In the last few months, cleaning companies and contractors across Australia have been engaged to complete deep cleans of commercial and residential facilities in an attempt to slow the contamination and spread of COVID-19.
As a result, cleaners are calling for standardised terminology and practices of ‘deep cleaning’, (also known as detailed or infectious cleaning) to be defined by the commercial cleaning industry.
Currently, the term ‘deep cleaning’ typically refers to cleaning on a large scale that involves intensive disinfecting and sanitising of surfaces and high touchpoints. It may also include pressure washing and deep scrubbing.
The Problem with ‘Deep Cleaning’ in the Current Environment
Director of HPC Solutions, Bridget Gardner, has recently developed a guide to cleaning for COVID-19. Gardner believes the lack of consistent terminology in this area is causing significant confusion, stating, “the lack of agreed definitions for deep or infectious cleaning is a real problem. But underlying it is a lack of government guidance for cleaning during the coronavirus pandemic in commercial and institutional facilities.
“There is a lot of fear and opportunism happening. Businesses are offering ‘deep cleaning’ products and services without understanding the difference between preventing the spread of COVID-19, versus mitigation when there has been a confirmed case of COVID-19.” She went on to iterate the importance of having a clear differentiation between prevention and decontamination in terms of risk, products, methods, PPE and price.
Tony Gorgovski is CEO of BIC Services, a leading Australian cleaning firm that has performed more than 20 pandemic COVID-19 cleans nationally. Gorgovski agrees that there is industry-wide confusion between deep cleaning, forensic cleaning, and pandemic cleaning. “They are three separate services which all have different risk factors. Pandemic cleaning requires specialised machinery, training and PPE equipment. We need a clear definition of terminology and we as cleaning contractors should be encouraging this because it ensures clarity and clarification for our clients and our operators.”
He continued, “after this, clients are really going to look at how they procure cleaning services. We know it’s been a cost-driven industry in the past, but clients are now seeing the value in those [contractors] that are able to offer additional and specialised services in times like these. We should embrace this as an industry. Cleaning is now being viewed by all teams as a critical service, not just another cost.”
With these changes likely to impact commercial cleaners for years to come, setting out dedicated, standardised practices would greatly benefit the industry as a whole.
At Integrated Compliance Solutions, our team of experienced consultants can assist your cleaning company in managing the current and post-pandemic industry requirements. For more information about our COVID-19 Gap Analysis service, designed explicitly for those in the cleaning sector, contact us today.
The information in this article was sourced from the following: https://www.incleanmag.com.au/industry-calls-for-standardised-practices-amid-covid-19/