Sitemark, the independent benchmarking service for the facilities management industry, has launched a workplace hygiene programme in response to Covid-19. The programme enables businesses to maintain clean and hygienic buildings so that building users remain safe and healthy.
Commenting is Mike Boxall, managing director at Sitemark. “While there is understandably a lot of focus on keeping buildings safe now, we need to think about how to keep them safe when offices, shops and schools reopen. A lot of people might want assurances that their workplace is fit for purpose.
“Through the use of the workplace hygiene programme, building managers can point to the programme as evidence of the steps they are taking. The indicators will act as daily visual reminders to everyone of how to stay safe and hygienic. Companies will need a thorough cleaning programme that is well communicated to staff to get back to business as smoothly as possible.”
How it works
Unlike traditional cleaning specifications that focus almost entirely on visual standards of cleanliness, this programme helps to identify and control those areas that require additional hygiene standards. This minimises the risk of workplace contamination for those key sites which are still occupied. It also supports those managing empty buildings as they gradually become reoccupied.
The programme aims to identify all areas of a building where the risk of contamination to building users is high, highlight them, and then clean them at a frequency that is appropriate to the area they are in. This includes common areas, door handles, lifts and stairway railings.
The highly visual system positively drives the behaviours of building users, cleaning operatives and facilities managers, and is based on the use of ‘High-Intensity Touch Point’ indicators. These will remind building users to wash their hands after passing through a high-risk area. They will also prompt cleaning staff to pay additional attention to deep clean those areas.
The programme is suitable for all types of sites and for use in conjunction with an existing cleaning specification. It can also adapt over time as building usage changes.
Implementing the system is a simple three-stage process
- Categorise every area type within your building
- Determine the ‘Touch Point’ cleaning frequency for every area type
- Apply the ‘Touch Point’ indicators at appropriate locations
Workplaces can self-manage the programme or Sitemark can independently audit it to demonstrate the workplace is meeting ‘best practice’.
Click here to download a complete workplace risk assessment tool free of charge. For further information on the programme, please click here.
