PANDEMIC INFLUENZA

For office building owners and managers, this heightened germ awareness means it's more important than ever to provide sanitary and hygienic working conditions for tenants. Although most tenants won't employ the white glove test to check for cleanliness, don't be fooled.. they ARE monitoring the condi tion and hygiene of their surroundings. While managing for stringent cleanliness and hygiene may seem like an unrecoverable overhead expense, consider build ing cleanliness as a marketing advantage. What can you do to establish a unique selling proposition that comes from having a truly clean and hygienic building?

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In The Restroom

Nothing says "unhygienic" more than a dirty restroom. Unfortunately, office building restrooms don't rate high on the public restroom cleanliness scale, according to a survey in which only 18 percent of people polled chose office building restrooms as the most clean and hygienic (compared to 42 percent who chose public restrooms in hotels). A separate survey supports this

whether it's from paper litter on the floor, noxious odors, or lackadaisical cleaning dirty restrooms topped the list of building tenant complaints:

A couple of quick tips to keep germs at bay in your facility...

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• Stop germ transmission in its tracks by employing no-touch systems. No touch technology can be employed in toilet flushers, water faucets, and dispensers toilet paper, soap and hand towels. No touch technology is especially crucial for hand towel dispensers, since towels are usod once bands are clean, after having bically been washed and rinsed That is the most important time for tenants not to touch potentially germ-laden surfaces. Tip: Look kor towel and tissue dispensing systems with internved paper, so users only Zwd to touch the towel or toilet paper they use without fishing around inside the dispenser thus reducing the risks of contamination. Or look for completely "touchless roll towel dispensers that don't have levers or cranks

Encourage proper hand washing. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), handwashing is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Educate tenants on the importance of proper hand washing. Post reminders in restrooms. Tip Make sure there's always plenty of mild hand soap and saft absorbent hand towels in every restroom. Nothing is more disconcerting to people who want to do the right thing by washing up, only to find no hand washing supplies. If supply run-out is a problem, consider a high-capacity dispenser and remember-high-capacity doesn't need to man industrial Find a high-volume dispenser that lends a little class to your restrooms

Around The Office

Although 39 percent of office workers polled in a recent survey said they want their management to establish a policy requiring employees with contagious infections or diseases to stay home from work until they're better, the fact is that people do come to work when they're sick.  However, there are some easy things that building owners and managers can do to help stem the Spread of infections...

• Identify "hot zones" for germ transmission. Just as in restrooms, germs can be spread any time someone touches something that has been touched by someone else. Desks, phones, elevator buttons, and door handles are just some of the commonly touched surfaces that can serve as a link in the transmission of germs. Proper surface sanitation and hand hygiene are crucial elements in the fight against germ transmission Tip: Choose a surface sanitizing system thars portable and easy to carry for spot-cleaning activities. particularly important during peak cold and Flu times. And to help tenants keep their hands sanitized and free from germs, provide alcohol gel hand sanitizers, which can be found in a variety of pump or wall-mounted dispensers for use throughout the building, especially in high-traffic areas.

• Don't forget the break room. This can be an ideal spot for the spread of germs, including food- borne illness germs. Giving tenants hand- and surface-sanitizing products can help avoid problems with cross-contamination. Tip: Provide canisters of disposable surface sanitizer wipes for tenants to wipe down food contact surfaces. If the break room doesn't have a sink, install alcohol gel hand sanitizers. If it does have a sink, past hand washing reminders so tenants wash up before they eat.

• Consider the issue of "respiratory etiquette."  Originally developed by the CDC as a way to reduce the spread of SARS in health care facilities, the practice of respiratory etiquette includes some common sense measures anyone can apply to help lessen the severity of colds, the flu and other infections that can be spread via respiratory droplets or hand contact.

Ideas include:

-Instructing people with symptoms of a respiratory Infection to cover their noses and mouths with a tissue when coughing or sneezing

-Making hand hygiene products and tissues available.

-Providing designated containers for disposal al of used tissues. Tip: During the height of cold and flu season, create a "tenant care package with lotionized facial tissue, for extra comfort against sore, runny noses and portable hand sanitizer gels for on-the-spot degerming.