Is your cleaning company COVID ready?

Is Your Cleaning Company COVID-Ready?

In the age of COVID, your cleaning company can never be too careful. To be COVID-ready, your organization should craft, approve and adopt a pandemic policy to be followed by your employees, partners, collaborators, contractors, visitors and possibly even family and friends if they visit your office site.

With the help of a checklist, you can test the soundness and legal compliance of your company policy by consulting city, county and state regulations and the federal guidance of the following agencies:

• the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC);
• the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration (EPA);
• the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA);
• the U.S. Justice Department’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and;
• the World Health Organization (WHO).

An example is the guidance known as the COVID-19 Workplace Safety: Agency Model Safety Principles created by the Safety Federal Workforce Task Force led by the CDC and OSHA. Your company policy ought to cover such directives as follows:

• contact tracing;
• employee safety and health;
• gloves, hand sanitizers, masks and other personal protective equipment, also known as PPE;
• possible viral exposure and infection;
• social distancing by six feet;
• temperature checks;
• testing;
• travel restrictions;
• use of tissues or napkins;
• use of liquid or powdered cleaners and disinfectants, and;
• vaccination mandates

Your company policy must be able to address the following issues:

What to do if a member of your staff exhibits coronavirus-like symptoms?

• Exclusion from operation and staying home until symptom-free
• Providing others with napkins or tissues to cough or sneeze
• Making temperature checks
• Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer
• Cleansing of any objects or surfaces possibly exposed to the virus
• Hospitalization and notifications of family, friends or employers

 What to do in the event of bodily fluid exposure?

• Use norovirus if a person vomits or has diarrhea
• Ensure that a worker cleaning an area is using personal protective equipment
• Isolate or seal off a contaminated area
• Discard any food exposed to the virus
• Take hygienic precautions with any eating utensils or cups
• Routinely clean an area to include floors, walls, panels and other objects that may have come into contact with the virus
• Get rid of any equipment used to sanitize the area in question

What if staff refuse to work out of fear of infection?

• Employer education of workplace staff
• Use of sick leave
• Work attendance and absence issues
• Refusal to get into contact with possibly infected customers or others
• Contacting or notifying the health department about sick employees or others

 What is the company’s vaccination policy?

• Requirements for and certification of vaccinations for new and returning workers
• Protecting health and safety for new and returning staff and visitors
• Vaccination deadlines
• Penalties for not adhering to vaccination mandates
• Booster shots

Aside from federal agency regulations, your company may also review American governmental and business COVID policy as set by the following federal laws for guidance and instruction:

• The THRIVE Act;
• The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act;
• PPP Extension Act of 2021;
• COVID-19 Bankruptcy Relief Extension Act of 2021;
• SAVE LIVES Act;
• Combating Pandemic Scams Act of 2020;
• Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act;
• Continuing Appropriations Act;
• Safeguarding America’s First Responders Act of 2020;
• Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act;
• Emergency Aid for Returning Americans Affected by Coronavirus Act;
• Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, and;
• the CARES Act.

In particular, your cleaning company should dictate company policy about staff using use soap and water to cleanse furniture and appliance surfaces. You may also caution cleaning staff not to use of anti-COVID disinfectants in case of asthma attacks, around children, human skin, pets and food, without registration by the EPA, ignoring label instructions and mixing them with other chemicals. Your company may also warn against fogging, fumigating, ozone generators, UV lights and wide-area or electrostatic spraying all against COVID without EPA registration and without consulting label directions.

Stay safe. Be well.

For federal resources to craft company policy on the pandemic, consult the following websites:

• coronavirus.gov
• epa.gov/coronavirus
• epa.gov/listn
• epa.gov/listntool
• go.usa.gov/xHc8q
• go.usa.gov/xHckJ

At MoProClean, we definitely don’t allow anyone to work while they are sick. Put our cleanliness and discretion to the test! Call us at 866-777-7941 or search our branch locations, obtain a free estimate, and schedule an appointment all on our website.