Disinfecting Surfaces The Right Way

cleaning and disinfecting

Disinfecting Surfaces The Right Way

disinfecting

With many businesses set to reopen in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, business owners are working hard to ensure safe and clean work environments. For many business owners, this means hiring a commercial cleaning company. For others, it involves setting strict standards for in-house cleaning crews. Either way, it is vital that whoever is responsible for cleaning and disinfecting your workplace knows how to do so properly.

Clean First

Too often people rely on disinfectants alone to sanitize hard surfaces in the home and workplace. The fact of the matter is that you need to clean and disinfect and while most of us focus on the disinfecting part of the equation, cleaning is even more important.

Dirty surfaces are covered in clusters of germs called biofilm that is resistant to disinfecting chemicals. These germs need to be removed before a disinfectant can effectively kill lingering viruses and bacteria. To do this you should clean all surfaces with a soap and water solution which helps break up the biofilm and will remove most of the germs and bacteria on the surface.

Always use separate cleaning cloths for each surface. Using the same cleaning cloth on multiple surfaces only spreads the germs around the entire workplace, a phenomenon known as cross-contamination. Disposable cloths are best as you will need at least two cloths to clean and disinfect each surface.

Then Disinfect

Only once you have cleaned with soap and water is a disinfecting chemical able to sanitize the surface, but you can’t just spray and wipe. All disinfectants have what is called a ‘dwell time’ which is the minimum amount of time the disinfectant needs to stay on the surface before it will kill any remaining germs.

Most disinfectants will list their dwell time on the back of the bottle and they can range from thirty seconds to several minutes. Be sure you know what the dwell time is for your particular disinfectant and leave it on the surface long enough to do its job. Again, use a separate cloth to wipe the disinfectant off of the surface and then toss it in the trash.

Dispose of All Cleaning Cloths

It is important to note that the novel coronavirus has been known to survive on paper and tissue for three hours or more and on cloth for two days. Properly disposing of the cloths used to clean and disinfect your workplace helps to ensure that the virus is not lingering in your trash receptacles.

Need Help Disinfecting Your Workplace

If you are looking fora commercial cleaning company to help with the cleaning and disinfecting of your workplace, Complete Care Maintenance can help. Call or contact us today to learn how we can help keep your New Jersey business clean and safe for both staff and customers.