Keeping Cleaning Workers Healthy Starts with the Vehicles They Drive

Custodial workers are considered essential workers by the CDC.

Because of this, we need to take even more steps to protect their health, starting with the trucks, vans, and cars these workers drive every day to get to and from job sites.

The big concern is the interiors of these work vehicles, which can become soiled and contaminated. In most work vehicles, these are the seven “hot spots” to focus on:

1. Steering wheel

2. Cup holders

3. Seat belts

4. Door handles

5. Gear shift knobs

6. Turn signal knobs

7. Radio buttons.

To keep these hot spots clean and safe, Rick VanderKoy, CEO of Secure Clean, a leading building service contractor based in Illinois, suggests the following:

• Make sure workers wash their hands before driving vehicles and again before beginning work.

• All hot spot areas should be cleaned and disinfected daily.

• If vinyl areas are to be cleaned, apply the solution to a test area first. “A cleaning solution with a very low or very high pH could discolor the surface.”

• Apply cleaning and disinfecting “best practices” to these hot spots as well. “Clean first and then disinfect. Also, adhere to dwell times and proper dilution.”

• If vehicles have recently been serviced, all these steps must be implemented before the vehicle is put back into service.

• Equipment used every day and stored in the vehicle should also be cleaned and disinfected daily. “We need to keep our tools clean; it shows we are professionals. But now we must also disinfect the high-touch areas of those machines.”

• Containers in which tools are kept are also frequently touched: this means that storage containers in the vehicle must also be cleaned and disinfected.

Two things more. Vanderkoy recommends that vehicles be electrostatically disinfected “regularly to protect our staff.

And we believe it is best to have no more than two people in work vehicles at the same time [and] both should be wearing gloves and masks.”

June 4, 2020

Topic Area: Press Release

Keeping Cleaning Workers Healthy Starts with the Vehicles They Drive

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