Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Taking a proactive approach to virus sanitisation this festive season
As the busy festive season fast approaches, and with cases of Covid-19 continuing to spread across the UK, it is more important than ever for those in the hospitality industry to ensure their premises adequately mitigate the spread of viruses and bacteria.
Here, Zac Hemming, managing director of ICE Cleaning, explores how businesses can successfully accommodate the influx in customers, whilst keeping them and their employees safe through the implementation of dedicated sanitisation programmes that provide the highest standards of protection, with minimum disruption…
With over 80% of people aged 12 and over in the UK having received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and over 70% also having had their second, the government is continuing to push its booster campaign in a bid to achieve a lockdown-free Christmas.
Hospitality venues are set to have their busiest festive period since 2019 as workplaces across the nation continuing to arrange Christmas parties, whilst groups of friends and families make plans for seasonal catch-ups with relatives. As these businesses start to prepare for how they will safely accommodate the significant increase in customers over the next two months, achieving best practice with regard to hygiene and cleanliness is central to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all staff members and visitors.
The government's 'Working safely during Coronavirus' guidance outlines six priority actions that restaurants, pubs, bars, nightclubs and takeaway services should take to protect staff and customers. Increasing the level of cleaning, particularly surfaces that will be frequently touched, is the third consideration after conducting a risk assessment and ensuring adequate ventilation.
However, due to the severity of Covid-19 and its high-risk ability to be transferred between individuals in close proximity via airborne or surface contact, business owners are undertaking a proactive approach to prevention. By focusing on hygiene behaviour and incorporating additional preventative measures into established cleaning routines, venues can successfully break the chain of infection.
Alongside an increase in established cleaning routines, this includes the implementation of additional treatments, such as monthly decontamination plans, which ensure the consistent sanitisation of surfaces that are frequently touched, including door handles and shared facilities, such as toilets and bar areas.
The rapid advancement in cleaning technologies is supporting hospitality venues in successfully fulfilling these aims, with the latest chemicals and dispensing systems setting the standard for a new generation of commercial cleaning that delivers first class protection at an affordable price.
Whilst traditional fogging machines may be utilised to apply the necessary chemicals to mitigate against the spread of bacteria and viruses on surfaces and key touchpoints, latest progressions in electrostatic technology have created a dispensing system that, when combined with best-in-class chemicals, achieves a longer dwell time on surfaces.
This enables the chemicals to effectively 'wrap' around surfaces to guarantee protection against viruses for up to 28 days, eliminating the opportunity for the cleaning chemicals to drip off high frequency touchpoints, which may potentially occur with other methods of application. This longevity and standard of protection is essential for door handles, bar surfaces and other areas of hospitality venues that will be touched by hundreds of individuals each day over the busy festive period.
The electrostatic technology features positively charged electrostatic particles, which attach themselves to negatively charged particles found on solid surfaces, whilst simultaneously counteracting any negatively charged particles within the atmosphere. This effectively destroys 99.9% of traces of coronavirus and other bacteria and viruses on surfaces within the premises.
By applying these sanitisation plans on a monthly basis, in addition to established daily and weekly cleaning routines, hospitality venues can fulfil their duty of care this Christmas, whilst demonstrating to employees and customers the measures that are being taken to ensure their safety and wellbeing whilst they are within their premises.
ICE Cleaning's Ice Shield service utilises electrostatic technology to effectively destroy 99.9% of traces of Coronavirus and other bacteria and viruses, including norovirus and influenza.
By incorporating this protection into monthly cleaning routines, with a 28-day decontamination certificate supplied after each procedure to demonstrate due diligence, businesses can ensure every area of their premises is adequately protected.
ICE Cleaning is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with an emergency response team able to arrive on-site within an hour. The company's expert technicians are trained to the highest standards, whilst adhering to all the relevant health and safety regulations.
25th November 2021