Keeping Office Phone Booths Clean During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has focused people's attention on keeping their home & work environments clean and sanitized.

This is especially true if you work in an office environment that remains open during the outbreak. And if you’re fortunate enough to have office phone booths or pods, you may be looking for some special tips on how to keep them sanitary during this challenging time.

Maintaining a clean work environment is essential to your health, well-being and that of your staff. We've got some best practices below so you can continue maximizing your office booth.

Cleanliness Starts With a Well-Communicated Policy

The first thing to know is that the success of your office cleaning regime, including specific areas such as phone booths, will depend on a robust and well-communicated cleaning policy.

Let your entire staff know the expected frequency and method of cleaning. If your office provides clorox wipes or lysol, make sure the entire team knows where they are. Same with plastic gloves. An ideal frequency for cleaning most areas is before and after an employee is done using them.

Also inform individual staff members of their personal hygienic responsibilities. This includes washing their hands for 30 seconds before and after using communal areas or shared spaces.

You may need to provide targeted training for staff who have specific cleaning duties. If certain employees arrive first or last on site, these folks may have special tasks they need to consider.

Be Prepared With The Right Materials

Before you embark on cleaning your office phone booth, ensure that you — or whoever is to carry out the job — is properly prepared.

Disposable gloves, masks and gowns are all options and should be properly thrown away of after the cleaning process.

As mentioned, training is part of the preparation process. The individuals who carry out cleaning and disinfection of your office, including phone booths, must be instructed in safe and effective techniques.

To get the most out of your cleaning and disinfection regime, follow these tips:

First of all, cordon off the area that you are going to clean and disinfect.
Open doors and windows to let fresh air circulate, or use fans.
Hard surfaces, such as the panelling, doors and inner surfaces of your phone booth should be cleaned down before the disinfection process.
Soft surfaces including carpets should be cleaned with the appropriate product. If they can be laundered, like rugs for example, wash them at the highest temperature you can without damaging them (check their care label).
Electronic items can be cleaned with specially formulated wipes or sprays. These usually have high alcohol content.

Clean Then Disinfect

To keep your office phone booth sanitized, clean all surfaces first with a solution of hot water and detergent, or use disinfectant wipes. This will eliminate some germs, making the subsequent disinfection process more effective.

After cleaning comes disinfection. You can find a list of disinfectants that work against SARS-CoV-2 on the Environmental Protection Agency website. You can also use a solution of bleach and water as an effective disinfectant.

Don’t Forget the Details

Items that are often overlooked such as phones and keyboards can be the dirtiest devices in your office. In fact, a recent study looking at levels of contamination found that 92 percent of phones and 96 percent of keyboards they tested were covered in bacteria. This is why it's so important to pay attention to detail and clean your everyday items frequently.

Consider using alcohol wipes and sprays for phones, keyboards and the interior of your phone booth, paying particular attention to light switches and door handles which are touched frequently. Note that to be effective, wipes and sprays should contain at least 70% alcohol.

Keep It Regular

Finally, make sure that your cleaning and disinfection regime is carried out on a regular basis. The easiest way to do this is to put up signage in your workplace showing the dates and times of cleaning sessions.

This will also reassure employees and visitors that you are adhering to an effective cleaning and disinfection routine.

Zenbooth Phone Booths – Hygienic, Easy to Clean and Practical

Zenbooth specializes in providing booths suitable for up to six people. Each booth offers a small, private space with ventilation and power.

These booths come with a whole host of benefits, including:

Engineered wood panels with laminated interior, making it easy to clean and maintain
Soundproofing to ensure that conversations can't be heard outside the booth, making it a great space for private or sensitive conversations or calls
Dimmable LED lighting and a full skylight ceiling create a pleasant environment for work or for breaks
Compliance with accessibility requirements
A power and data unit, USB ports and outlets for data and phone cables

Reach Out to Know More

If you’d like to know more about any of our innovative products, contact us to talk to one of our team members.

In the face of the current COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve learned that it’s more important than ever to keep our work environment clean and safe. Investing in a office phone booth to increase your enclosed space will reward you with happier staff and a healthier, safer workplace — now and in the future.