News
Oct 23, 2009 Print
Flu fears create more work for hygiene company
Flu fears create more work for hygiene company
With the flu on just about everyone's mind these days, how does a company ensure that its employees stay healthy?
BY BRIAN MORT0N, VANCOUVER SUN | MAY 13, 2009 | © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
With the flu on just about everyone's mind these days, how does a company ensure that its employees stay healthy?
BY BRIAN MORT0N, VANCOUVER SUN | MAY 13, 2009 | © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Category: Public Health
Posted by: Sani-Service
Flu fears create more work for hygiene company
BY BRIAN MORT0N, VANCOUVER SUN | MAY 13, 2009 | © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
With the flu on just about everyone's mind these days, how does a company ensure that its employees stay healthy?
Burnaby-based hygiene services provider Sani-Service has released its own "Top 8 Swine Flu Protection Tips For B.C. Business Owners" that's focused on ensuring the sanitization of thousands of commercial facilities across the Lower Mainland including restrooms at restaurants, department stores and office buildings. The business has seen a 35-per-cent rise in demand for its products and services since the H1N1 flu virus was detected in Mexico last month.
At the top of its list? Simple cleanliness.
"You've got to promote frequent hand washing and you've got to tell your sick employees to stay home," Sani-Service's B.C. franchise owner Elliot Laskin said in an interview. "And you've got to apply germicide to contact surfaces.
"The number one complaint in a restaurant is cleanliness in the washroom. When customers see a dirty washroom, they think the kitchen's not clean and they don't go back."
B.C.'s Sani-Service (www.sani-service.com), a franchise of the U.S.-based company Swisher Hygiene, started operations with one employee in Metro Vancouver in 1995. In its first full year of business, the company had 200 clients.
Since then, it's expanded and now has 65 full-time employees and 3,000 clients, including Costco, McDonald's, London Drugs, Lordco and Canadian Tire.
"We do commercial businesses, restaurants, anybody with washrooms in their facilities," said Laskin, who added that they've been flooded with calls since swine flu first hit.
"People are concerned. The education's getting better, but our phones are ringing a lot. It's good for business, but it's also a good chance to educate people.
"Right now, our sales are up over 30 per cent compared to what we had last year because of the swine virus."
Laskin said his company sanitizes restrooms on a weekly basis for clients and provides sanitizers, soaps, paper products, auto-flush toilets and sinks. "We provide them and rent them to the client. And we maintain them."
Meanwhile, the swine flu strain that has sickened people in 30 countries is more contagious than regular seasonal flu, the World Health Organization said Monday.
In seasonal flu, each person who comes in contact with someone who's sick has a five- per-cent to 15- per-cent probability of illness, according to the WHO's website. With swine flu, the probability increases to between 22 per cent to 33 per cent, WHO said.
Dr. Bonnie Henry of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control recently told employers in a packed ballroom that the swine flu is a matter of concern for everyone in the province.
She repeated the importance of encouraging people to stay at home if they are exhibiting flu symptoms, saying today's society has a "presenteeism problem" that translates into sick people feeling obliged to go into the office.
"The other really, really important thing is handwashing. It's very, very simple.
"Wash your hands at least five times a day and you greatly reduce your chances of transmission," she said.
SANI-SERVICE'S TOP 8 SWINE FLU PROTECTION TIPS FOR B.C. BUSINESS OWNERS
- Promote frequent hand-washing: Business owners are urged to remind their employees to wash their hands frequently using soap and warm water, especially after coughing or sneezing.
- Encourage hygienic behavior in the workplace: Employees should be instructed to cover up when coughing or sneezing to avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth, and to use single-use tissues for wiping their noses. Office garbage bins should be emptied daily. Employees should be discouraged from sharing cups, dishes or cutlery.
- Ask sick employees to stay home: Employees should be encouraged to stay home if experiencing cold or flu symptoms. Discourage sick employees from "toughing it out" at work. It can prevent an entire workforce from falling ill.
- Make hand sanitizer available: Since workers aren't always near a sink to wash their hands, making hand sanitizers available, whether in a wall-mounted unit or in pocket-size bottles, can significantly help reduce the spread of germs.
- Apply germicide to contact surfaces: Properly treating contact surfaces like desktops, countertops and keyboards with germicide can prevent germs from contaminating surfaces across a facility.
- Keep restroom touch points clean: In-house and janitorial services often fail to provide a complete cleaning and sanitation on touch points such as bathroom door handles, flushing levers and towel dispensers. The use of a hospital-grade germicide on such areas can minimize the presence of pathogens on key touch points.
- Consider a Sanitizing Power Wash: A sanitizing power wash may help reduce cross-contamination in restrooms, kitchens and shower areas. By addressing virtually all surface areas -- including floors, walls, partitions, vents, ceilings, knobs and latches -- frequently overlooked areas can be properly sanitized.
