoy references the May 2020 work stoppage by Amazon employees over concerns about cleaning and safety and the $4 billion the company applied to COVID-mitigating measures.
Quality-based cleaning will also overtake what Vanderkoy refers to as “price-based” cleaning, which was at one point pervasive in the industry. “If one contractor says they would charge $10,000 per month to clean a facility and another says they would only charge $6,000, it is pretty easy to guess which one is hired,” he states in the paper. “But that is over with COVID.”
The review of cleaning procedures and products will also increase in importance, and with good reason, Vanderkoy argues, breaking this point down into three areas:
Product Analysis: “Due to COVID, [cleaning professionals and business managers] must be able to easily select disinfectants that meet criteria established by the Environmental Protection Agency for use against viruses that can cause COVID-19,” he notes.
Credential Analysis: Vanderkoy lists several credentials and certifications that may be useful to cleaning workers as well as business owners and managers, including those from ISSA, IICRC, and GBAC.
Frequency Analysis: Though there will be cost implications, Vanderkoy stresses that an investment in increased cleaning frequency “to ensure surfaces are cleaned, sanitized, and disinfected as often as they should be” will be imperative.
To download the full white paper, visit Secure Clean Building Services website.
