We're all hoping for a calm, uneventful, responsible, and even improved return to school! Do you think I'm dreaming in color? I dare hope not. The last few months have made us reflect on our responsibilities. We've improved our disinfection frequencies, even adding more time! But will it be enough? Here are some of my observations.
Have we improved our housekeeping methods?
Many building managers wanted to ensure that their housekeeping employees now had good, up-to-date training. Honestly, few of these employees had the privilege of receiving such training in the past. For all the teams we met, the employees appreciated being cared for and finally realizing that their job was important. Unfortunately, only a tiny percentage of school organizations have offered this type of training to their employees.
Have we improved our frequencies?
I've noticed that few schools have adapted their cleaning quotes to today's realities. In many school cleaning quotes, you'll see these frequencies:
- Washing floors as needed or even worse, monthly
- Disinfection of surfaces at a rate ofonce a week, if we talk about it!
- Washing the desks, Once a month or once a week
- Washing and disinfection of contact points at high risk of contamination... absent from the quotes. We rarely talk about it.
- Many schools don't even have no employees during the children's daytime hoursHousekeeping is only done in the evening, after the children and teachers have left.
Have we ever wondered if we were well equipped?
You'd be surprised how many employees only have 1 to a few wash cloths at their disposal to clean and disinfect their establishments. On this level, however, I have seen a good improvement over the last few months and I am very happy about it. We understood that we need to change our cloths much more often now. And we understood that it was better to opt for microfiber cloths.
And we saw new equipment appear, the electrostatic sprayers, dry steam.
But I still see cleaning trolleys made of wood that are long out of date.
And even more polishers or self-scrubbers all crooked, the wire is hollow, even the exterior coating is dented!
Following the publication of the list of disinfectants effective in eliminating Covid-19, most organizations have complied and made the necessary changes at this level.
Not everything is won
As you can see, we still have room for improvement. However, this crisis has made us grow in terms of the hygiene and sanitation of our buildings.
And you, in your buildings, what can you improve within your housekeeping team?
Finally, we notice the invaluable work of the housekeeping staff.
I'm really proud of that and happy with the changes! Before Covid-19, we had the impression that housekeeping employees were low-level employees. We never invested in improving their working conditions. Why improve housekeeping equipment when we can improve the aesthetic appearance of our buildings? Why spend when employees already make do with what they have? We didn't even notice them! The employees felt like they were walking between walls, we didn't care about them.
But since the start of the pandemic, across the world, we noticed, thanked, and cared for these employees. This is one of the greatest gifts of this crisis to these employees. So, here is my final word: Thank you for this wonderful improvement!
