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Post-COVID Commercial Cleaning: What It Means to Be Clean

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new attention to commercial cleaning practices. This applies to not only businesses and organizations that rely on outside cleaning services, but the commercial cleaning companies themselves.

It goes without saying that a commercial cleaning service should be using EPA-approved disinfectants that kill and remove the virus from surfaces. Obviously, training and quality control have never been more important.

What really needs to change is the definition of the word “clean” in a post-COVID environment.

Until recently, cleaning has been very subjective. Two people can have very different ideas of what it means to be clean. However, we’re living in a new reality in which cleaning can’t be defined by individual standards. It’s too important.

Above and Below Eye Level

The vast majority of commercial cleaning and disinfection happens from the eye level down. That’s where most surfaces that need to be cleaned are found. But there could be an entire half of a room or more that exists above eye level.

Do you have hanging lights instead of recessed? Are your HVAC ductwork and pipes exposed instead of hidden behind walls? How many air vents do you have? What about window frames, blinds, and molding? These are all areas that didn’t receive proper attention pre-COVID, but they all should be cleaned regularly.

Cleaning that Isn’t Visible

Taking out trash, dusting, and wiping down of surfaces may have been acceptable or at least tolerated in the past. If a facility was visibly clean, that was enough.

Today, however, cleaning that isn’t visible to the naked eye is just as important. Every area of a facility needs to be disinfected, beginning with high-touch areas like door handles, light switches, copy machines, cabinet handles, and elevator buttons. But there’s a big difference between wiping down and disinfecting, even if the difference is not visible.

Closing Cleaning Gaps

When was the last time your refrigerator was thoroughly cleaned? When garbage is removed, is the liner replaced or does someone actually disinfect the receptacle and the area around it?

Are employees eating outside on picnic tables to reduce the risk of spreading COVID? How often are those areas being disinfected?

Comprehensive, more frequent cleaning of commercial spaces, from medical facilities to manufacturing plants to offices, is now a standard expectation of employees, customers, and visitors. The old definition of “clean” no longer applies.

We recommend adapting to the new definition and new reality to maintain the confidence of people who matter most to your organization.

EnviroClean can help you implement commercial cleaning services and protocols that meet the high standards of a post-COVID world. Contact us to schedule a walk-thru and request a quote for a customized cleaning plan.