COVID-19 Update: Facilities Step Up Cleaning Another Notch

Walmart to hire BSCs to clean stores

As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, jobs continue to open for building service contractors. Walmart Inc. announced it is changing the way it approaches store disinfection following the death of two employees from COVID-19 who worked in a Chicago area store, USA Today reports. Going forward, the discount retailer will hire a third-party company to clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces at its stores.

Walmart has enacted other safety measures to protect customers and staff. Over the weekend, the retailer began limiting the number of shoppers allowed in its stores, allowing no more than five customers for each 1,000 square feet at a given time, about 20% of a store’s capacity.

Pennsylvania issues new cleaning standards

Walmart is far from the only company or organization to step up its cleaning efforts. Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levin issued new cleaning standards this weekend for large buildings that remain open during the coronavirus pandemic, Associated Press reports.

The standards, which went into effect yesterday, apply to buildings that are at least 50,000 square feet, such as warehouses, factories, offices, airports, grocery stores, government facilities, hotels, and residential buildings with 50 units or more. Owners and facility managers of these buildings must maintain usual cleaning procedures and follow U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines to routinely clean and disinfect high-touch areas.

Building owners also must ensure there are enough workers to perform the cleaning properly. If these buildings have security personnel, owners must make sure they have enough security staff to control building access and enforce social distancing.