Office Space Cleaning Guide to Keep Everyone Safe

Now more than ever, we care about keeping our environment clean and safe. According to the CDC, the virus that causes COVID-19 can accumulate on hard surfaces when people with the illness sneeze and cough. Since most offices are nothing but hard surfaces, it’s possible workers and customers may get sick if they touch a contaminated surface. Office disinfection decreases the likelihood that employees may transmit illnesses such as COVID-19 and influenza between each other and customers.

While many of us have received the COVID-19 vaccine, not everyone has.  Even after the pandemic is a memory, office cleaning and disinfecting procedures will likely remain in place to help protect employees from new COVID-19 variants, as well as more run of the mill illnesses.

But how much do you know about office sanitation? If you’ve never had to think about how to sanitize office spaces before, you’re not alone. Millions of us who never gave it a second thought before have had to learn office cleaning and disinfecting procedures over the past eighteen months. Read on for tips on how to disinfect office space and keep germs at bay in the workplace.

Cleaning vs. Disinfecting vs. Sanitizing

Do you know the difference between cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing? They’re often lumped together, but there are some crucial differences.

• Cleaning focuses on removing dust, dirt, and food debris left behind on hard and soft surfaces within the office. Most cleaning procedures make use of soap and water, and perhaps a few chemical cleaners, to provide a surface cleaning that helps combat germs.

• Disinfecting utilizes chemicals, known as disinfectants, to wipe out germs from most surfaces and objects within the office environment. Many disinfectant procedures use bleach or alcohol, both of which must sit for a specific amount of time to effectively work.
• Sanitizing combines cleaning and disinfecting for the ultimate workspace scouring. Sanitizing lowers the number of germs in the office to a safe level based on public health standards or workplace requirements.

Now that we know the differences, when it disinfecting your office space necessary and when is it time to focus on office sanitation?

What to Disinfect

If you operate a busy workplace, chances are you have a constant flow of traffic through potentially contaminated areas. It’s important to know where to focus disinfection efforts.

Here’s what to disinfect:

• Keyboards
• Countertops
• Doorknobs
• Faucets
• Toilet handles
• Light switches
• Remotes
• General office supplies (Pens, staplers, glue, etc.)

Ultimately, your goal is to clean and disinfect any surface or object that people touch often.

When to Disinfect

The right cadence for office disinfection depends on your work environment and employees. If no one in the office is sick, and no one is suspected of being infected with any virus or illness, cleaning once per day is typically enough to kill off harmful germs and remove any potential viruses from surfaces or objects in the work environment.

However, if someone in the office is sick or at risk of becoming sick, it’s best to spend a little extra time cleaning and disinfecting. It can be quite important to spend time disinfecting surfaces in a shared office space with high foot traffic. Once every few hours, for example, can help reduce the risk of transmission in an at-risk community.

How to Sanitize Office Spaces

The CDC outlines a thorough workspace cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitization process:

• Open up the doors and windows, or use an HVAC system, to circulate air within the area.
• Use cleaning products recommended by the EPA, following the instructions on the bottles clearly, to clean surfaces and objects.
• When cleaning and disinfecting, always wear a mask and gloves.
• With your equipment ready, focus on immediate areas where people congregate or where items are frequently touched or moved.
• If necessary, vacuum the entire office space with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter and bag.

Cleaning Tips

Here are a few broad cleaning tips for the workplace:

1. Have everyone in the office pitch in to clean every surface and object more effectively and quickly.
2. Use disinfectant regularly on high traffic volume spaces.
3. Sanitize and clean common areas, such as break rooms and bathrooms, daily.
4. Ensure soap and sanitizer are readily available to everyone – employees and customers.

Transline Industries, Inc. is pleased to offer specialty equipment to our clients in construction, safety and public administration to help you maintain clean, germ-free work environments for your staff and customers. Our SaniSpray HP product line offers high production, airless sprayers for the quick, efficient application of sanitizing and disinfecting chemicals.

• SaniSpray HP 10 – Corded. This portable sprayer applies up to 10 ounces of chemical per minute, holds 32 ounces of disinfecting agent in its Flexliner Bag System, and is perfect for small areas.
• SaniSpray HP 20 – Corded. This portable sprayer applies up to 20 ounces per minute, can hold up to 42 ounces of chemical in its Flexliner Bag System, and is made for slightly larger jobs but is still small enough to allow easy movement from room to room.
• SaniSpray HP 20 – Cordless. The cordless version of our HP20 sprayer system offers maximum flexibility during application. It applies up to 20 ounces of chemical per minute and includes a 42-ounce Flexliner Bag System.
• SaniSpray HP 65 – Portable Hopper. The portable HP 65 sprays up to 65 ounces per minute, which greatly shortens application times vs. the smaller capacity sprayers.
• SaniSpray HP 130 – 2 Gun Cart. Perfect for large jobs, the HP 120 two-gun cart can apply up to 120 ounces per minute and sprays from any container.

We also have additional cleaning and sanitizing products including hand sanitizer and bulk disinfecting agents to help your workplace stay healthy and safe for everyone.  For help with your purchase or if you have any questions, please contact us today!