- Let customers know what is being done to protect them: Informing customers of the value being placed on proper hygiene and the steps being taken to protect them, can go a long way towards reassuring them about a business's concern for health.
BY BRIAN MORT0N, VANCOUVER SUN | MAY 13, 2009 | © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
With the flu on just about everyone's mind these days, how does a company ensure that its employees stay healthy?
Burnaby-based hygiene services provider Sani-Service has released its own "Top 8 Swine Flu Protection Tips For B.C. Business Owners" that's focused on ensuring the sanitization of thousands of commercial facilities across the Lower Mainland including restrooms at restaurants, department stores and office buildings. The business has seen a 35-per-cent rise in demand for its products and services since the H1N1 flu virus was detected in Mexico last month.
At the top of its list? Simple cleanliness.
"You've got to promote frequent hand washing and you've got to tell your sick employees to stay home," Sani-Service's B.C. franchise owner Elliot Laskin said in an interview. "And you've got to apply germicide to contact surfaces.
"The number one complaint in a restaurant is cleanliness in the washroom. When customers see a dirty washroom, they think the kitchen's not clean and they don't go back."
B.C.'s Sani-Service (www.sani-service.com), a franchise of the U.S.-based company Swisher Hygiene, started operations with one employee in Metro Vancouver in 1995. In its first full year of business, the company had 200 clients.
Since then, it's expanded and now has 65 full-time employees and 3,000 clients, including Costco, McDonald's, London Drugs, Lordco and Canadian Tire.
"We do commercial businesses, restaurants, anybody with washrooms in their facilities," said Laskin, who added that they've been flooded with calls since swine flu first hit.
"People are concerned. The education's getting better, but our phones are ringing a lot. It's good for business, but it's also a good chance to educate people.
"Right now, our sales are up over 30 per cent compared to what we had last year because of the swine virus."
Laskin said his company sanitizes restrooms on a weekly basis for clients and provides sanitizers, soaps, paper products, auto-flush toilets and sinks. "We provide them and rent them to the client. And we maintain them."
Meanwhile, the swine flu strain that has sickened people in 30 countries is more contagious than regular seasonal flu, the World Health Organization said Monday.
In seasonal flu, each person who comes in contact with someone who's sick has a five- per-cent to 15- per-cent probability of illness, according to the WHO's website. With swine flu, the probability increases to between 22 per cent to 33 per cent, WHO said.
Dr. Bonnie Henry of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control recently told employers in a packed ballroom that the swine flu is a matter of concern for everyone in the province.
She repeated the importance of encouraging people to stay at home if they are exhibiting flu symptoms, saying today's society has a "presenteeism problem" that translates into sick people feeling obliged to go into the office.
"The other really, really important thing is handwashing. It's very, very simple.
"Wash your hands at least five times a day and you greatly reduce your chances of transmission," she said.
SANI-SERVICE'S TOP 8 SWINE FLU PROTECTION TIPS FOR B.C. BUSINESS OWNERS
- Promote frequent hand-washing: Business owners are urged to remind their employees to wash their hands frequently using soap and warm water, especially after coughing or sneezing.
- Encourage hygienic behavior in the workplace: Employees should be instructed to cover up when coughing or sneezing to avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth, and to use single-use tissues for wiping their noses. Office garbage bins should be emptied daily. Employees should be discouraged from sharing cups, dishes or cutlery.
- Ask sick employees to stay home: Employees should be encouraged to stay home if experiencing cold or flu symptoms. Discourage sick employees from "toughing it out" at work. It can prevent an entire workforce from falling ill.
- Make hand sanitizer available: Since workers aren't always near a sink to wash their hands, making hand sanitizers available, whether in a wall-mounted unit or in pocket-size bottles, can significantly help reduce the spread of germs.
- Apply germicide to contact surfaces: Properly treating contact surfaces like desktops, countertops and keyboards with germicide can prevent germs from contaminating surfaces across a facility.
- Keep restroom touch points clean: In-house and janitorial services often fail to provide a complete cleaning and sanitation on touch points such as bathroom door handles, flushing levers and towel dispensers. The use of a hospital-grade germicide on such areas can minimize the presence of pathogens on key touch points.
- Consider a Sanitizing Power Wash: A sanitizing power wash may help reduce cross-contamination in restrooms, kitchens and shower areas. By addressing virtually all surface areas -- including floors, walls, partitions, vents, ceilings, knobs and latches -- frequently overlooked areas can be properly sanitized.
- Let customers know what is being done to protect them: Informing customers of the value being placed on proper hygiene and the steps being taken to protect them, can go a long way towards reassuring them about a business's concern for health.