Disinfection of Common Public Places including Offices

Coronavirus  is transmitted in most  instances through respiratory  droplets, direct contact with cases  and also through contaminated surfaces/objects.  Though the virus survives on environmental surfaces  for  varied period of  time,  it  gets easily  inactivated by chemical disinfectants.  Here are the  guidelines for (i) indoor areas, (ii) outdoor areas and (iii) public toilets.

Indoor areas including office spaces

Office spaces, including conference rooms should be cleaned every evening after office hours or early in the morning before the rooms are occupied. If contact surface is visibly dirty, it should be  cleaned  with soap and  water prior to  disinfection. Prior  to cleaning, the  worker should wear disposable rubber boots, gloves (heavy duty), and a triple layer mask.

• Start cleaning from cleaner areas and proceed towards dirtier areas.
• All indoor areas such as entrance lobbies, corridors and staircases, escalators, elevators, security guard booths, office rooms, meeting rooms, cafeteria should be mopped with a disinfectant with 1% sodium hypochlorite  or phenolic solution.
• High contact surfaces such elevator buttons, handrails/handles and call  buttons,escalator handrails, public  counters,  intercom  systems,  equipment like  telephone, printers/scanners, and other office  machines  should be  cleaned twice  daily  by  mopping with a linen/absorbable cloth soaked in 1% sodium hypochlorite. Frequently touched areas like table tops, chair handles, pens, diary files, keyboards, mouse, mouse pad, tea/coffee dispensing machines etc. should specially be cleaned.
• For metallic surfaces like door handles, security locks, keys etc. 70% alcohol can be used to wipe down surfaces where the use of bleach is not suitable.
• Hand sanitizing stations should be  installed in office  premises (especially  at the entry) and near high contact surfaces.
• In a meeting/conference/office  room, if  someone  is coughing without following respiratory etiquettes or mask, the areas around his/her seat should be vacated and cleaned with 1% sodium hypochlorite.
• Carefully clean the equipment used in cleaning at the end of the cleaning process.
• Remove PPE, discard in a disposable PPE in yellow disposable bag and wash hands with soap and water.
• In addition, all  employees should consider cleaning  the work area  in front of  them with a disinfecting wipe prior to use and sit one seat further away from others, if possible .

Outdoor areas:

Outdoor  areas have  less  risk then indoor areas due  to air currents and exposure  to sunlight. These  include  bus stops, railway  platforms, parks, roads, etc.  Cleaning  and disinfection efforts should be targeted to frequently touched/contaminated surfaces as already detailed above.

Public toilets

Sanitary workers must  use  separate set of  cleaning  equipment for  toilets (mops, nylon scrubber) and separate set for  sink and commode). They  should always wear disposable  protective gloves while cleaning a toilet.

[Source: COVID-19: Guidelines on disinfection of common public places including offices Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India]