Are you ready for winter?

CLEAN FACILITIES and sound hygiene practices are essential to maintaining high levels of public health and creating environments where people can thrive. 

Recent years have intensified our awareness of these issues. The covid pandemic served as a major wake-up call to treat hygiene and cleanliness as a key strategic priority for many organisations, not only because it is the right thing to do by their employees, but also because poor environments can have major detrimental business impacts. 

The physical space we work in can cause illness. A 2021 study by cleaning brand Chicopee found that some of the dirtiest touch points in the workplace included the bathroom door lock, fridge handles, and the top offender, the computer mouse. The long-term effects of the pandemic have seen businesses become more conscious of keeping communal areas safe for workers.

It is therefore easy to see how a lack of proper hygiene can impair productivity in workplaces. The Confederation of British Industry found that air pollution causes three million lost working days each year in the UK, equating to around £600 million in lost output. Anago also found that 98% of employees are affected by sickness due to dirty surroundings, and 60% of illnesses that result in workplace absence are contracted from contaminated equipment in the office.

Employers have a duty of care to look after their people and do what they can to keep them healthy at work – in today’s challenging times, this is especially important given the impact our health has on physical and mental wellbeing.  

From Churchill’s perspective, cleanliness is a key selling point for flex space operators that have tenants on short leases – these operators need to demonstrate cleanliness and a duty of care to all occupants in a building that has a high turnover of people from different companies and sectors. We also manage cleaning contracts on trains, which represent another key touchpoint of people’s daily journeys.  

The winter months pose a particular challenge, as this is when seasonal viruses, including covid, are more prominent because they thrive in cooler, damper conditions. 

Maintaining high levels of hygiene and cleanliness during winter is also more difficult, largely because there are more people utilising indoor spaces, and natural ventilation methods are less feasible than in the warmer periods of the year. 

So, how can we best mitigate the heightened risks?

Based on Churchill’s experience operating across a huge variety of facilities and workplaces, preparedness is everything. To function effectively the whole year round, deal with expected and unexpected surges in demand and, ultimately, keep the people using buildings and facilities safe at all times, cleaning teams need to plan in advance and work smart. 

How can cleaning teams ensure they are prepared for winter?

Indeed, the ability to look ahead and prepare accordingly is key to managing risks in all areas, especially those that intensify during the winter months. 

From a top-level strategy perspective, looking at a building holistically and sharing responsibility for occupants through close working relationships between cleaning and services teams is a must. This will involve sharing information and best practices, as well as regular communication to ensure each knows the schedules and priorities of the other.

Flexibility and agility are also important. Rather than being confined to contracts with a set scope, flexible contracts can enable cleaning resources to be adapted through the year as and when needed. This will better allow cleaning teams to be ready for whatever nature might throw at us, from another virus to an extreme weather event. 

Whatever the top-level approach, generating a full understanding of buildings and facilities is essential. 

Technology and data are key to achieving this. Churchill’s workplace hygiene programme, PRISM, enables workplace, property, and facilities managers to understand the bacterial and viral content of certain environments in order to implement tailored infection prevention solutions. This information, in combination with other key insights on occupancy and building usage, can underpin smarter cleaning schedules.  

Occupancy data and observations made by cleaning teams can also be fed back to building managers to make sustainable enhancements. For example, during winter heavy snowfall and icy travel conditions can lead to fewer people making it into the workplace – here, cleaning staff can advise if certain areas are unoccupied, leading to changes in how lighting and heating systems are used during extreme weather events. 

In terms of preparing for specific tasks that are associated with winter, it is important to make sure that cleaning teams are fully trained and prepared, as the work required to keep a building clean is often different to what is typical during the drier, warmer months of the year. For example, more dirt gets walked into buildings which not only requires heavier floor cleaning but can also add to the risk of slipping. 

In addition, consider how often to change doormats at the front of buildings – if they are not changed enough, they will not function as intended and people will walk even more dirt through the entrance. 

Although measures like this appear small in isolation, implementing lots of these changes can combine to make a significant difference and lead to a safer and healthier environment for people to use. Facilities management and cleaning is about the finer details. Get them right, and it is surprising to see just how many people notice and respond positively. 

What we have found is that building occupants also respond well to prompts and advice around hygiene practices. Here, cleaning teams have an important role to play in educating people about how to stay safe in their environment, be it tips on how to thoroughly wash hands, or steps they can take to keep their workstations clean at all times. 

Don’t forget to think about your cleaning staff 

While the health and wellbeing of building occupants should be front and centre of cleaning strategies, it is all too easy to forget about the very people who ensure spaces remain safe throughout the year. 

Indeed, the winter period can be tough for cleaning teams. As key workers, they do not have the option of working from home and must continue to come into the workplace when others have the luxury to choose. 

We therefore need to keep them safe and healthy, just as it is their job to help safeguard the wellbeing of the people using their buildings. 

The same rationale as outlined at the beginning of this article applies. Healthier and happier workers are proven to be more productive – it is a virtuous cycle that facilities management and cleaning teams are at the centre of.     

With winter on the horizon, there is a wide-ranging array of considerations that need to be considered if cleaning regimes are to be robust, agile, and effective enough to overcome the heightened risks. The key to success is to prepare early, bring staff up to speed and leave no stone unturned, no matter how small a measure it may appear. 

Case study: Bellrock and PRISM

Churchill partnered with Bellrock and Savills to provide a cleaning solution for the 200,000-square-foot office it manages in Reading. Churchill implemented its workplace hygiene and safety programme, PRISM, to maintain the highest standards. PRISM is powered by science and technology to give property and facilities managers data on bacterial and viral load on various touchpoints. This allows infection prevention solutions to be tailored to the specific needs of the space.

PRISM was integrated with Churchill’s own digital platform, Mo:dus, to schedule work, record actions and maintain a constant line of communication between all relevant parties. QR codes are placed throughout the building and are scanned by a cleaning operative upon their arrival. They then receive cleaning instructions on exactly what is required for that area. 

As winter is an especially heightened time of year for viral infections, ensuring these operations are running during this time is essential. Aside from the essential work of keeping everyone safe in the office, PRISM also aims to create an environment that people look forward to returning to, due to the reassurance of their safety and comfort. Building users also have extra comfort when they can see cleaning and hygiene being managed throughout the day.

The data-led provisions leave building users in no doubt that they are in safe hands, whilst also maintaining a cleaning team that is not stretched. The increase in cleaning provisions because of the pandemic led to huge amounts of pressure on cleaning teams. The data-led solutions of PRISM mean that cleaning can be focussed specifically on areas that pose the biggest risk to building users. 

Charlotte Parr is director of Churchill Group.

For more information visit www.churchillservices.com