Tag: Disinfection Cleaning

Best Practices for a Germ-Free Home

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Do you know what the best practices for a germ-free home are? Regular and rigorous cleaning is even more essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is crucial to keep household germs at bay to combat infectious illnesses like SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Germs can spread by direct and indirect contact and through the air. They can spread from one person to another through direct contact when people are shaking hands, hugging, or kissing.

People can also spread germs indirectly by sharing things like cups or remote controls. Viruses can also spread through droplets released in the air when a person cough or sneeze. These tiny droplets can travel on air as far as 6 feet and get into another person’s eyes, nose or mouth or landing on surfaces. You need to keep up your defences against it with best practices for a germ-free home.

Based on a March 2020 study, COVID-19 coronavirus can stay on various surfaces for a while:

• in the air: up to 3 hours
• plastic and stainless steel: up to 72 hours
• cardboard: up to 24 hours
• copper: up to 4 hours

The 2016 study about contaminated objects suggested that several factors influence bacteria and virus life, including surface types, living habits, lifestyle practices and cleaning procedures. The best practice for a germ-free home is keeping things clean. You can use some of these everyday household items:

• soap and water
• bleach and water
• disinfecting wipes with at least 60 percent ethanol or 70 percent isopropanol
• hand sanitizers with at least 60 percent ethanol

Cleaning with soap and water will help reduce the number of germs, dirt, and impurities on the surface. Meanwhile, disinfecting will kill germs on surfaces around you. The best practice is to clean surfaces using soap and water first, then use disinfectant. Always read and follow the directions on the product label to ensure safe and effective use.

• Wear skin protection and consider eye protection for potential splash hazards
• Ensure adequate ventilation
• Use no more than the amount recommended on the label
• Use water at room temperature for dilution (unless stated otherwise on the label)
• Avoid mixing chemical products
• Label diluted cleaning solutions
• Store and use chemicals out of the reach of children and pets

Do not eat, drink, breathe, or inject these products into your body or apply directly to your skin as they can cause serious harm. Do not wipe or bathe pets with any unapproved products for animal use. Different areas in your home have different levels of risk regarding exposure to bacteria and viruses. Here are some best practices for a germ-free home in different areas.

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The Kitchen

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]The items in the kitchen that need frequent cleaning include:

• areas where food is stored especially areas in contact with uncooked and unwashed food
• cutting boards
• coffee maker
• kitchen sink, countertops, dish sponges and rags

Here are the best practices to keep the following spots germ-free:

• Use disinfectant wipes on the faucet, refrigerator surfaces, and countertops.
• Heat damp sponges in the microwave for a minute to kill bacteria.
• Soak sponges in a quart of warm water with half a teaspoon of concentrated bleach.
• Change dish towels a few times a week.
• Wash your hands before and after touching or handling food.

Using bleach and rubbing alcohol or disinfectant wipes with over 60 percent ethanol or 70 percent isopropanol is especially effective against SARS-CoV-2 on these surfaces in the kitchen. Remember to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds before and after you touch raw meat or unprepared food.

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Knobs, Handles, and Switches

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Most people assume that the bathroom doorknob would be the dirtiest. However, the NSF found other spots higher with bacteria, including the following:

• bathroom light switches
• refrigerator handles
• stove knobs
• microwave handles

You can clean those spots once a week with disinfecting wipes to get rid of any SARS-CoV-2 lingering on plastic or steel surfaces like these. The best practice is to use a new wipe for every spot instead of reusing the same one.

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Bathroom

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A bathroom is also an ideal place for germ growth due to the moisture from a hot shower. The best practice is to pay special attention to these spots:

• shower tub
• drains
• faucets
• floor area around the toilet
• bath towels
• toothbrushes

Wipe all those surfaces and handles down with disinfectant daily and do a thorough cleaning once a week. Use an old toothbrush for cleaning small spaces like drains and faucets. Replace your bathroom towels once a week and toothbrushes every 3 to 4 months. The COVID-19 is less likely to live in your shower, sink, or drains because soap and water can wash it away. But, you can still disinfect all surfaces in your bathroom as a precaution measure.

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Laundry

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Wet laundry left in a machine for more than 30 minutes can cause germs to flourish. Transfer the clean clothes to the dryer immediately after each wash. If you are using a laundry mat or a shared laundry facility, remember to clean the washer drum with a disinfecting wipe. Also, wipe down any surfaces before folding your clean clothes on it.

Warm or hot water is even more effective in killing both bacteria and viruses like the new coronavirus than cold water. Consider using hot water whenever possible to wash clothes you’ve worn in public.

