Checklist for College and University Facility Managers Navigating COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has presented college and university facility directors with many new challenges including how to navigate new COVID-19 protocols and requirements, support their teams of frontline workers, protect the health and safety of their students and staff on a tightening budget, and much more.

A recent educational session at ISSA Show North America Virtual Experience featuring a panel of award-winning college and university facility directors, who are members of the Healthy Green Schools and Colleges Steering Committee, addressed these challenges at their institutions. Sarah Porter, director of Healthy Green Schools and Colleges, hosted the panel that included Christopher Raines, director of administrative services at Cosumnes River College in California; Gene Woodard, director of the building services department at University of Washington; and Kimberly Thomas, senior director of services, facilities management division at University of Georgia.

Raines’ college already followed robust green cleaning protocols that didn’t need to be changed much to meet pandemic cleaning needs. However, the need for communication of those plans has changed and he’s working to promote a new message of “cleaning for health,” not just appearance, to his staff and the campus going forward.

The University of Georgia in Athens developed a 186-page, three-phase reopening plan that spans all departments. Thomas said facility services leaders took the pandemic as an opportunity to reshape their mission statement, which now states, “Safety is priority of service.”

Woodward at the University of Washington in Seattle said he developed a five-part cleaning plan for his custodial staff as they began returning to campus—even when on-site classes didn’t resume. That plan shifted work to deep cleaning, floor work, and high dusting—projects that custodians normally wouldn’t be able to do with a full campus. Now, they’ve moved on to cleaning microwaves, refrigerators, blinds, upholstery, and carpet.

Here is a checklist of best practices these facility directors implemented that others can consider for their own campuses:

• Monitor your building systems (HVAC, water) that have been shut off during the shutdown. As you begin to restart these systems, make sure to have special support crews on site to deal with potential problems, e.g., flooding, that could occur.
• Consider offering voluntary furloughs to staff. For Woodward, this helped his staff who weren’t ready to return to work and also helped his budget since only benefits, not salaries, are provided to furloughed staff.
• Implement third-party vendors to conduct training on COVID-19 prevention, disinfection, and other health and safety topics.
• Evaluate how increased cleaning and disinfection affects the regular academic day and cleaning routines. Thomas said after evaluation they asked for more time between classes to clean and help students feel safe in their environment.
• Get help from grounds workers and maintenance staff to meet added cleaning and disinfection priorities.
• Increase safety and hygiene in your campus transportation fleet. Make sure vehicles are disinfected and the number of passengers is limited. Consider van pool commuting. Woodward worked with local transit agencies to acquire additional vans to meet social distancing requirements and accommodate only two to three people per van.
• Help employees increase their stamina. Remember some employees haven’t worked eight-hour shifts for some time. As they return to work, help them remember how important stretching and good physical fitness is to their jobs.
• Record videos with custodial staff to share with campus faculty and students about what cleaning staff is doing to protect their health and safety.
• Reduce or eliminate graveyard shifts. People want to see cleaning taking place. Move shifts to day-time hours.
• Offer programs that show appreciation to your staff. Woodward said his university developed an emergency fund the campus community could contribute to. Staff in need could apply for grants to help them through tough times.

ISSA Show North America Virtual Experience education sessions, such as this one, are still available for on-demand viewing through March 2021 to those who register for the All-Access pass.