High-touch areas in your facility are most at-risk for housing viruses, bacteria, and other germs. In addition to standard janitorial services, scheduling detailed cleaning of high-touch areas and/or a day porter can address the cleaning and disinfecting of these surfaces to prevent the spread of illness.
The CDC and OSHA both recommend high-touch area cleaning be a top priority for facilities to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases. Cleaning high-touch areas not only improves the health and wellbeing of your staff and visitors, it also preserves the productivity of your business by preventing sick days and improving morale.
What are high-touch areas?
High-touch areas are places in your facility that are frequently touched. Because of this, these areas can become easily contaminated with microorganisms like the flu virus. It is the responsibility of the facility to supply hand sanitizing stations, hand-washing reminders, and other methods to combat high-touch area contamination. Beyond nightly janitorial services, it is recommended to have janitorial staff on-site throughout the day to and disinfect these high-touch areas when foot traffic is at its highest.
For over 60 years, City Wide Facility Solutions has been helping businesses with janitorial services who understand the importance of high-touch area cleaning. Find a City Wide location near you to learn more.
Examples of high-touch areas include:
- Common areas, like entrances and exits, door handles, railings, elevator buttons, light switches, waiting room chairs, meeting room tables and chairs
- Bathroom surfaces, including toilets, toilet handles, faucets, door handles, stall handles
- Office equipment, such as desks, keyboards, phones, chairs, computers
- Shared equipment, like touch screens, printers, control panels, tools, break room microwave, coffee machine, ice maker, or refrigerator
Efficient high-touch area cleaning
It can be difficult for business owners and facility managers to keep up with all of the needs of their facility, including the cleaning needs. High-touch areas are everywhere, and it takes an experienced professional to keep them regularly cleaned and disinfected.
Day porters will help fulfill the cleaning demands of a facility because they are on-site. A good facility management company like City Wide will create an effective cleaning schedule for day porters who will meet your needs without disrupting daily operations.
Our vendors are specialists who are trained in the latest CDC recommendations for facility cleaning and who use only CDC-approved cleaning chemicals and techniques. These include using electrostatic sprayers to clean and disinfect high-touch areas. Electrostatic sprayers emit disinfecting chemicals which provide uniform coverage of all types of surfaces. They can disinfect entire meeting rooms, bathrooms, building entrances and exits, hallways, and all other high-touch areas in seconds.
How often should high-touch areas be cleaned?
The CDC recommends high-touch areas be cleaned at least twice per day using an approved chemical disinfectant. If you are unsure which chemicals are approved for fighting COVID-19 and other viruses, the EPA provides a list of them here. Or, you can count on City Wide to manage the selection of cleaning solutions.
City Wide understands your facility is unique and will require a customized cleaning schedule to keep high-touch areas safe. Your facility service manager will know the ins and outs of your building and will not only schedule janitorial services, they will also perform on-site inspections to make sure the job is getting done right.
Protect your employees with City Wide
The importance of regular, diligent cleaning of high-touch areas has been made clear by the CDC and other government agencies. It is an effective tool for fighting the spread of illness and protecting the health and wellbeing of you, your employees, and your guests.
In addition to high-touch area cleaning, City Wide can also assist you with detail cleaning, day porters, blinds cleaning, as well as over 20 additional facility services. Got questions? City Wide is here to help – contact the City Wide office nearest you today for answers or to schedule service!