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Home Office and Living Room

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Multiple family members and house guests often share tables, remote controls, computer keyboards, phones, and tablets. The NSF study found yeast and mold on the computer keyboard, remote control, video game controller, and staph on phones and tablets. Meanwhile, a carpet can hold up to eight times its weight in dirt and dust.

Use disinfectant wipes or plain water and soap to clean your items. Remember to wash your hands before touching any household objects if you’ve been out in public or met someone who got symptoms.

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Pets

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Pets can potentially bring germs and bacteria in your home, especially if they go outside. A study conducted by the NSF found that pet bowls placed fourth in spots with the most germs in a home. Pet toys also carried staph, yeast, and mold. Pets and their bowls, toys, and beds can all carry the new coronavirus, too. You can prevent your pets from bringing in the dirt by washing or wiping their paws before letting them in. Here are some other best practices:

• Wash pet bowls daily with warm, soapy water.
• Soak toys and bowls in bleach once a week.
• Clean hard toys regularly with hot, soapy water.
• Wash soft toys monthly.

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Personal Items

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You can bring in bacteria and viruses from the outside to your house each day through your shoes, gym bag, and even headphones. The NSF survey found that faecal contamination, yeast, and mould present on:

• cell phones
• keys
• wallet and money
• lunch boxes
• the bottom of purses

Most disinfecting wipes are effective against bacteria and viruses, including the COVID-19, on electronics. You can find electronic-specific cleaning supplies at stores to be extra-safe.

Ensuring a healthy and safe environment is critical to building occupants’ ease of mind. Atalian Global Services offers comprehensive facility management services, and we are committed to helping you clean your living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms.

ATALIAN also offers specialized work procedures to remove or neutralize contaminants that have accumulated in any closed environment. Such contaminants could be of micro-organisms or hazardous materials, including chemicals and infectious viruses such as COVID-19, H1N1, SARS.

Give us a call to learn more about the best practices for a germ-free home.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Pandemic Cleaning and Disinfecting

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While coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, everyone must take action to prevent further transmission and support control measures. As a business owner or the head of your family, you must be proactive when it comes to keeping your home or premise clear from the deadly virus contamination. You can take preventive measures such as pandemic cleaning and disinfecting.

Good hygiene is crucial to creating a safe and healthy home or workplace. A clean environment is necessary for your business to thrive and people to stay healthy. It is also crucial for employees to work together without having to worry about the infectious disease that threatens their life. Pandemic cleaning and disinfecting is a smart solution to prevent and protect everyone against COVID-19.

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All you need to know about COVID-19

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As of March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a pandemic over a new coronavirus, which causes an illness known as COVID-19. The virus has spread to more than 200 countries, and territories killed more than 83,000 people. The best way to prevent and reduce transmission is to be well informed about the COVID-19, the disease it causes, and how it spreads. A single cell of COVID-19 is only 120 nanometers in diameter. Even so, this tiny particle has turned the world upside down. COVID-19 are first developing in animals before developing in humans.

The virus passes from an animal to a human when a person comes into close contact with an infected animal. Once the infection develops in people, it is spreading through droplets transmitted into the air from:

• coughing
• sneezing

People nearby can take in the droplets through their:

• nose
• mouth
• eyes

The viral particles in these droplets travel quickly to the back of your nasal passages and the mucous membranes in the back of your throat, attaching to a particular receptor in cells, beginning there.

COVID-19 particles have spiked proteins sticking out from their surfaces, and these spikes hook onto cell membranes, allowing the virus’s genetic material to enter the human cell. That genetic material proceeds to “hijack” one metabolism of the cell to multiply and make the virus. As copies of the virus reproduce, they burst out and infect neighbouring cells. The symptoms often start in the back of the throat with a sore throat and a dry cough. The virus then crawls progressively down the bronchial tubes.

When the virus reaches the lungs, their mucous membranes become inflamed. That can damage the alveoli or lung sacs, and they have to work harder to carry out their function of supplying oxygen to the blood that circulates throughout our body and removing carbon dioxide from the blood so that it can be exhaled. The swelling and the impaired flow of oxygen can cause those areas in the lungs to fill with fluid, pus, and dead cells. Pneumonia, an infection in the lung, can occur (William Schaffner, 2020).

