The Psychological Benefits of Sanitization

As COVID-19 begins to subside in the United States, I have found that many companies – especially hotels, venues and numerous types of meeting places – are making sure they advertise any new or existing sanitization procedures the company has created.

If you take a moment back to consider this, sanitization is obviously not new. For centuries, and increasingly so since the Civil War of the 1860’s, sterilization of equipment that could affect the health of humans has thankfully become standard practice.

What is new is the incentive for companies to let people know that they are safe to use.

You’ll see it more and more over the next few days, when you watch TV and YouTube ads. The reassurance tone of these enterprise-level companies has increased significantly, for obvious reasons.

If you are a small business that is planning to reorganize his or her business over the coming weeks, consider researching and implementing some consistent sanitization procedures in your business location, so that when the time comes where you will be asked by the consumer – in laymans’ terms – “How often do you clean your place, to protect me?“, you will have the correct response. And that response will come from responsible planning and consistent action.

Here are some general tips for keeping your business location as safe as possible for your customers, post-COVID-19:

1. Inspect every inch of your store or office, and determine the following:
   1. Where do humans stand, sit, interact, walk, run, or conduct any activity
   2. Are there places where they will likely be closer than 6 feet to each other?
   3. What do humans typically touch while in the store or office? Door handles, plates, counters, computers, office equipment
   4. What is the traffic flow of the place, and when does the traffic increase/decrease each day
2. For each of the locations indicated above, plan to have a consistent cleaning schedule to sanitize those locations in a variety of ways. Examples include:
   1. Wiping door handles
   2. Mopping floors
   3. Spraying countertops with disinfectant
   4. Covering, storing or refrigerating items that may be later handled by humans
3. Add safety equipment, messages and tools for employees, visitors and others, as need be. Examples include:
   1. N-95 face masks provided for workers.
   2. Traffic flow signs and warnings:
      1. “Please maintain 6-foot social distancing”
      2. Traffic goes in this direction One Way.
   3. Hand sanitizer on the counters and in the back office.
4. If need be, contact a professional cleaning service to advise or conduct scheduled cleanings.

There are more steps. These are just items to think about as you craft your plan. For a more comprehensive approach, please visit the official CDC website. But you should get started on this immediately.

Once you have a solid plan in place, first test all the procedures out by asking your existing customers of their opinion of the new procedures.

Once you note that you have a high percentage of your internal customers agreeing to the new procedures, spread the word out on the Internet and on Media. Your website, your Facebook business page, your Instagram, YouTube, and even possibly traditional television commercials.

If you need help with any of the above, give us a call at (845) 893-9096. We’ll be happy to discuss with you for a few minutes, and perhaps even connect you to the right solution that works for your company.

Be safe and healthy.