Five Essential COVID-19 Forms for Cleaning Contractors to Use Right Now
Stay in control and in compliance with adaptable forms.
As a leader of a janitorial company, you’re facing a truly unprecedented crisis. You’re simultaneously tasked with keeping the public safe by effectively cleaning spaces we occupy while also trying to safeguard your cleaners. Your customers are asking for more — increased disinfecting services, decontamination, worker health reporting — while also facing an uncertain economic future and certain cost pressures. Plus, the regulatory environment is changing rapidly with evolving health, safety and training requirements for employees.
Navigating this isn’t simple. It requires tools and innovations that are flexible and adaptable and can be easily adopted. We have compiled a list of essential forms to help janitorial contractors navigate through this crisis. Examples of these forms are immediately available to janitorial customers using our mobile workforce management tool, Lighthouse.
Employee Health and Safety
Your cleaners are the on front-line of this crisis and in most cases, not afforded the luxury of sheltering at home. Further, if an employee does contract COVID-19, it’s critical for the health of your other cleaners and the public to identify and report these cases.
Employee Safety Training and Acknowledgement
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends all workers with potential occupational exposure to COVID-19 be trained about the sources of exposure to the virus, hazards associated with exposure and workplace protocols to prevent or reduce the likelihood of exposure. And, if you operate a cleaning operation with any exposure to blood, bodily fluids or any other potential infectious materials or hazardous cleaning chemicals, it’s essential for cleaners to be properly trained on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Hazard Communication standards.
A simple form communicating risks and protocols to your cleaners and capturing acknowledgement and understanding of these protocols can safeguard your employees and mitigate risk.
What to include:
- How to protect cleaners from exposure
- Inventory of PPE provided
- What to do if close contact with an infected individual or area occurs
- Acknowledgement of understanding
Employee Health Report
If one of your cleaners falls ill or displays relevant symptoms, you have a duty to your other employees and the public to take risk-mitigating actions. Forms can help track employee symptoms, incidents of confirmed COVID cases and actions taken to disinfect and prevent further spread.
What to capture:
- Employee details
- Reported symptoms and potential methods of contraction (i.e. travel details, contact with infected individuals)
- Site and personnel impact statement (i.e. areas, equipment and people the employee may have come into contact with)
- Management follow-up and action taken (i.e. employee wellness checks, site and equipment decontamination, personnel notification)
Site Assessments and Work Tracking
Site Risk Assessment
Understanding the risks present in an environment should dictate further actions taken like decontamination areas to focus on and PPE required, among other things. A simple form can help guide supervisors and cleaners through assessment of an environment and preparation in advance of a clean, particularly in decontamination settings.
Potential assessment areas/criteria:
- Site traffic (i.e., people passing through or congregating prior to and during cleans)
- High-touch surfaces and spaces (i.e., shared workspaces, fitness equipment, etc.)
- Known or likely presence of bodily fluid(s)
- Suspected presence of infected individuals
- Other site-specific variables (i.e., healthcare environments, transport hubs)
Cleaning and Disinfecting Environments – Disinfecting and Decontamination Checklists
We’ve all received emails from our favorite restaurants, fitness facilities and beauty service providers reciting the additional precautions they’re taking during this crisis. Tracking your cleaning activities provides your customers and their customers confidence that all measures are being taken to maintain a safe and healthy space. Clear and transparent reporting on your services can be a clear differentiator, and tracking additional services provided supports billing and contract maintenance.
What to include in cleaning checklists:
- Employee reminders and instructions (i.e., safety information, cleaning protocols)
- Checklist / acknowledgement of tasks completed
- Additional services provided (i.e., outside of regularly contracted services)
- Photo(s) of completed clean
Issue Tracking
Whether it’s a cleaner has become sick, bodily fluid that needs to be cleaned or a site decontamination, identifying issues, taking action and reporting to your customers is especially critical right now. Emotions are high, and timely, transparent reporting builds confidence and drives loyalty. And, reporting on issue response helps you as a manager to better deploy and manage your resources and risk.
What to track and report:
- Nature of the issue — categorize issues for standardized reporting and better analytics
- Description — who, what, where, why and include photos whenever possible
- Action taken
- Resolution
- Time to resolve
Creating standardized mobile forms can provide critical information and training, improve transparency to your customers, drive new revenue streams and safeguard your business against risk by demonstrating and proving good business practices. And, leveraging workforce management technology, like Lighthouse, to get these kinds of forms to the right people at the right time can help you stay in control during times of uncertainly like today.
Read the rest of the posts in our COVID-19 blog series: