2022: A year of challenges and opportunities

OVER THE last 12 months, the commercial cleaning sector has continued to play a pivotal role in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. From healthcare and hospitality, to offices and retail outlets, businesses across all areas of society have been able to safely re-open, and most importantly, stay open. 

This has been achieved by commercial cleaning providers working in partnership with business owners to adopt a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to virus mitigation that provides the highest possible standards of protection, whilst also, crucially, fulfilling consumer confidence.

For many members of society, returning to their place of work or visiting social environments, such as restaurants and theatres, continues to remain an area of concern. Last year, research conducted by ICE Cleaning, identified that over half of British workers would support never returning to the office environment due to a fear of germs, lack of social distancing and being in a room with lots of other people.

The study of 1,000 British employees, which was carried out via OnePoll, found two thirds would also feel uncomfortable about going back into their workplace full time, with worries including lack of personal space and not enough communal cleaning. 

Virus sanitisation programmes

Dedicated virus sanitisation programmes, which were requested by over 50% of individuals surveyed, enabled business owners to successfully alleviate these concerns, whilst simultaneously fulfilling due diligence, by effectively mitigating against the spread of bacteria and viruses, particularly throughout communal spaces, such as kitchens, bathrooms and lifts.

The rapid advancement in cleaning technologies, including the development of non-hazardous chemicals and dispensing systems, has set the standard for a new generation of commercial cleaning that ensures first class protection, with minimum disruption.

Traditionally, fogging machines have been used to apply the relevant chemicals to help mitigate against the spread of bacteria and viruses on surfaces and key touchpoints. However, latest progressions in electrostatic technology have created a dispensing system, that, when combined with best in class non-hazardous 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, such as door handles, which may potentially occur with other methods of application.

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 a working environment.

By incorporating these tailored sanitisation plans into established daily and weekly cleaning routines, business owners were able to achieve prolonged defence in an efficient and cost effective way.

Sanitisation services for Deliveroo Editions 

When Deliveroo Editions required dedicated virus sanitisation support to ensure the highest standards of protection throughout its UK delivery only kitchen hubs, it turned to ICE Cleaning.

With the 2021 national lockdown accelerating an uptake in demand for takeaway services, Deliveroo Editions knew it had a responsibility to ensure its kitchens not only facilitated the increase in orders, but consistently ensured the safety of all employees and visitors. 

To achieve this, while also helping to maintain its 100% 5-star EHO and equivalent rating, Deliveroo Editions commissioned the support of ICE Cleaning to complete consistent virus sanitisation programmes throughout a selection of its UK delivery only kitchen hubs.

ICE Cleaning’s decontamination treatment was regularly applied by a dedicated team of technicians throughout the venues to provide the highest standards of hygiene and cleanliness, by adequately mitigating against the potential spread of viruses and bacteria.

Dora Besenyei, operations manager at Deliveroo Editions UK, said: "Over the last 12 months, ICE Cleaning has become a trusted partner of Deliveroo Editions. ICE Cleaning’s team has shown consistent dedication to improving the level of hygiene throughout our delivery only kitchen hubs, and through regular ICE SHIELD® decontamination treatments, we’ve been able to minimise threats in the workplace and create a clean, safe environment for our staff and guests.”

Utilising electrostatic technology to effectively destroy 99.9% of traces of coronavirus and other bacteria and viruses, ICE SHIELD has been independently proven to deliver 100% effectiveness in killing certain types of bacteria, in addition to providing consistent protection against recurrence. 

Dora continued: "The cleaning regime that ICE Cleaning offers provides an all-in-one layer of protection against bacteria and viruses which lasts for 28 days, meaning our workforce feel comfortable carrying out their daily duties. As a result, we’ve been able to maintain a high level of productivity – even during the pandemic. We’re incredibly thankful for ICE Cleaning’s hard work and look forward to developing our relationship over the next year."

Guaranteeing full surface protection against harmful bacteria, viruses and fungi for at least 28 days, each application was supported by a decontamination certificate, which evidenced the environment’s continued defence against the recurrence and bacteria, to provide restaurant owners using the facilities with complete peace of mind.  

Throughout the first quarter of 2021, the pandemic fuelled a significant increase in demand for takeaways across the nation. As Deliveroo Editions worked closely with restaurant owners to ensure they could successfully meet this demand, they also knew they had to ensure the safety of all individuals at all times.

It was therefore vital that all necessary precautions were consistently taken to protect the health and wellbeing of both Deliveroo Editions team members and restaurant owners, without causing disruption to daily operations. Our persistent ICE SHIELD® decontamination solution ensured each location was successfully protected against the spread of viruses and bacteria, both on surfaces and in the air, to ensure the safety of all individuals when on site.

Conclusion 

As we enter our third year of the pandemic, advancements in virus sanitisation continue to evolve, with commercial cleaning providers working in close partnership with clients to identify how environments can be proficiently protected to achieve the highest possible standards of cleanliness and hygiene at all times.

However, whilst continued innovation is essential in the fight against the virus, it cannot be achieved at the expense of sustainability. The development of non-harmful solutions will continue to be a main priority for this year to ensure the industry plays it’s part in supporting net zero ambitions.

Over the last two years, the commercial cleaning industry has received recognition for its impressive capabilities and unwavering resilience, and it will continue to build on this throughout 2022 to remain at the epicentre of the fight against the virus. 

Zac Hemming is managing director of industrial, commercial and domestic cleaning provider, ICE Cleaning.

For more information, visit icecleaning.co.uk or call 02039 932940.