Since the coronavirus has infected more than 170 000 around the world and the number is increasing day after day it makes it imperative to thoroughly clean shared office spaces and communal areas to prevent the spreading of the virus.

People need to follow strict personal hygiene to stay healthy as well as properly disinfect work stations during the pandemic.

Offices provide hundreds of hiding spots for viruses and bacteria such as telephones, the crevices of the keyboards, lift buttons, door handles, handrails, chairs, toilets, the communal fridge handle and much more. While the coronavirus is primarily transmitted between people, touching the infected surfaces hides huge risk for everyone in the shared workspace.

Here are some basic tips which you need to follow to reduce the risk of catching the virus while you are in an office or other shared workspace:

• Regularly disinfect your workstation before you start your shift – desk, computer, keyboard, mouse, telephone or any other surfaces that you or your co-workers touch a lot
• Wash your hands as much as possible, for 20 seconds, following the instructions by the NHS
• Use hand sanitiser, which has at least 70% alcohol
• Avoid handshakes and any physical contact with other people
• Do not touch your face – mouth, nose or eyes

Cleaning the offices on a regular basis is essential during the pandemic. Use the two -step method – cleaning first then disinfecting.

There is a big difference between cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing.

While cleaning removes germs and dirt from surfaces, it doesn’t necessarily kill them, but lowers their number.

Sanitizing kills germs. It is done as a preventative measure and is the quick way to lower the risk of infection.

Disinfecting kills the germs on surfaces, but it requires a bit more work as products need to remain on surfaces for a specific amount of time – usually between 3 to 5 min. Disinfectants won’t necessarily kill visibly dirty areas, but they will lower the risk of infection.

Steamers are also great to be used when it comes to killing germs. Heat treatment has proven to be very effective in killing germs and viruses. This could be used on soft furnishing where you can’t use the disinfecting detergent.

Professional carpet cleaning is a great way to kill and disinfect carpeted areas or upholstery. The hot water extraction method that is used can kill 99.9% of the bacterial trapped into the carpet fibres.

Businesses need to handle the situation themselves and properly disinfect shared spaces. Apart from the personal hygiene of the employees for added security, they should sanitize the frequently touched surfaces every 2 to 3 hours and do a proper disinfecting at the end of the day.

Here are some tips on how to disinfect your office space:

• Always wear disposable gloves and discard them after use
• Use disposable cloths or disposable paper and discard it after you finish
• Use hospital grade disinfectant
• Spray the disinfectant on the surface and leave it there for 3 to 5 minutes before you wipe it down. If you need to disinfect electrical equipment do not spray directly onto it. If for example you need to disinfect a light switch spray lightly onto the cloth and then use it to wipe down the area.
• If you decide to use a steamer, wear goggles or mask to protect your face

If you want to book a professional coronavirus cleaning for your office or commercial premises A-Clean has created a special department that will be able to help you. We cover all areas in London and within M25.

We can send one of our teams to do a deep clean of your commercial space.

Call us on 0208 819 3235 to speak to a member of our team or send us an e-mail and we will get back to you with more information.