New challenges emerge daily in commercial cleaning, especially when it comes to practices around infection prevention. For facility building managers, it’s important to ensure that your commercial cleaning team are following correct and up-to-date PPE handling and cleaning practices. After all, maintaining a clean and well-managed workplace ensures that staff and customers feel confident in their surroundings. More importantly, having the necessary products on-hand and employees confident in their use, means that everyone involved can be certain that the required infection prevention and health measures are being followed.
How can you be sure that your cleaners are following the best practice in cleaning and PPE handling?
Correct Disposable Face Mask Practice
Face masks are a critical step when thinking about infection prevention in commercial cleaning. Knowing how to correctly put on, take off and dispose of your face mask is crucial to prevent infection being inadvertently spread during this process.
Steps to Putting on Your Mask[1]
- Wash your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or soap before putting on your mask
- Put the mask over your nose and mouth and secure it under your chin
- Fit the mask snugly against the sides of your face, slipping the loops over your ears
- Avoid touching your mask while using it; if you do, clean your hands immediately
- Replace your mask with a new one as soon as it is damp
- Do not reuse single-use masks
Steps to Taking Off Your Mask
- Making sure to only handle the mask by the ear loops, stretch the ear loops around your ears
- Fold the outside corners of your mask together
- If reusable, place mask in the washing machine OR discard immediately if single-use
- Ensure you do not touch your eyes, nose, and mouth and wash your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or soap
Correct Glove Disposal Practice
Gloves play a critical part in infection prevention by providing a physical barrier between the wearer and physical hazards such as bacteria and viruses. It’s important to take off gloves correctly as incorrect removal can result in those same viruses and bacteria spreading through a facility.
- Grasp the outside of the glove in the wrist area
- Peel the glove away from your body, turn it inside-out
- Hold the inside-out glove in the other hand
- Slide your fingers under the wrist of the other glove
- Peel the glove away from your body
- Store the gloves safely
- Wash your hands
Correct Surface Wiping Practice
From absenteeism and business closures, illnesses and infections can have a serious impact on public and commercial organisations. When using surface wipes to clean and disinfect surface areas make sure you’re following the correct steps.
- Use a single wipe
- Wipe in an ‘S’ shaped pattern from clean to dirty
- Do not wipe across the surface you have already covered as this will transfer germs back to that surface previously cleaned
- Discard the wipe in the appropriate bin
- Let the surface area air dry for one minute.
Infection prevention lies with correct cleaning and hygiene practices, proper PPE handling and ensuring cleaning teams are aware of daily cleaning standards. Making sure you have quality PPE that is handled safely and correctly is how you can prevent infection spreading in the workplace. Cleaning teams are there to help break the infection cycle, not contribute to it.
Download the Infection Control Flyer Here
[1] https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/epi-win/how-to-use-mask-v0-1-print.pdf?sfvrsn=64ba1493_2
