What is the importance of high traffic areas in your facility? What are they? How do you maintain them? In this blog we explore the importance of high-traffic areas, what they are, ‘hidden’ traffic areas and how you can consider them in your cleaning routine to ensure optimal hygiene.
A Guide to High Traffic Areas in Your Facility
High traffic areas and touchpoints are spots within your building or facility where there is a high and/or constant flow of people and contact. Think of an entrance, especially if this entrance includes a time clock or visitor monitor. This type of area experiences heavy footfall, multiple people, physical contact and of course more dirt, bacteria and germs.
All facilities and buildings have high traffic areas, these areas usually include high-use items or touch points. In commercial environments like office buildings, conference rooms, stairs, break rooms, kitchens, and toilets experience constant use throughout the day. Consider how often these are sanitised.
Every industry and business has these types of areas within their facilities. Retail, for example, has checkout areas with constant customer interaction, busy aisles and displays. Healthcare facilities see continuous flow in waiting rooms, corridors, nurse stations, and patient rooms. Education, from nurseries to universities have classrooms, hallways, libraries and communal areas that are heavily used by students and staff.
Industrial settings have many high-use areas, including production floors, break rooms, and bathrooms in manufacturing plants, as well as loading docks, storage aisles, and packing areas in warehouses and distribution centres.
These examples are relatively obvious high traffic and usage areas, but it is also important to look at potentially ‘hidden’ high traffic areas and objects. Have you considered items and areas, such as:
- Charging stations
- Water fountains
- Meeting room remote controls
- Whiteboards and whiteboard equipment
- Complimentary magazines and brochures
- Control panels (temperature, lighting, sound)
The Importance of Cleanliness and Hygiene in High Traffic Areas
With the high volume of footfall and traffic in these areas, comes a high volume of bacteria. As these spaces often welcome people, ensuring the highest standard of hygiene is necessary for safety and wellbeing.
In terms of health and safety, ensuring hygiene throughout your facility, including these areas, will significantly benefit your operations. Hygiene reduces germs and bacteria, preventing disease, illness and more. When areas, especially those which receive a high volume of people, are under-maintained, factors like the quality of air and safety are significantly reduced whilst bacteria growth and illness rise.
It is required of a business to be compliant with regulations and industry guidelines. All businesses must adhere to regulations such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. These regulations require employers to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of employees, which insists on maintaining a safe and hygienic working environment.
Industry-specific standards include Food Standards Agency (FSA) Guidelines (Food Manufacturing), Care Quality Commission (CQC) Standards (Healthcare) and British Retail Consortium (BRC) Global Standards (Retail).
Adhering to these guidelines ensures legal compliance, but what other benefits does ensuring hygiene in high-traffic areas and your facility overall offer?
Studies have found a significant link between hygienic facilities and reduced staff illness. A safe and healthy environment protects your staff. This goes beyond preventing illness and improving physical health but mental health and productivity too. Companies may also feel a boost of overall morale when employees are in a safe, tidy and hygienic environment which leads to a better customer experience too.
Challenges when Cleaning High Traffic Areas
Whilst we understand the importance of ensuring the highest standard of hygiene in these areas, we also recognise the challenges. Areas such as entrances may see thousands of people entering and exiting each day, which means an increased amount of dirt and bacteria.
These areas will see a higher percentage of wear and tear, especially with foot traffic, carpets and flooring will dirt and deteriorate easily and require more investment to continue appearance, especially if not being correctly maintained.
The higher volume of people usually means a higher amount of accidents including spills and stains. Common stains include coffee spills, food residues, and tracked-in dirt. These stains not only degrade the appearance of surfaces but also pose hygiene challenges and potential safety hazards.
So how do you solve these issues for effective sanitisation of high-traffic areas?
Effective Solutions for High Traffic Areas
High traffic areas must be prioritised, daily, to keep your hygiene standards excellent. Whilst the high volume of footfall and usage poses challenges, there are many effective solutions that you can use. SymClean Industrial are specialist cleaning and hygiene providers meaning that we have the most effective solutions for commercial and industrial businesses. Here are some of our top methods:
- Establish and stick to a strategic cleaning routine: This is the best method to ensure that these areas are properly maintained. It is key to consider operational times such as opening hours or busy periods to sanitise around these times, eliminating the buildup of bacteria from these periods. Routine cleaning helps prevent the buildup of dirt, debris, and germs, ensuring a safe and hygienic environment for occupants.
- Utilise cleaning techniques to eliminate build-up in high-traffic areas: High-quality products must be used in these areas to ensure effective sanitisation. Touch point cleaning techniques must be used targeting high traffic areas and touch points such as door handles, screens and switches. Efficient stain removal and surface cleaning methods must also be used.
- Implement preventative methods: Proactively fight buildup and unsanitary areas and points by using preventative measures like dirt traps, such as entry mats, which should be regularly removed, replaced and sanitised. We also recommend training staff on the importance of maintaining cleanliness and ensuring they are aware of the seriousness and their role in cleanliness.
Work with the specialists to prevent buildup and issues in High Traffic Areas in Your Facility
Working with a specialist cleaning company like SymClean Industrial gives you access to expertise of hygiene operatives with years of experience in these areas. Our team are skilled in managing high-traffic areas in diverse domestic, commercial and industrial settings. All of SymClean’s cleaning operatives are certified and trained in specialised techniques.
Our work is tailored to each client, with bespoke plans considering your unique operational factors. SymClean Industrial is a nationwide UK specialist cleaning company and hygiene provider servicing many industries. Effectively maintaining hygiene in high traffic areas and your overall facility is crucial but challenging. Professional cleaning services ensure challenges are addressed and reduced, leaving you to concentrate on other key operations. For more information, get in touch with us today.