According to the WHO, signs of COVID-19 infection include:

• a low-grade fever that gradually increases in temperature
• having a cough that gets more severe over time
• shortness of breath and breathing difficulties

These symptoms may become more severe in some people. Call emergency medical services if you or someone you care for have any of the following symptoms:

• trouble breathing
• blue lips or face
• persistent pain or pressure in the chest
• confusion
• excessive drowsiness

The period within which the symptoms would appear is 2 to 14 days. Chinese health authorities believe the virus can be transmitted before symptoms appear. Those at the highest risk of infection are persons who have had prolonged, unprotected close contact with a patient with:

• symptomatic
• confirmed COVID-19
• live in or have recently been to areas with the sustained transmission.

There is no vaccine for COVID-19. However, most people do recover. Getting early care from a healthcare provider can make the disease less dangerous. Seek immediate medical help if you think you have the symptoms. Your doctor will recommend appropriate treatment based on your symptoms.

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How Is It Done?

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Step 1: Before the space sanitation takes place, people and pets (if any) must be evacuated from the area of treatment. This is a routine precaution.

Step 2: A highly trained cleaning operator with proper equipment will commence surface sanitation with the thorough wiping of all high-contact areas such as table surfaces, doorknobs, filing cabinet, office equipment, and handles with the sanitizing solution.

Step 3: Space sanitation using the solution in the form of misting will commence after that to deliver the particles at hard-to-reach corners, walls, and floor surfaces.

Step 4: The enclosed treatment area will be exposed to the sanitizing solution for a minimum duration of two hours before the ventilation process takes place.

Studies suggest that coronaviruses (including preliminary information on the COVID-19 disease) may persist on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days. This may vary under different conditions (e.g., type of surface, temperature, or humidity of the environment). The good news is, disinfectants can kill it.

COVID-19 outbreak is a dire situation, and we understand that the health and safety of yourself, your family, and employees are on the line. Protect yourself and others from infection by washing your hands frequently, practising good respiratory hygiene and disinfecting often touched surfaces. Don’t take any chances. Let our professionals do it for you. Call us or send us an inquiry now if you want to learn more about the infection control services.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Best Practices To Prevent Covid-19 At Your Facility

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Medical experts are still researching and gathering all the facts about the new coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19. They can only be relying on past figures to determine how to tackle this new virus. Fortunately, based on historical coronaviruses with similar characteristics and following the interim guidance provided by the CDC and WHO, some guidelines can be used as the best practices to prevent COVID-19 at the facility.

When an employee at Singapore’s biggest bank, DBS, tested positive for COVID-19, the company immediately closed the affected areas for deep cleaning. They also advised employees based in the affected area to work from home for at least 14 days. Facebook also shut its London office, and part of its Singapore base for deep cleaning after one of their Singaporean employees was diagnosed with COVID-19.

People who work at this employee’s building and nearby offices will put in self-quarantine for 14 days as a precautionary measure. The office facilities with this airborne disease case will undergo professional cleaning and disinfection. There is no vaccine for COVID-19, but most people recovered. Preventive action, such as disinfection cleaning, is one of the best practices to prevent COVID-19 at your facility.

Washing your hands frequently and staying home (social distancing) if you are sick also can help prevent infection. Once an outbreak has occurred, and it becomes more challenging to track down suspected cases, social distancing measures like cancelling large events, working from home, and voluntarily avoiding crowded areas is vital.

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Cleaning and Disinfecting

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Scanning employees and visitors for temperature, deep cleaning, and disinfecting reduce the severity of business interruption by limiting the chance of these illnesses spreading among occupants while in the facility. Deep cleaning and disinfecting your facility is a crucial way to remove contaminants from buildings and helps to ease the minds of your employees and customers. Deep cleaning of surfaces before disinfecting is the correct way to decontaminate.

When someone who has COVID-19 coughs or sneezes, they release droplets of infected fluid. Most of these droplets fall on nearby surfaces and objects such as desks, tables, computers, or telephones. People could catch COVID-19 by touching the contaminated surfaces or objects and then touching their eyes, nose, or mouth. Adequately cleaned surfaces are the best way to limit the spread of illness.

Well used surfaces are the most obvious places to find germs, and by and large, these are covered in your standard cleaning plans and often cleaned to a standard. However, the hard to reach places or not so apparent hotspots that can be harbouring years’ worth of bacteria are always left unclean. The air conditioner or fans, photocopiers, doorknobs, water dispensers, light switches are items that are used daily, but we might not think to clean as often.

The CDC has directed businesses to rely on interim guidance for cleaning disinfection. The guidelines based on the past successful decontamination techniques used for previous strains of coronavirus. A professional cleaning company will be able to complete a cleaning audit to ensure they tackle all areas of concern. Atalian understands that your reputation is on the line, and your business is already suffering from this unprecedented event.

