Campus Cleaning
“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. 'Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' he asked. 'What is written in the Law?' Jesus replied.
He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” -Luke 10: 25-27
Oklahoma Christian University is a faith fueled, Christ-centered institution. OC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic then, like its response to all crises, will lean into that faith by appealing to individuals to respond in community with “one another” top of mind.
“Love Your Neighbor” will be OC’s mantra collectively and individually as we take the adopted, necessary steps to keep our community safe.
The complete Roadmap to Readiness for Students and Parents
COVID-19 Plan for Student Life
FACILITIES: INTEGRATED DISINFECTION & CLEANING
Creating a safe campus environment must be the number one consideration as the OC campus begins to reopen to full capacity. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) intensify cleaning efforts in response to COVID-19 and OC has developed a detailed plan for this. In scientific studies COVID-19 remains viable on surfaces like plastic and stainless steel for up to 72 hours (New England Journal of Medicine, April 16, 2020). As many campus facilities contain these materials in their high touch areas, an integrated disinfection plan must account for locations and areas throughout each university.
OC requires a consistent touring and disinfecting plan to mitigate risk of community infection. When integrated with the proper staffing levels, processes and technology support these services enhance campus life through safety, peace of mind and overall value. While each area of campus has both specific and unique requirements, the following process is how OC’s Facility Services leverages our partnership with Cynosure, OC’s custodial partner, to create the best possible Integrated Disinfection and Cleaning Playbook for our campus.
DOCUMENTED PROCESSES
OC Facilities and Cynosure have dedicated many hours to develop a process and procedures to ensure each disinfecting task is performed properly the first time. This extends to our pathogen-specific and COVID-19 response protocols. These processes are integrated into our technology tools and training system.
Before we enter any space to perform disinfecting or cleaning, we train each team member so that they are familiar with our procedures and practice. These include:
- Process to Prohibit Community Access While Disinfecting
- Communications Process to Notify of Service pre/post
- Access Planning and Routing
- Social Distancing
- Service Requests received through Support Central
- Standard Task Completion
- Safety Data Sheets
- Proper use of Personal Protection Equipment
- Material and PPE Disposal
- Chemical and Equipment Storage
BASELINE DISINFECTION TASKS
In direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic, OC has developed a process to quickly disinfect large areas of the campus with great frequency. We will accomplish this through the use of dedicated Disinfection Specialists and a team approach.
Our specialists routinely clean and disinfect all frequently touched surfaces, handrails and doorknobs. If surfaces are dirty, they are cleaned using a detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.
STAFFING, TOURING AND PRODUCTIVITY
Our staffing and productivity plan is determined by several factors including the service levels required and the unique requirements of the space. Where possible we create shift times around primary building use and class times. While traditional cleaning staff would enter a building at the end of the day to clean, it is now important that staff be present throughout the day to provide additional cleaning in occupied areas. Disinfection teams will move between campus academic buildings to provide proper sanitation between class times and in common areas during class times.
ECCO LABS NO-TOUCH HAND SANITIZING STATIONS stations will be placed at building entrances and other high occupancy areas. Additional stations will be placed near public restrooms.
HANDS FREE INITIATIVE - OC has taken several steps to reduce transmission through high touch surfaces. All restrooms are being equipped with foot pulls to allow doors to be opened by using your foot. All soap and paper towel dispensers are also being replaced with hands free dispensers.
SPECIAL DISINFECTION EQUIPMENT - The university has obtained two electrostatic disinfection spray systems specifically designed to respond to the growing demand for highly effective sanitation and disinfection. This technology allows the solution to reach places that may have otherwise been too time consuming or impossible for our staff to reach.
INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY - Our teams use Zendesk, to track all requests for assistance including requests for cleaning and disinfecting. This provides many operational benefits but allows us to work with internal stakeholders and facilities team members to report disinfection tasks to the campus community at large. Our team leaders utilize mobile technologies for receiving work orders while maintaining social distancing and responding to requests. This also allows us to track completion and provide handheld documentation and checklists for tasks.
PPE, TRAINING AND UNIFORMS - Protecting our team members allows us to protect members of our campus community.
TRAINING - Safety dictates every move we make as a facilities support team. OSHA and CDC compliance dictate out approach to tasks, alongside industry best practices. We provide continuing education for our staff to ensure that they are aware of new procedures and best practice.
UNIFORMS - Our staff is identified by uniforms and badging.
A HOLISTIC APPROACH: FACILITIES OPERATIONS AND DISINFECTING - Implementing a successful Integrated Disinfection and Cleaning Playbook requires coordination between cleaning services, service providers and facilities operations. At OC these teams work closely to address these important topics and meet weekly to address any issues that arise. Combining indoor air quality planning with surface disinfection efforts creates a holistic mediation strategy. Our teams work closely to understand the needs of air filtration, fresh air circulation, and air flow.
CAMPUS OUTREACH
Creating a sense of ease and comfort as the campus community returns makes a significant impact on overall wellness. The OC facilities team continually works with our campus communications team to communicate processes, technology and approach. There are major changes for our campus community to navigate as we adapt to this “new normal.” Letting all members of the campus community know they can expect a different level of care and service when it comes to disinfecting and campus safety is essential.
QUALITY ASSURANCE, TESTING AND REPORTING
Quality assurance and operational excellence are built into everything we do. As with all aspects of our service approach we work to accommodate the needs of our community and work to find ways to continually improve our services to meet the expectations of our community. The community is invited to provide feedback related to our services and encouraged to report areas of concern or needs for improvement. It is only through this communication that we can meet the needs of our community.
