Many people take spring cleaning very seriously. While it makes perfect sense to clean after the winter, it would be even better if you had the workplace cleaned during the winter season. Winter cleaning involves managing snow, ice, and salt in your office. In addition to this, the temperature and humidity of the season affects air quality in most buildings. This is one of the reasons most of your employees (and even customers) may be uncomfortable indoors, with some catching flu or cold. All this can be avoided if you have the business cleaned routinely throughout the season. Here is a checklist to help you get started.
1. Prepare the Main Entrance
Preparing the main entrance for snow, ice, and salt in advance will make cleaning the same much easier during winter. To do this, you will need:
Wet floor signs
Secured floor mats
Extra absorbent mats (for the worst days)
A snow guard just under the door
A dedicated bucket and mop
A snow shovel just outside the door
Salt (for the walkway and parking lot)
Storage for boots
This part of the business will get lots of traffic hence should be actively monitored once the snow arrives. Create a system/routine to ensure the entrance is always clean. This can only be done by:
Ensuring the floor mats are completely dry before staff and customers start to arrive
Placing a ‘wet floor’ sign at the entrance
Add the extra-absorbent pads during the worst days
Have the floor mopped dry once people stop coming
Have the floor mats washed and dried at the end of each day.
All this might be too much for your employees to manage in addition to their regular duties. Having a cleaning company do this for you, either daily or weekly, would be a more practical way to manage your premises and keep everyone working on what they do best. As long as the entrance is clean, you can then be assured of minimal damage to your mats and floor in other parts of the office.
2. Learn to Remove Salt Deposits
You need to start dealing with the salt menace as soon as winter begins. Salt stains may/will start showing on the entryway mats and the floor. Left unchecked, the crust-like and hard salt particles will create unwanted friction on your carpets and floor, causing damage over time. Unless you are prepared to replace the carpets (or even the floor) after each winter, you should consider having the salt removed before it makes a mess.
Simply having the floor washed with water won’t clear up all the salt. A salt neutralizer cleaner is what you need to get rid of the white ‘grains’ for good. These cleaners are not only useful in dissolving all the salt (due to their high pH) but also get rid of grime on the floor as well. You, however, ought to be careful when using these cleaners on your carpets and floor. That said, ensure the cleaner is diluted as per the manufacturer’s directions before using it on your floor.
3. The Air Quality
As mentioned before, winter causes the air around (including indoors) to dry up, resulting in all forms of irritation and allergies. The dry air can make staff members and even employees with asthma, allergies, and sinus conditions to have an awful and uncomfortable time while on the premise.
The degraded air quality increases the risk of everyone catching the flu. With just a few (or none) of the employees choosing to go out for lunch, the risk of spreading illnesses becomes even greater. Working to improve indoor air quality by ensuring there’s proper air circulation is an excellent idea. It would also be advisable to have all surfaces, door handles, switches, bathrooms, and elevators sanitized daily. Simply having the HVAC systems working optimally might not be enough to guarantee air quality. Here are a few tips on how to improve your workplace air quality this winter.
Use HEPA filters when vacuuming: HEPA filters help ensure germs and dust aren’t spread all over the place as you vacuum. This thus reduces allergens in the air.
Wipe down all hard surfaces: Dust can hide on ceiling fan blades, mirrors, window frames, and even under your chair frames. Having all these vacuumed and wiped clean will reduce the amount of dust in the space.
Clean the air ducts: Dust and debris can build up in air ducts too. Have these cleaned regularly to prevent this.
Run a humidifier: Humidity levels can drop too low in the worst days. Running the humidifier, however, corrects this making air comfortable once again.
4. Hire A Professional Cleaning Expert
Having the professionals handle all the cleaning makes the process a lot smoother and simpler. It is also a cost-effective way of ensuring all the said areas are thoroughly cleaned, hence a clean, healthy, and comfortable workplace. We at Evergreen Cleaning Service have the experience and expertise required to ensure your workplace is clean throughout the winter months and we have all the equipment needed to make it happen. We offer professional, affordable, and reliable office cleaning, janitorial and commercial cleaning services. We’ve been serving the Toronto GTA since 1989 and would be happy to give you a quote. Contact us today!
