What would you do if there was a COVID outbreak in your building after it was cleaned by a commercial cleaning company? There is no doubt you would want to know what happened, who was there, when, where and for how long. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, contact tracing has emerged as one of the most efficient public health tools to reduce transmission. Let’s look at how contact tracing works when it comes to property maintenance, cleaning and janitorial services, and how to ensure your commercial cleaning partner is able to support this critical strategy.
What is contact tracing and why companies are asked to play a role in the process?
Contact tracing is a process used to identify, educate and monitor people who have had close contact with a person infected with COVID. When an individual is testing positive for COVID, health professionals interview that person and ask them to remember everyone they had contact with while they were infectious, then alert those contacts of their increased risk for infection.
When combined with proper personal hygiene (e.g. handwashing) and social distancing, contact tracing is proven to be the best way to ensure an office, plant, or building facility does not experience a major COVID outbreak. It keeps everyone safer.
Traditionally, contact tracing has been done by agencies such local public health units and provincial/territorial health ministries. COVID has changed that. While contact tracing is primarily the responsibility of public health agencies, employers are also being asked to play a valuable role in the process.
Contact tracing and cleaning staff
Contact tracing is essential for outsourced service vendors coming into a building or commercial facility to work, specifically, commercial cleaning teams, janitorial services, and property maintenance teams. If an employee in the building gets sick, public health will want to know who had access to the building, when, and in what areas of the building so those who may have come in contact with that person can be tested. The same applies to members of a cleaning team. If evidence of the virus is found post visit, public health will want contact information in order to keep them and those around them safe.
Why is contact tracing so important?
One of the aspects of COVID we know for certain is that the infection spreads quickly. The higher the number of contacts, the more work needs to be done to trace them. If epidemic spread outpaces contact tracing efforts, it becomes too late to contain the epidemic.
We also know that contact tracing, combined with testing, is effective. One of the most prestigious medical journal in the world, The Lancet, published research this July on an extensive study that concluded the following:
“Optimising testing and tracing coverage and minimising tracing delays, for instance with app-based technology, further enhanced contact tracing effectiveness, with the potential to prevent up to 80% of all transmissions.”
Putting in a proper system for contact tracing
Want to ensure contact tracing is part of your commercial cleaning team’s best practices? Look for a commercial cleaning and property maintenance company that provides the following:
- Attendance records for all cleaning staff, including the scheduled shifts for teams; i.e., who entered the building at what time, when they left, and where they worked. Include a floor plan so areas can be easily identified
- Audit trail for work completed, within what time frame, for instance, a team who works together on a specific task, or those who are in close contact (within six feet) for a prolonged period of time (15 minutes).
- Written best practices for cleaning and disinfecting methods and products
- Specific steps taken to clean areas if staff is found to be infected (see below for example)
- A company statement on COVID protocols in place to protect the company’s own cleaning team members, as well as its clients. An example from Kleenway can be found here.
How to clean if a person is found to be infected?
Shutting down an entire business for a deep clean if there is an outbreak is often not practical, nor is it necessarily recommended. But there are specific procedures to follow for both cleaning and tracking.
- Immediately following an exposure, the CDC recommends closing off areas used by the ill person and waiting 24 hours, or as long as possible before beginning to clean and disinfect with the recommended products and methodologies.
A complete guide to COVID in workplaces, including what to do if an infection is found, can be downloaded here.
- Methodically track the steps of the infected person and clean any shared surfaces they touched with effective cleaning solutions. You will want to know where that person was in that facility (see above section), and then clean and disinfect all the high-touch areas.
Don’t wait for a COVID outbreak. Get prepared now.
We’ve all got a role to play in stopping the spread of COVID and getting through this pandemic. Contact tracing and a reputable cleaning partner can be part of this plan.
In the meantime, depend on a cleaning company experienced with COVID cleaning and disinfecting, and equipped with speciality tools such as electrostatic cleaning for large or complex areas. Kleenway’s commercial cleaning and janitorial service delivery teams attest to the effectiveness of this technology for larger commercial and retail facilities. ATP testing is also a valuable process.
You also want to ensure the company is able provide contact tracing. For example, the Kleenway Quality Audit System and Business Intelligent reports provides detailed accounts of all work being done, by what teams, when and where. No one has to guess at who was there, and when, and when time is of the essence, you can move quickly to stop the spread.
