Tips on Cleaning Your Office Common Areas

Now that more people are returning to their offices in Singapore, here are some tips on keeping your office common areas clean throughout the day.

Step 1:
Check to see that your office cleaner has suitable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) on. This includes wearing gloves (in case of handling cleaning chemicals) and covered shoes.
Make sure your cleaner has the necessary tools to get the job done. This includes cleaning tools such as a vacuum cleaner, mop, pail, broom, dustpan, cleaning cloths and safety signages.

Step 2:
Start off by dust mopping or vacuuming the office floors. Pick a time when the office is least-busiest to carry out vacuuming so that the sound does not interrupt or become a disturbance to office staff. Check to make sure that the vacuum cleaner bag has sufficient capacity and is not full.

Step 3:
Once the dust mopping or vacuuming has been completed, proceed to mop the floor area. Check to ensure correct proportion of cleaning chemical is used to the ratio of water for the mopping solution. Remember to place safety signages where the mopping is being carried out.

Step 4:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, it is important to pay extra attention and detail to the cleaning of all surface areas in the office, especially high frequency touch points such as armchair rests, keyboards, door handles, lift buttons etc.

Use an appropriate industry grade chemical disinfectant to clean all surface areas. And be sure to use different coloured clothes to wipe clean the various surface areas to minimize cross contamination.

Here is the Singapore National Environment Agency (NEA) link to Interim List of Household Products and Active Ingredients for Surface Disinfection of the COVID-19 Virus: Check link here

Step 5:
When your office cleaner is clearing wastepaper bins, ensure they tie and remove used bin liners from the wastepaper bin. Hold the used bin liners at arm’s length from body to avoid contact with sharp objects in the used bin liners. Bulky items should be flattened or broken down before disposal.

Alternatively, instead of having individual wastepaper bins, have a centralised bin so that the office cleaner can reduce time clearing individual bins and focus on other cleaning tasks.

Step 6:
When the cleaning is done, check that your office cleaner has re-instated the work area. What does this mean?

Have a checklist so that this acts as a reminder for your office cleaner to tick off and make sure all cleaning tasks have been completed.

Remove waste/ refuse and dispose them off in the proper designated area. Remove the safety signage only when the floor is dry. Proceed to remove all tools and equipment from the work area.

Final Step:
Check that the necessary tools and equipment are returned to the storage area. Have gloves and cleaning clothes been properly washed and hung out to dry for the next use? Has your office cleaner washed hands before leaving the premises? These are some good general practices and hygiene factors to consider when it comes to keeping your office clean.