It’s that time of year again, and if you don’t already have a plan for fighting sickness during flu season, then you’re already behind. You need to be prepared to help keep your staff and customers healthy. As part of your flu prevention plan for the 2022 to 2023 season, it’s important to make sure you prioritize Houston commercial cleaning to help ward off the flu virus. In this article, we’ll discuss some things you need to know about cleaning to prevent spreading the flu in your workplace.
Why is Houston Commercial Cleaning Important During Flu Season?
The influenza virus can spread in many ways. For instance, the virus can travel through droplets in the air from someone who has been infected and be breathed into the lungs or land in the mouths or noses of those around the sick person. Flu can also spread through contact with surfaces contaminated with the virus. Surfaces can become contaminated from an infected person’s respiratory droplets landing on the surface or by someone who has the virus on their hands touching that surface.
The flu virus can live on surfaces, lying in wait for their next victim. In fact, on hard, non-porous surfaces, the virus can live as long as 24 to 48 hours, waiting to infect people. It can even live on porous surfaces like upholstery for several hours, usually between eight and 12 hours. Therefore, there are many ways people in your workplace can get sick from touching surfaces inside your building.
Houston commercial cleaning does many things, including removing dirt and grime. However, what many people don’t realize is that cleaning even with just normal soap and water can actually remove many germs from contaminated surfaces. Follow up with a good disinfectant and your cleaning crew can become instrumental in fighting surface transmission of the influenza virus during flu season.
What to Expect from the 2022-2023 Flu Season?
As you may have noticed, we’ve had a couple of mild flu seasons. Experts believe this may be due to COVID-19 restrictions. While it’s hard to predict what the influenza virus will do, many believe that the 2022-2023 flu season may be particularly challenging.
There are a couple of reasons for this. First, a lot of the COVID restrictions we were following the last few years have been loosened, with fewer people social distancing and wearing masks.
Also, because we’ve had two pretty easy flu seasons, fewer people may have immunity this year. Because fewer people got the flu in the past two seasons, that means fewer people received the necessary exposure to help their body fight the virus.
Scientists have been tracking flu activity in the Southern Hemisphere, which usually starts about six months earlier than here in the north. This may give a clue of what to expect for the impending flu season. There has been a lot of flu activity already. In fact, in Australia, they have seen more cases than before the pandemic. Therefore, we may be experiencing a significant amount of flu as well as flu-related complications this year. As an employer or office manager, you need to be prepared.
What Houston Commercial Cleaning Services Are Needed to Fight the Flu in Workplaces?
Part of fighting the seasonal flu in the workplace is making sure you’re getting the right Houston commercial cleaning services for your facility. This is based on many things, including your normal operations, your facility, and the risks of flu for your business. Therefore, it’s important to work with an experienced cleaning company to customize your flu cleaning services to your facility. However, here are some of the services and important things to consider when it comes to cleaning your office during flu season:
Regular Houston Commercial Cleaning
Daily Houston commercial cleaning is an important part of fighting the flu virus in your building. As we mentioned, cleaning surfaces with an appropriate cleaner, usually mild soap and water, helps remove contaminants including germs like the flu virus. This can help reduce the spread of the flu in your workplace and also keep your building looking clean and professional so your employees and customers feel comfortable.
Disinfecting High Touch Surfaces and High Traffic Areas
In addition to cleaning, it also helps to disinfect surfaces that have a high risk of transmitting the influenza virus. This includes areas where people congregate, high traffic areas in your building, as well as high touch surfaces like doorknobs and light switches.
Disinfecting uses chemicals to actually kill germs on contact. Therefore, it may help reduce the risk of flu spreading throughout your workplace if you include disinfection as part of your regular Houston janitorial services.
Make Houston Commercial Cleaning Products Available to Your Staff for Easy Cleaning
Getting professional Houston commercial cleaning for your workplace is essential, but that doesn’t mean that you need to hide the cleaning products like disinfectant wipes from your employees. Making these cleaning supplies available and easy to access can help encourage people to clean and disinfect their individual workspaces throughout the day, which can help reduce germs in the work environment and may also help people feel more comfortable in your building.
Consider Day Porter Services for Houston Office Cleaning and Disinfecting Throughout the Day
If you have a high volume of people coming and going in your workplace, then you might want to consider day porter services. This is where a trained professional is on-site during the day to help with all your cleaning and janitorial needs. One of the benefits of having a day porter during flu season is that they can clean, sanitize, and disinfect during the day to reduce the amount of germs that stick around and can make people sick.
Why It’s Important to Choose the Right Houston Janitorial Services Provider
If you’re concerned about the flu in your workplace, then you need to find the right Houston office cleaning professionals to provide proper cleaning and disinfection. Otherwise, you may risk paying for poor quality or incorrectly performed cleaning services. Choosing a reputable cleaning company can help you ensure your cleaning protocols are right for your business and also that your crew is using the right products to kill germs in your building.
Designing the Right Houston Commercial Cleaning Schedule for Your Workplace
Every building has different Houston commercial cleaning needs based on the types of surfaces, your daily operations, as well as your risks for certain germs. For instance, a small office with very few shared spaces or high touch surfaces often needs a lot less cleaning compared to a large office with people coming and going all day and hosting many meetings. With the right cleaning company, you can tailor cleaning schedules and services to your exact needs.
Using The Right Products Correctly to Fight the Influenza Virus
Additionally, choosing a quality commercial cleaning company means you can trust that they are using the right products and using them correctly to kill germs like influenza in your building. For instance, it’s important to choose disinfectants with the right ingredients to kill flu bugs in your building, such as those active ingredients like:
- Bleach
- Quaternary ammonium
- Benzalkonium chloride
- Ammonia
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Ethyl alcohol
Even more so, with a reputable cleaning company you will know that the professionals know how to use these chemicals properly, such as diluting them correctly and allowing them to sit for the proper time on a surface to actually kill the germs. Therefore, there are many reasons to choose your cleaning company wisely.
Houston Commercial Cleaning Solutions from Accredited Building Services
If you need janitorial solutions for your workplace in Houston or Beaumont, our team at Accredited Building Services is here for you. We are proud to offer a variety of services to help you with all your building service needs. Since 1980, we have built a reputation for excellence and are proud to provide cleaning and maintenance services with our large, well-trained team of professionals. Contact us today to get a free quote for your janitorial needs.
