It’s the start of another day at work, and you have settled down at your desk. You type on your keyboard and answer phone calls. You head to the pantry and reheat your lunch. You use the restroom. You come back and drop a pen on the floor. You pick it up, go back to your desk and work till your typical day at the office ends.
Now that the typical day has ended, pause for a moment and think about every surface and area that you touched during your office hours. You will realise that you were in contact with several germs and bacteria that can make you fall sick in the days to come. The same can happen to your colleagues.
You, as a facility manager, need to ensure the cleanliness of the workplace for all the workers with the help of a number of facility services available. You don’t want your employees to call in a sick day because it will eventually affect the productivity of your company. Hence, here are some cleaning tips to help you keep your facility looking at its best.
Start With the Restrooms
Restrooms are at the highest risk of facing issues such as clogged wash basins and toilets. Nobody wants to enter a dirty washroom and find a clogged toilet. That scenario will eventually affect your employees’ moods and also their productivity throughout the day. Therefore, make sure that you do your bit as the facility manager to keep the workplace clean. You may also print a poster with various instructions for your staff and put it on the restroom door to remind them. You can put a useful reminder to all the employees regarding basic toilet etiquettes to avoid a dirty washroom. Clean restrooms can also prevent mildew and mould growth in the washroom. Mildew removal can be expensive and a hectic task, so you need to ensure that there is no trace of excessive moisture or smell in the restroom to avoid unnecessary expenses.
Aim for Sparkly Clean Carpets and Floors
Dirt and pollutants hide in the carpet. A dirty carpet results in:
- Poor indoor air quality through unpleasant odours,
- Reduced carpet life, and
- Additional health problems to the employees having asthma and dust allergy.
Therefore, it is essential to clean the carpet regularly with industrial cleaning products to avoid these hidden dangers from affecting the office environment and your health.
Even floors need cleaning. Floors can be easily ignored. You need to know the repercussions of having dirty floors can hurt your business and the employees. Sanitise your office floors using proper industrial cleaning products to maintain the indoor air quality.
Clean Windows for a Better View
A dirty window is not pleasing to the eyes. Windows should be washed to allow the maximum amount of daylight inside. More natural light inside the office means less need to use lights and lamps. The fewer lights you use, the lower will be your utility bills. By just cleaning your office windows from time to time, you can bring down your utility bills by at least 20% every month.
If you have a window with a wooden frame, ensure that no termites infect the frame, as it may look very shabby. Termites can ruin your wooden windows and you will have to undergo expensive repairs to make sure your windows are in good shape again. Therefore, contact a professional cleaning service who can clean your windows inside and out using proper industrial cleaning products from time to time to prevent termite attacks.
Avoid Havoc to the HVAC Systems
Dirty and clogged filters spread havoc to your Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. A dirty filter increases your energy costs and may cause irreparable damage to the system. Get your facility management staff to clean the filters with the right industrial cleaning products and change them frequently to avoid undue stress on the system. A dirty filter in your HVAC system:
- Impacts the heating and cooling systems,
- Forces the fan motor to work harder,
- Makes heating and air conditioning systems and ducts dirtier,
- Affects the indoor air quality of the workplace, and
- Fills the heating and cooling coils with dirt.
A word of caution: Repairing the HVAC system is much more expensive than cleaning them. So try to maintain the systems rather than waiting for irreparable damage.
Don’t Let the Drain Clog
If your workplace has a pantry or kitchen, you may have the risk of clogged sink pipes due to leftovers. You may have a food waste disposer to help you prevent clogging the sink by chopping the leftovers. But dumping larger pieces of food can put undue stress on it, thus increasing the risk of getting damaged and increasing in the expenses. Even if you don’t have a food waste disposer, you need to educate your employees to avoid disposing of any leftovers in the sink that may ruin the mechanism below. Instead, have a separate garbage disposal bag for the leftovers right next to your kitchen sink.
Trash it Out
Empty all the trash bins every day, as skipping this step can cause an unpleasant odour to spread in the workplace environment. Garbage that’s more than a day old can leave a pungent smell that will irritate your employees and create an unfavourable work environment. Also, accumulation of garbage can cause bacteria and germs in the environment, further increasing the chances of people falling sick due to them. A foul-smelling environment can force you to make additional expenses for professionally deodorising the office or workplace and getting rid of unpleasant smells completely.
Right from the main door to every corner of the pantry and washrooms, create a clean and pleasant environment for your employees to work in. If you need any help cleaning your workplace, contact the janitorial experts using proper industrial cleaning products. With years of experience, we have the right tools to help you deliver the highest standard of cleanliness to your employees and visitors.