What will your standard operating procedures (SOPs) for cleaning look like when the pandemic subsides? Will the cleaning of your business return to "normal"? What will "normal" look like? What is the pathway forward for your business?

Here are ten things that you should consider when re-ordering your priorities for maintaining a safe environment for your customers, patients, and team members.

1. For most people “clean” means the absence of visible dirt. In your current SOP for cleaning, you might advise front-line staff to “clean” surfaces until the visible soil is gone. However, the data shows that potentially unsafe levels of pathogens can remain on visibly clean surfaces.
When it comes to thoroughly cleaning surfaces, we need to get rid of the term “clean when visibly soiled.” There are more than enough Corona virus-laden bacteria (about a billion!) in the size of a pinhead to transmit the pathogen. When your staff is given the instruction to clean “visibly soiled” touchpoint surfaces, are they looking for soil the size of a pinhead?

No! That is why we should eliminate the term “clean when visibly soiled” from SOPs and clean every surface.