How Often Should Common Areas Be Cleaned in Commercial Buildings?

Common areas should not be overlooked when it comes to commercial building cleaning. A clean common area helps maintain your company’s reputation. It also prevents accidents, protects employee health, and boosts morale.

Specifically, all entrances, kitchens, breakrooms, and shared washrooms should be kept as clean as possible at all times. Cleaning frequency depends on a range of factors, including foot traffic, hygiene requirements, operational requirements, and building size.

The responsibility should fall on in-house janitors and professional cleaning services for property management. The latter can carry out commercial carpet care, hard surface floor care, and food service sanitation.

Ideally, commercial building common areas should be cleaned once per day. However, high-use common areas should be cleaned several times throughout the day. This should be performed by the in-house janitorial team.

The entrance and reception area is a particularly important area. This part of your commercial building likely sees the most foot traffic. It’s also the part of your commercial building that customers see first. If it’s in disarray, first-time customers may get a bad first impression of your business. Given the high foot traffic, it can also accumulate high levels of dirt and dust. It should, therefore, be periodically checked throughout the day. Full-scale cleans may be impossible, but consistent tidy-ups can be performed to keep the area looking presentable.

Food areas and break rooms should also be cleaned daily for hygiene purposes. These areas are also only used at certain times throughout the day, so daily cleaning should be easy to perform. A full-scale clean can be performed just before closing or just before opening. Regular, smaller cleans can also be carried out during quiet periods throughout the day. For example, bins can be emptied once every few hours.

Washrooms should also be checked regularly throughout the day. They should also be cleaned at least daily. Toilets, sinks, floors, and mirrors should all be included in daily cleaning routines. Throughout the day, restocking toilet paper, hand towels, and soap should also be carried out.

Some areas of commercial buildings are not required to be cleaned on a daily basis. For example, corridors and stairs may benefit from daily vacuuming and mopping. However, they do need to be deep cleaned daily. This can be done once per week, or potentially once every two weeks or more.

High-level surfaces, light fittings, and vents may also be included in weekly cleaning routines. However, if your workspace is particularly prone to high buildups of dust and debris, these areas may need to be cleaned more frequently. Exact frequencies should reflect your business and the conditions of the building.

As we’ve made clear, no single cleaning schedule can be applied to all businesses. When creating a cleaning schedule, you must consider how several factors apply to your business.

Foot traffic should be one of your biggest considerations. If your office is constantly busy with both employees and customers, more frequent cleaning is required. However, if your workplace is only ever occupied by a small work team, your premises will require less frequent cleaning.

Your building type should also be considered. Healthcare, food service, childcare, and educational facilities tend to require more frequent cleaning than regular office environments. Your business will have cleaning industry standards and regulations that it must follow.

You may find that more cleaning is required in some months of the year than in others. For example, more cleaning is required in winter due to wet and snowy weather. This can make floors dirty, wet, and unsafe.

Standard health and safety requirements must also be considered. If your commercial property has a factory or warehouse where oil and grease spills are frequent, then regular cleaning must be carried out.

Your commercial building cleaning schedule should feature a breakdown of each room. For each room, the tasks required should be highlighted, as should the frequency with which they should be completed. A space for signatures should be left for the janitors and commercial cleaners to sign once they have completed each task.