Ensuring that any type of facility is clean and supports a hygienic environment comes with a host of challenges. However, maintaining a university or college campus has always been a particularly demanding test for the cleaning and janitorial staff.
A typical campus is extensive and expansive in nature and contains not only a mixture of residents, visitors, faculty, and staff, but also numerous different high-traffic areas, encompassing dormitories, classrooms, food and beverage and hospitality facilities, washrooms, recreational facilities, common areas, and more.
No two buildings are the same – nor are any two post-secondary education facilities – and this poses several acute challenges, including cleaning and maintaining differing areas, while balancing the need for these spaces to remain fully operational and hygienic throughout different hours of the day and week.
That was true even before COVID-19, but the pandemic has forced a shift in priorities when it comes to cleaning and sanitizing, putting individuals’ health and safe environments first.
In the wake of the pandemic, everyone – from students and faculty to management – has higher expectations, so much so that research suggests that having a clean campus is key to attracting new students. Nearly half of parents of college-age kids now rank campus cleanliness and indoor air quality in the top three most important factors affecting school selection, according to a JLL Higher Education survey.[1]
Meanwhile, in the era of hybrid learning, there is no longer such a thing as a “typical day” for cleaning teams. The shift towards the combination of in-person and virtual classes makes an already challenging facility management job significantly more difficult, as operations managers must now assess how to maintain a high and consistent level of cleaning and hygiene at a time when the number of students and faculty on campus varies widely and shared workspaces and study areas are now of greater concern.
The question is: how do you deliver on cleaning quality and hygiene in an agile and more demanding environment without compromising on operational efficiency?
Sustainable hygiene that improves the campus experience
The new Tork Campus Hygiene Package™ from Tork, the global leader in professional hygiene, has everything operations managers need to elevate the experience across campus in one convenient package. It features the industry-award winning Tork PeakServe Continuous™ Hand Towel systems, as well as sustainable skincare solutions such as the Green Seal-certified Tork Alcohol Gel Hand Sanitizer and Tork Clarity Foam Soap, which supports sustainability goals as 99 per cent of its ingredients are from natural origin.
Also included in this package is Tork Vision Cleaning – the world’s leading facility management solution designed to enable cleaning crews to clean when and where it is needed most via real-time data.
Prioritize the basics
While the challenges are ever-evolving, practising the basics remains a vital aspect of campus hygiene. A key to maintaining a hygienic environment is to make sure you excel on the essentials.
For instance, it does not matter how much you clean and disinfect if faculty, staff, and students do not follow proper hand hygiene protocols. As widely known, a reliable way to prevent infection from spreading via surfaces is to regularly wash hands with soap and water and dry hands with paper towels or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
By offering students, faculty, management, and visitors hygiene systems that are intuitive to use, comply with ADA guidelines, reduce waste due to one-at-a-time dispensing and are high capacity like Tork PeakServe, you can help promote better hand hygiene and ensure facilities are operating efficiently while also supporting sustainability goals – all throughout campus.
In addition, the use of collaborative workspaces like meeting rooms, lecture halls, labs, and libraries, along with “hot-desking” where students share furniture and equipment, has increased the risk of transmission adding the need for more access to efficacious hand sanitizers that are offered in multiple formats and offer installation flexibility. Also, it is important to educate and encourage all to keep shared spaces clean and sanitized by promoting a “clean desk” environment where users understand they have a role to play in keeping the facility hygienic and thus they help sanitize screens, keyboards, mice, phones, and more high-touch surfaces before and after use.
However, developing and implementing a clear cleaning and sanitizing strategy, one that meets the different needs and expectations of the students, faculty, and staff in all areas of the campus is extremely challenging. With the aid of internet-of-things (IoT) technology and the right systems in place, a comprehensive plan can be easily developed, executed, and reported on.
A data-driven approach to better hygiene
In the era of mixed-use hybrid occupancy, analog cleaning protocols are no longer suitable. In order to meet the expectations of an agile environment utilizing data to inform cleaning routines is a true advantage.
Tork Vision Cleaning helps you improve operational efficiency and hygiene in your facility by providing real-time information on refill and cleaning needs. In fact, 100 per cent of existing Tork Vision Cleaning customers say the system helps them improve hygiene in their facility.
Key benefits include making sure dispensers are stocked up to 99 per cent of the time, using reporting tools to show adherence to safety regulations, and knowing when and where service is needed to reduce dispenser checks by up to 91 per cent and save up to 20 per cent of cleaning hours. Also, depending on the needs and requirements of your facility, you can choose between three data-driven cleaning offerings, each providing additional benefits and increasing business value.
Because every institution, building, and even area within a college or university has its unique hygiene needs, we understand you need a custom hygiene program. Tork offers the largest assortment of IoT- enabled dispensers in the market, compatible with a broad selection of refills that help meet your facility’s financial and sustainability goals.
Campus operations are complex, but your job doesn’t have to be. Talk to a Tork Hygiene Advisor and learn how to elevate the campus experience.
Learn more at: Tork.ca/campushygiene
[1] Survey conducted in partnership with Engine Insights in June 2021, the JLL Higher Education survey was based on a sample of 500 parents of 10th – 12th-grade high school students considering higher education.
