Why Keeping Schools Clean Should be a Priority

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Our modern-day lives are faced with threats of many different natures, but we often overlook the basic prevention we can all do to keep ourselves away from harm. There’s no better example of this than in schools, colleges and universities - breeding grounds for risks to health.

Children are vulnerable in that their immune systems haven’t had the chance to develop a resistance to many common issues to health; though it should be noted that on the more positive side, they have a fast-learning system and a resilience many of us older adults lack. 

The problem with schools

As with any place where people gather, spending a lot of time together in close proximity, a school can be a breeding ground for infection. The rate of infection is increased as physical contact is often and the sheer proximity of people means germs can be passed on quickly and effortlessly.

There’s another angle to this too - kids and staff alike need to be educated to prevent infection. If children especially don’t receive this education then they won’t wash their hands or pick up that old bit of food in the playground and germs will spread and spread. 

The risk

There is of course the evident risk to health in infection, from contracting the common cold to more serious illnesses such as Meningitis, Diphtheria and Influenza. Although these are certainly (and thankfully) rare cases, the seriousness of them are unignorable; causing long-term illness, ongoing health problems or in few cases, death. 

Tackling the problem

Taking steps to prevent and conquer infection can be a difficult thing if risk isn’t managed properly and your staff aren’t behind the control. Here’s some helpful tips to get you started:

1.  Find a good school supplier - Use national registers to find a school cleaning company in Norfolk, Essex or Suffolk that knows how to professionally clean and keep infection at bay. If you’re comfortable with your current supplier, have a frank conversation with them about infection control and agree what they’ll do to help. They will be pivotal in keeping your environment safe.

2. Educate staff - Create a short training package to educate staff in how they can help prevent infection, go as far as including it into their roles and responsibilities. Make people accountable and consider champions and reward/incentive schemes to drive the message home. Head towards becoming a centre of infection control excellence.

3. Educate pupils - Educate children on how to stay clean and prevent infection. Simple procedures such as hand-washing, using alcohol-gel and the like will make a big difference. Bringing things into their daily routine will drum-in the message too, and of course there’s opportunities here for a reward/incentive scheme.

4. Internal comms - Introduce and reinforce messages around cleanliness, consider an internal campaign theme and communicate with staff and pupils alike about keeping a safe, clean environment. Raise awareness and consciousness of infection and the risks involved.

5. Take pride - Become a centre of excellence for infection control, having your staff and pupils feel proud they are keeping their environment safe. Use this as a Unique Selling Point too and towards your Corporate Social Responsibility, improving the reputation of your school and ensuring people are spending less time off ill.

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