We offer a wide variety of preventive disinfection and decontamination services. Our well-trained professionals will help to limit the usual suspects in virus transmission and use the right cleaning products in the right scenarios. By implementing tablets with AMS applications to our onsite employees, we can process job site information quickly while in the field. To learn more about our pandemic disinfection cleaning services, click here.

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Practicing Hands Hygiene

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Minimizing the spread of germs depends on ensuring that your employees have access to adequate hand-washing facilities. Make sure your staff, contractors, and customers have access to places where they can wash their hands with soap and water. Well-stocked and regularly cleaned washrooms are essential to minimizing the spread of germs that can cause disease. Best practices to prevent Covid-19 at your facility include placing sanitizing hand rub dispensers in relevant places.

Thus, your employees can keep sanitized between washroom breaks. Make sure these dispensers are regularly refilled. It would be best if you displayed posters promoting hand-washing and hand-rubbing (find at www.WHO.int). Combine this with other communication measures such as offering guidance from occupational health and safety officers, briefings at meetings, and information on the intranet to promote hand-washing and hand rubbing.

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Practicing Good Respiratory Hygiene

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Good respiratory hygiene can prevent the spread of COVID-19 at your facility. You can display posters promoting respiratory hygiene. You also can combine this with other communication measures such as offering guidance from occupational health and safety officers, briefing at meetings, and information on the intranet. Provide face masks (ordinary surgical face masks rather than N95 face masks), and paper tissues are available at your facility for those who develop a runny nose or cough at work.

Also, prepare closed bins for hygienically disposing of the used face masks and paper tissues. If someone is standing within one meter of a person with COVID-19, they can catch it by breathing in droplets coughed out or exhaled by them. Items such as HVAC systems may need to be decontaminated to prevent people from contracting an infectious disease. Residual contaminants can travel through your HVAC system, where all air in the building is circulated and can contribute to the spread of an airborne virus.

Atalian provides duct cleaning services to improve indoor air quality at your facility. Set an appointment with us![/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Social Distancing

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Advice employees to consult national travel advice before going on business trips. Brief your employees, contractors, and customers that if COVID-19 starts spreading in your community, anyone with even a mild cough or low-grade fever (37.3 C or more) needs to stay at home. The sick employees must not come to work or work from home if they have had to take medications that may mask symptoms of infection.

Avoid sending employees who may be at higher risk of serious illness to areas where COVID-19 is spreading. Make sure all persons travelling to locations reporting COVID-19 are briefed by a qualified professional (e.g., staff health services or health care provider). Consider issuing employees who are about to travel with small bottles (under 100 CL) of alcohol-based hand rub to facilitate regular hand-rubbing.

While travelling, encourage employees to wash their hands regularly and stay at least one meter away from people who are coughing or sneezing. Ensure employees know what to do and whom to contact if they feel ill while travelling. Ensure that your employees comply with instructions from local authorities where they are visiting. If, for example, they are told by local authorities not to go somewhere or must avoid large gatherings, they should comply with this.

Employees who have returned from an area where COVID-19 is spreading should monitor themselves for symptoms for 14 days and take their temperature twice a day. If they develop even a mild cough or low-grade fever, they should stay at home and self-isolate (avoiding close contact one meter or nearer with other people). They should also call their healthcare provider or the local public health department, giving them details of their recent travel and symptoms.

There is a risk that people attending your meeting or event might be unwittingly bringing the COVID-19 virus to the meeting and might be unknowingly exposing others to the virus. While COVID-19 is a mild disease for most people, it can make some very ill based on their health condition. Consider whether teleconference or online events are possible. If not, try to scale down so that fewer people will attend.

Be ready with preparedness plans to prevent infection at your meeting or event. Ensure and verify information and communication channels in advance with key partners such as public health and health care authorities. Prepare tissues and hand sanitizer for all participants and surgical masks for anyone who develops respiratory symptoms. Advice participants in advance that if they have any signs or feel unwell, they should not attend.

Arrange seats so that participants are at least one meter apart. Open windows and doors whenever possible to make sure the venue is well ventilated. Please make sure everyone at the event provides contact details such as mobile telephone number, email, and address where they are staying. State them that they must agree to their details to be shared with local public health authorities if any participant becomes ill with suspected infectious disease.

If everyone plays their part to perfection, these best practices guidelines can be effective, and the pandemic outbreak can be tackled. Give us a call to learn more about the best practices to prevent Covid-19 at your facility.

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