workplace sanitisation worth its weight
spending on sick pay falls as workplace hygiene improves
Leading Engineering Consultancy Firm
Situation
The head office of a leading Christchurch Engineering Consultancy firm is home to around 107 employees. Upon the return to work following New Zealand’s very first covid pandemic lockdown, the company wanted to ensure the workplace was hygienic and health safe.
Hygiene audits and bacterial swab analysis quantified the risk of cross-contamination amongst its workforce. Allowing the company to better mitigate the risk of the spread of infection.
The layout of the office consisted of a large open plan office space, a large staff room/cafeteria, a smaller kitchenette and four washroom facilities - each with multiple cubicles and fixtures.
Despite the offices having a daily general clean, the hygiene audits and ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) testing demonstrated to the company that even if it's visually clean, it can still be hazardous.
Action Taken
The first step toward better workplace hygiene was the 360 hygiene audit. This includes the ATP bacterial swab analysis, which took 27 swabs from various surfaces throughout communal spaces. Of these 27 swabs, eight passed as health safe, four were borderline and 15 surfaces were contaminated.
“We were able to calculate that the washrooms were used between 535 and 856 times between cleaning services and cafeteria usage on average was between 428 and 963 times between cleaning services,” says 360 Hygiene owner Aaron Scott. “That’s a lot of opportunity for the spread of infection,” he says.
360 Hygiene implemented a weekly washroom sanitisation of fixtures and touchpoints and the fortnightly application of Nano Shield anti-microbial surface protectant. This protective film kills 99.9% of germs, viruses and bacteria upon contact and provides continuous protection for up to 14 days.
- Airblown hand dryers were replaced with paper hand towels to lessen the spread of germs
- Hand sanitiser dispensers were installed outside washrooms and within the cafeteria to encourage greater use
- Air fresheners were installed to maintain freshness and combat odours throughout washrooms
- On-going hygiene audits and certification were implemented to validate that the washrooms were continuously “health safe”.
- Management shared the audit results with employees not only to show their health and well-being is important to the business but also to encourage improvements in personal hygiene practices.
Result
During their analysis, 360 Hygiene also identified the cost of sick leave, including the impact of lost productivity on the company and revealed their spending was in the region of $176,550 per annum.
Following the start of 360 Hygiene’s sanitation services and hygiene audits, the company did notice less absenteeism due to illness and reductions in the amount of sick leave paid each quarter.
Their pass rates on hygiene audits and swab tests continued to improve, providing verification of a health safe workplace.
Management taking the lead on their duty of care was appreciated by the staff. Demonstrating that they are valued helped bolster morale and gratitude was expressed by staff for the company’s transparency about being health safe.
“The average number of days each employee took sick was 3.2 days per year at an average cost to the company of $1650 per employee. That soon adds up if steps are not taken to manage it,” Aaron says.
Learn about more workplaces who have had the 360 treatment
