Keeping the Workplace Clean

As states gradually implement business re-opening plans, there may be no greater consideration for businesses than keeping their premises clean. You can protect your employees, customers, and other visitors to your facility or store by following the CDC’s comprehensive guidelines for disinfecting your facility.

Here, we summarize the CDC’s guidelines into an easy-to-follow sequence of steps so that you can include them in communications to your employees and site visitors. We recommend sending an email as well as printing up communications to inform them of the protocol that you are following to protect their health and safety. Use these steps to educate employees on proper cleaning and disinfecting, and consider posting this in the breakroom and on bulletin boards throughout your facility.

Clean

1. Wear disposable gloves
2. Clean surfaces using soap and water
3. Clean frequently touched hard surfaces before each use
4. Launder uniforms and clothes used during working hours after each use on warmest water setting and dry items completely
5. Clean carpets, rugs, and drapes with appropriate cleaners and disinfectants
6. Wash hands after cleaning with soap and water for 20 seconds

Disinfect

1. Ventilate room before disinfecting
2. Wear disposable gloves
3. Wipe surfaces using clean cloths and EPA-registered household disinfectant, diluted household bleach solutions, or solutions with at least 70% alcohol
4. Keep surfaces wet for the recommended period of time
5. Consider using wipeable covers on electronics, such as keyboards
6. Do not use alternative disinfection methods, such as ultrasonic waves, high intensity UV radiation, and LED blue light in place of disinfecting solutions, as efficacy against COVID-19 is unknown.
7. Wash hands after disinfecting with soap and water for 20 seconds

When Someone Is Sick

1. Close off all areas used by the person, such as cubicles, work stations, and offices
2. Open nearby doors and windows to increase circulation
3. Wait 24 hours to clean and disinfect, using above sequence (to minimize risk of infection)
4. Clean and disinfect all areas used by the sick person, including offices, bathrooms, and common areas, as well as equipment touched by the person.
5. Vacuum the affected spaces with a unit that has a HEPA filter, after everyone has left the room.

Download the complete CDC guidelines here.