Change in Your Everyday Experience Post the Lockdown

Tags: changes in housekeeping scenario

Once the lockdown is lifted from the entire country, there will be residual fear amongst the people about their health and safety. This fear will be there especially when they visit enclosed public spaces like malls, offices, and retail stores. People will follow the highest levels of hygiene and safety standards themselves, and will expect proper safety measures to be taken when they visit malls and stores. As a facility manager, it is your responsibility to ensure the safety of people working in your building. Thus, it would be best if you follow the new trends in the housekeeping scenario by taking strict action towards implementing the appropriate standard operating procedures to prevent contamination and spread of infection.

The kind of action you need to take varies from industry to industry. Some common ones apply to all sectors including residential buildings, corporates, malls, and retail stores. The default operations are the mandatory use of personal protection equipment (PPE) for your housekeeping staff, use of temperature guns at the security desks, and deep cleaning of the facilities as per the FDA guidelines or ICMR guidelines.

Apart from these, there are many other procedures that you will have to follow. The new SOPs will be unique to each industry, and the housekeeping staff needs to follow them thoroughly to warrant maximum safety of your employees, residents, or visitors. Here are some tips specific to the four industries: residential buildings, corporates, malls, and retail stores.

1. Malls

Malls are unique in terms of the dynamic human traffic they face daily. Every hour, hundreds of new visitors enter the mall, visit various stores and go to different zones of the mall, and leave after a couple of hours. Massive human traffic like this poses a significant risk of contamination.

Therefore, the mall’s security check should now be accompanied by health checks. If a visitor shows signs of infection, they must be barred from entry. The entire security check should be contactless too.

The reception desk of the mall must have backup PPE kits that are easy to access for your housekeeping staff. The staff must also place automatic sensor-based sanitising machines or pedal push machines and handwashing facilities strategically all around the mall, especially near the high traffic zones, entertainment zones, and food courts. It would be best if you put biohazard disposals at convenient yet secluded places, so the staff and visitors can dispose of their gloves and masks safely.

Since malls are vectors for infection, the social distancing must be maintained by everyone. For this, the lifts and elevators must be run at 25% capacity. The staff must regulate the distance at high traffic zones, especially at security zones, entertainment zones, and billing desks. As for the high traffic zones like theatres and food courts, only alternate seats and chairs must be allocated. And, the food must only be served in takeaway containers with minimal use of regular utensils.

2. Retail Stores

Retail stores are somewhat similar to malls in this regard, though they are smaller in size. They do have the potential to be the vectors of infection if strict SOPs are not followed. So, face masks must be mandatory for the visitors, and they must sanitise their hands at the entry point.

Once they are in, they will touch various products before making a purchase. If one of the customers is infected, they can infect several others. You must discourage them from doing so. But if they insist, ask them to touch the products only after sanitising their hands.

The staff needs to be extra careful in retail stores, so urge them to wear PPE kits, including gloves and masks. Also, try and avoid crowding in the store by only letting limited people into the store at a time. Some customers may not enjoy this and walk away, but safety must not be compromised at any cost.

While paying, always ask for virtual/digital payments using GPay, Paytm, or UPI. Cash transactions have some risk, and so do cards, and hence, they can be discontinued for a while.

Retail stores also have close circuit air circulation, so turn the air circulation off. The COVID-19 virus is not airborne, but studies have shown that the COVID-19 virus can stay in the air for some time. Your energy bills might go up, but this added precaution will be worth it. Doing so will minimise any chance of the droplets being circulated in your store.

3. Corporates

Corporates, on the other hand, are entirely different from malls and retail stores. Human traffic is constant. Mostly, it is the regular staff and employees, with some occasional guests. There will be some changes in the housekeeping scenario too. The risk is still the same; your employees will be spending nearly eight hours in the same building, therefore, the chance of getting infected is still high.

You must rearrange the seating arrangement of the office. There should be at least 3-feet distance between the chairs of your employees. Similar distance protocols must be maintained in the cafeteria, reception area, and conference rooms. If possible, you should relax remote working policies of your company to reduce the number of employees working in your building.

All the employees must be given hand sanitisers and alcohol wipes to keep at their desks. They need to use the alcohol wipes every morning before starting work and at the end of the day to clean their desks. They must use hand sanitisers twice every hour to ensure complete hygiene.

If your office has a pantry, the entry should be restricted to only a few employees, depending on its size. Use of common utensils must also be discouraged. It would be best if you asked your employees to bring their own cutlery or use one-time-use ones to eat their meals or have coffee.

The housekeeping staff, along with the HR department, needs to be extra vigilant during the coming months by looking out for any signs of illness in your employees. If an employee does not feel well or shows even mild symptoms of fever, they must be sent home immediately and asked to quarantine themselves for two weeks.

4. Residential Complexes

Lastly, there are residential complexes where the risk of contamination is unique, too. There may be old or immunocompromised individuals staying here, so special care must be taken. To begin with, you need to ensure that everyone who enters your complex does not show any signs of sickness. If possible, you must train your security staff to adapt digital logging of visitor’s data, instead of using books and pens.

Home delivery of anything must be restricted to the entry gates only. It would help if you asked your residents to come to the entry gate to collect their delivery packages or hang bags where all the parcels can be put by the delivery staff. If any old residents may need external help, you must dedicate one or two housekeeping personnel to them. They must maintain the highest levels of hygiene so they can help the old residents without the risk of infection.

The use of elevators must be restricted to one family at a time, so they don’t come in contact with others. Not to forget, we have been under the lockdown for more than two months. A lot of residents will be impatient and would want to access various places of the residential complex, like the swimming pool, gymnasium, or garden area. The building's management committee, along with the facility managers, will have to talk to these residents politely and explain the seriousness of taking all precautions for a little longer. The use of such recreational facilities and public places must be discouraged, especially by children. And gyms must be strictly shut during the next few months. The building management and facility management teams will have to handle the situation smartly to keep residents inside their homes and not annoy them. Annoyance, added to their impatience, may lead to disharmony, conflict, or friction.

Your residential housekeeping staff must also maintain distance from the residents and visitors. Collection of garbage must be done with proper PPE kits including elbow-length gloves, face masks, or best, face shields. That’s because many residents might dispose of their PPE kits in the garbage without proper warning or indication, and the staff may come in direct contact with them.

One of the most overlooked precautions that many facility managers do not take into consideration is fumigation of their premises. Fumigation is a great way to eliminate viruses without having to clean each surface. Of course, you must continue with the deep cleaning and sanitising of the facility, but you should also consider fumigation as an added precaution. You can carry out fumigation in the evening after your staff, visitors, or customers have left the premises.

In the coming months, there are surely going to be many such changes in the housekeeping scenario of all the industries. Unify Facility Management Pvt. Ltd. understands that, and therefore, we are transforming our entire housekeeping policies to meet the new demands. We are dedicated to providing excellent facility management services while upholding the highest hygienic standards. Contact us to know more about our housekeeping services.