What is your Return to Work Cleaning Plan?
Get ready for the return to the workplace with your Return to Work Cleaning Plan.
11 October, 2021 by
What is your Return to Work Cleaning Plan?
Capital Equipment Hire, Emma Dimech

Cleaning cannot be the same upon return to office...

There has been a massive change of pace for Australian businesses over the past few months that has forced us to adapt the way we do business in all areas of operations, staffing, financing and promoting of products. There has been, on a weekly scale, a need to change business processes to reflect the public health order for each Australian State, most notably NSW. Despite the effort of adjustment, this current dynamic of business will inevitably return back to the way we once worked, with a few permanent changes in tack. 

As we brace for a world where virus risk will coexist with normal living, businesses need to seriously review one of their most important processes of all to proactively react to future unknowns: cleaning. What did cleaning look like before COVID-19? What is it currently? And how will it look like in the coming months when lockdowns start easing, and seeing ‘normal’ return?

Adapting your cleaning plan doesn’t need to be a negative thing. In fact, it could become a strong point of difference if developed strategically, allowing the morale of staff and customers, the level of hygiene and safety, and the quality of productivity and physical image to increase immensely.

Considering many facets, we have put together a few ideas to help guide your return to work cleaning plan.  

Scale your Cleaning Ability

To adapt to different intensities at different times.

Create a in-house cleaning plan

To minimise costs & efficiency of operations.

Update your COVID-19 Safety Plan

To suit today's current climate in your relevant state.

Invest in a air purifier to add to your equipment

To protect against air-based viruses and contaminants.

Can your cleaning plan be scaled?

 

Different lockdown rules have meant adapting to different levels of restrictions on at times a weekly basis; has your cleaning plan kept up with this?


Your cleaning solution is no longer a single approach that follows a standard routine regardless of external circumstances. It must be scalable to different levels of intensity without increasing your amount of resource spend dramatically. This is where the investment of commercial or industrial cleaning equipment can allow easy scaling to the level of sanitisation your workplace requires, ensuring safety for staff and customers. Most commercial or industrial cleaning equipment such as a floor scrubber is manufactured with different cleaning modes to change the cleaning intensity based on your preference.


Scaling your clean could mean any of the following:

  • increasing a total floor clean from once a week to 3 times a week.

  • wiping of work spaces daily during or at the close of the work day.

  • changing the cleaning mode on your floor scrubber to a heavier scrub pressure or application of water / detergent continuously for a deeper clean.

  • introducing cleaning measures during a work day rather than before/after common hours.

  • identifying communal areas such as lunch rooms and adapting cleaning measures to cater for higher concentrated amounts of people. 

  • Changing cleaning schedule to be within given health order curfew hours

Professional cleaning equipment is designed to cope with different cleaning intensities and frequencies, promising a long-term solution to different needs that is scalable at any time.

Nilfisk Cleaning Equipment Range from Smallest to Largest

Are you taking cleaning in-house?

 

Cutting costs is the topic on every businesses lips, trying to justify what can be done in-house rather than outsourced. Regardless of the cost, lockdowns mean outsourced cleaning staff may not even be able to access your site due to travel restrictions, forcing many businesses to take cleaning upon themselves.

Cleaning can be easily underestimated without a cleaning plan to ensure minimal costs and time-effective deadlines, otherwise businesses risk taking a new cost upon themselves they didn’t anticipate.

  • make a scope of cleaning (what areas need to be cleaned, how large are these areas, what material are you cleaning, what time, and by who).

  • Identify high contact points that customers & staff generally are exposed to (door handles, pens, devices such as iPads, cutlery, etc).

  • match the possible cleaning equipment/tools with the type of area you are cleaning (floor scrubber, sweepers, vacuums & carpet extractors are just some examples).

  • make a cleaning inventory list and estimate costs (approximate the cost of cleaning chemicals, labour costs, equipment required, etc).

  • decide on the how. Are you going to manually sweep & mop? Are you going to purchase an automated floor scrubber? Or are you going to hire a commercial cleaning machine? Capital Equipment Hire has a range of agreement options to suit different cleaning needs, from quality suppliers such as Nilfisk and Fimap

  • create a workplace cleaning schedule and routine for staff to refer to. Make sure staff are shown best practices for using professional cleaning equipment.

SafeWork Australia has a great cleaning checklist resource that can be used as a guide for businesses.

i-mop Lite Scrubber in Hair Salon

Clean your air with air purifiers

 

As we know, COVID-19 is a virus that affects the respiratory element of people, making our trusty face masks a normal accessory for most people nowadays. 


But when face masks are no longer mandatory, how do you plan to clean your workplace air? It may appear to be overkill, but workplaces should seriously consider cleaning the air to purify spaces from contaminants that may cause illness and lessen productivity. We are not suggesting that by purifying the air it ‘cures’ COVID-19, but it can possibly neutralise the disease and other contaminants if the right equipment is invested in.


Thankfully, such a device does exist in the market from i-team, the i-air purifier. This device is specifically designed to filter air for areas up to 500 sq/m, helping capture and remove general indoor contaminants such as bacteria, volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) and particulate matter.

i-air Pro purifier on side and front view

Make sure everyone is on the same page.

 

For some, returning to the office may be a daunting or intimidating experience due to the close proximity to people outside their normal household. For others, they will be more than glad to put this time behind them and want processes returning to the way they were. Cleaning is a psychological factor as well as a physical one. Having in place practices that cater to the expectations of key stakeholders will help with the adjustment back to physical work encounters. Understand staff dynamics and assess your cleaning priorities based on that.

Update your COVID-19 Safety Plan

 

Now might be a good time to review that COVID Safety Plan once more and make any updates required. A lot has changed since the first COVID outbreak, particularly with the opportunity for vaccinations now. It’s a good opportunity to compare the way you handled business at the start of the pandemic to now, adapting to everyone’s ‘new normal’. Ensure adequate cleaning measures are listed to guide your workplace on best cleaning practices.
COVID-19 Safety Plan - COVID Safe

Now you can prove your level of clean...

The most convincing ideas are the ones that can be proved. i-team have additionally developed the i-know testing kit allowing contract cleaners & dealers prove their level of clean to customers, taking the wow-factor in cleaning to an even greater level. In one easy kit, you can run ATP tests, slip tests, gloss checks & dirt challenges to measure your clean against competitors and other conventional cleaning utilities such as mops. 

                         Request a Demo

i-know Kit

Struggling to determine your cleaning needs? We can help with that.
Capital Equipment Hire has been providing quality commercial and industrial cleaning equipment solutions to the Australian market since 2004, offering hire, service & purchase solutions for clients. We assess your cleaning situation to recommend the most suitable equipment, along with the most suitable purchase method.

Contact our team at sales@capitalequipment.com.au or 1300 799 312