Ways to Minimise the Risks of Spreading Illness at Work

Catching a cold in the winter months is somewhat inevitable. As a business owner, hygiene services, such as office cleaning and sanitation supplies, can often be overlooked in favour of more obvious facility issues, like IT or security. However, keeping your workplace a hygienic environment is essential, not only for your staff but your customers and brand too. This is where facility management plays a huge role in reducing the illness within workplaces. With an ever-increasing risk of infections, particularly during times like now with the Covid virus, employing infection control techniques is paramount. Not only should a facility use on-the-spot infection control, but how the building itself is maintained, used and managed plays a huge role in limiting the spread. This is important not only for your business to look professional but to protect the welfare of everyone involved.

The Benefits of Hiring a Professional Hygiene Service

• Specialists in their field
  Using experts ensures your facility is cleaned by fully equipped professionals who know what they are doing, carrying out any job with precision and dedication. They will also have access to specialised equipment e.g., high-pressure cleaners to remove tough stains. Our team ensures every hygiene service is completed to your satisfaction, using the correct equipment and liaising with you all the way, should any issues arise.
• No stone left unturned
  A professional hygiene service will spend time understanding your business as well as take into account all aspects requiring maintenance. This will ensure that your entire facility is taken care of, so you don’t have to worry. Our MSL team will look over your business and tailor hygiene and cleaning services to your company’s specific requirements.
• Save time
  Rather than using in-house staff, who may have other jobs to focus on, a professional hygiene team will run all aspects of your office cleaning. This includes anything from window cleaning to emergency incidents. Hygiene services may also include installing and stocking bathroom items, removing rubbish and installing air freshener systems. This will leave your employees free to concentrate on other aspects of their role which could boost productivity and workplace morale.
• Save money
  Employing someone in-house to carry out your facility cleaning is a huge cost to undertake. Not only does your company have to provide all the cleaning materials and equipment but you also need to employ cleaning staff. This adds to your salary, insurance and holiday pay outgoings. However, if a contracted cleaning service takes care of all this for you – all you need to pay is a monthly fee. The cleaning contractor provides everything, from the cleaning materials to the staff. So for example, when a vacuum cleaner breaks down – you don’t need to worry about any unexpected costs that this may incur.
• Range of services
  When you use facilities management for cleaning, not only do you have a reliable team, but you also have access to their expertise and range of services. So, if you have a specific problem requiring a fix or need advice on, they will have experts in that field on hand to help. For example, at MSL, we also offer a huge range of other services, including energy and lighting solutions.
• Reliability
  With a cleaning contractor, you can be sure that your cleaning will be carried out every day, guaranteed by a Service Level Agreement. The contractor has a large team of professional cleaners. This means they will always ensure that cleaning staff are at your property promptly and with all the equipment necessary.
• Planned schedule
  A professional will be able to create a planned maintenance schedule to ensure your business is kept clean, thus avoiding unexpected repairs where possible. They will create an annual program which considers larger cleaning jobs like de-greasing hardwood floors, cleaning ducts or window cleaning. These jobs may not need to be completed frequently but it’s important to have them arranged, to ensure your building is well maintained.

With around 80% of diseases transmittable through touch, and flu viruses living on hard surfaces for up to 72 hours, this makes it even more vital for businesses to take care of their facility. Here are our top tips to minimise the risk of infection in the workplace:

1. Wash hands regularly

A helpful way to decrease the risk of infecting yourself and others is to wash your hands often, especially before and after preparing food and after using the toilet. Here you will be able to find a detailed example on how to wash your hands thoroughly. Having sanitising stations placed throughout your workplace is essential. At MSL, we supply a number of sanitiser solutions, such as foot operated, stainless steel hand sanitisers, desktop hand sanitisers and automatic.

2. Cleaning

Maintaining a clean working environment is fundamental to infection control within the workplace. Facility management companies, like MSL, offer a fully comprehensive cleaning contract, which ensures facilities are hygienic and fully sanitised daily. We can also carry out planned industrial cleans that provide a deeper clean, tackling infection inducing hotspots, such as ventilation ducts.

In addition, cleaning products such as cloths and sponges should be replaced regularly. If possible, use disposable cloths or paper towels, as you’re more likely to decrease the risk of spreading and passing germs. Our expert team can take care of all this for you too. We can provide all the correct cleaning gear and staff, so that you don’t have to worry about replacing things or finding the right person for the job.

3. Ventilation and water

Proper ventilation systems are integral to preventing infection. Maintaining suitable air flow and pressure within the building ensures that airborne infections are kept out. Our expert team can not only install air conditioning units but will carry out planned maintenance too. This will ensure breakdowns are avoided as much as possible.

Paying close attention to at risk areas of your water system which may hold stagnant water, thus leading to water-borne infections like Legionella is highly important. This particular bacterium can occur in water between 20 – 45°C as well as in stagnant water which can lead to an outbreak of Legionnaires disease. As with ventilation systems, we can also install and maintain water systems, so that they operate in a manner that is safe for all users, reducing the risk of such diseases.

4. Waste disposal

We suggest having a foot-operated bin, as they are more hygienic in reducing the risk of hands touching and picking up germs when touching a bin lid. It’s important to always wash your hands after handling waste too, and to make sure you throw rubbish away to avoid attracting any insects. Facility management companies like ours offer a comprehensive waste disposal service. This is critical in controlling infection and keeping businesses hygienic and should be carried out on a daily basis. Clinical waste should be collected more frequently and disposed of properly. Our specialist team have up-to-date knowledge of all waste disposal guidelines and will ensure regulations are adhered to, therefore controlling infection.

5. Stay at home

It’s extremely important to stay at home when you are unwell. This not only allows your body to rest, but it also allows you to keep your illness to yourself and prevents passing on your illness to others around you.  

6. Be prepared

If your workplace experiences an outbreak, it’s essential you have a specialist cleaning team on hand. At MSL, our professionally trained team can sanitise areas quickly and efficiently and are fully equipped to deliver high-quality disinfection services.

7. Get vaccinated

It’s critical for employees to consider prevention to limit the impact of contagious illnesses in the workplace. Vaccinations will help prevent the risk of spreading illnesses and routinely offered to everyone in the UK for free on the NHS. You can find out more out more here.

Businesses must assess and understand infection risks and have a service in place to mitigate those hazards effectively. Therefore, having facilities management on hand is extremely valuable, as we do all the hard work for you regularly, promptly and efficiently, with a specialist team. Having such a program in place is well worth the investment, if it means minimising the risk of illness for everyone involved within your facility, from staff to visitors.

For more information on ways to minimise illnesses spreading at work, contact the MSL team here.