Back to School Cleaning
As per Bridget Gardner – a pioneer in Australia’s Green Cleaning movement also notes in her blogs that surfaces are often colonized by bacteria that make their own protective layer known as biofilms. These layers are so thick that a simple wipe, disinfectant and fogging is insufficient.
Hence it is important to have a proper cleaning plan, checklist and technical know-how of how to clean schools. It is particularly of importance as children are the main occupants of these buildings and they are known to move around, touch and feel things much more than the average adult does. This can lead to very quick spread of infection and viruses. Some important aspects of back-to-school cleaning are-
- Have a cleaning checklist:
It is important to have a cleaning checklist that indicates vital information. This includes important areas of cleaning, types of cleaning products to be used, methods of disposal and recycling plans, electronic devices that need to be wiped or disinfected, checklist in regard to contamination of outbreak of viruses or infections and other cleaning plans.
- Cleaning and disinfecting High Touch Points:
An important aspect of all cleaning plans should have plans to clean and disinfect High Touch Points (HTPs). QualGroup’s two-step cleaning process includes –
- Cleaning all mapped out HTPs on arrival of cleaning
- Disinfecting it on departure.
This ensures the reduced spread of infection and viruses in the schools.
In the case that there is a spread of infection, it is important to have a cleaning plan to contain this. One of this is ‘Zoning’ the area of infection to contain this. Some of the steps we take here are-
Zone 1: Identify areas where the infected person/s spent most time in, and surfaces on which the virus would have potentially been shed the most.
Zone 2: Identify similar areas and surfaces that were used by personnel with whom the infected person/s spent time in close contact over this period and may have infected.
Zone 3: Identify areas where the infected person/s would have passed through on a regular basis, e.g. entrances, lifts, stairs and walkways.
Zone 4: Identify the High Touch Point (HTP) surfaces in all other areas of the building that will require a full Preventative Clean.
Then Schedule the Decontamination Clean, starting in zone 4 and working toward zone 1 (cleanest to dirtiest).
- Use safe cleaning products:
We also aim to remove odour at source – by thoroughly sanitizing and disinfecting the toilets and play areas therefore leaving no nagging odour in the school. QualGroup uses cleaning products using Perdiem – which is Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide technology for high productivity cleaning and disinfecting and Oxivir in our which is a health care grade cleaning chemical. are chemicals free hence it does not leave behind any residue. This ensures that the children and staff are not exposed to any harmful or toxic product in the centre. You should ensure that hand wipes, hand spray, or hand sanitizer should contain less than 60% alcohol for disinfection, depending on the child’s age. Be sure to check with the FDA recalled products list to ensure your sanitizer does not contain toxic methanol.
