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Protective Measures Against the Novel Coronavirus

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Protective Measures Against the Novel Coronavirus

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Update 3/27/20

 

I hope this week finds you and your family HEALTHY! We will continue to touch base with you as valued clients and keep you informed about Clean and Simple’s current situation. We are all facing this epidemic together and doing our best to adapt in a rapidly changing, uncertain environment.  We remain hopeful and looking forward to brighter times in the near future.

 

We are thankful that the cleaning industry has been designated as an “essential service” in Washington state.  We can assure you that Clean and Simple is here to keep your home clean and healthy now and in the foreseeable future.

 

We want you to know that we have made and will continue to make adjustments in our processes and procedures to help keep staff and clients safe.  We continue to practice personal hygiene and hand washing, social distancing and the use of PPE (gloves and shoe covers).  We have made modifications in our office check-ins, getting staff supplied and in and out of the office quickly and efficiently while minimizing in-person contact. You, our clients, have been doing a great job at practicing social distancing while our technicians are in your home. We know our technicians are very appreciative of your thoughtfulness!

 

You can feel confident that our current cleaning supplies and procedures are effective in cleaning and sanitizing your surfaces and home.  Our staff is taking extra care to get touch points and heavily used areas wiped and sanitized each visit.  

 

Along with our primary goal of keeping your homes cleaned and sanitized, we are also focused on keeping our wonderful staff busy. One of the ways we will be able to supply our staff with hours and pay is to pivot our cleaning and sanitation services to expand into more commercial cleaning.  If you have a business (or know of one) that is lightly staffed or empty right now we would appreciate the referral.  We are here and ready to help out businesses and offices stay clean and healthy with top to bottom deep cleaning and disinfecting services. We recently took a certification course to use an electrostatic sprayer, which will soon be part of our new package of powerful sanitization cleanings.  

 

We are here for you. We are always happy to hear from you and look forward to serving you now and in the future.

 

Again, thank you to all the wonderful clients who have reach out and sent emails of support, and clients who have continued to pay for service while they suspended.  Your thoughts, prayers and encouragement give us energy to continue to innovate and educate ourselves in how best to serve you.

 

Remember, a clean home is a healthier home!  Please contact us if you have questions or concerns.  

 

Warmly,

 

Stacie Sutton

 

 

 

Update 3/21/2020

Given the high degree of disruption in our world right now we want to keep our lines of communication open with all of our current customers, both those that are continuing services, as well as those that have paused during this challenging time.

We want to express our deep gratitude for every one of you. Many of you are forced to make hard choices that you realize have negative consequences for small businesses. This is just a fact of life at the moment, and nobody’s fault. For those that continue to have us come to clean, please know that we are extremely grateful as your business is what is helping us keep our staff employed. We Are Grateful…
To each customer who has volunteered to continue some form of payment although they have suspended services, please know that this is a gesture that is enormously appreciated and will not soon be forgotten. Our goal is to keep all of our staff employed for as long as possible. We have had to alter the way we work and make changes to the schedule, but we are most appreciative of the work and have heard from many customers about how they appreciate the service. Any money that is being sent to us to pay for services that we are not performing is money we are setting aside specifically for staff to help offset days we ask them to stay home for various reasons. We are keeping an open dialogue with all staff members and asking for transparency on who needs help the most; a few have asked for a temporary lay off for childcare or family reasons.

COVID-19 Updates…
For all current and prospective customers, we’ve added a Covid-19 safety page to our website, which can be found here. As additional information becomes available to us, we will continue to adapt and to provide the highest assurance of safety to all our staff and customers. Any updated measures we introduce will be added to this page.

In regards to avoiding illness, we see a tremendous amount of care from our customers in reporting if they have traveled recently, or have had any illness at their home no matter how seemingly insignificant. This has led to many cancellations, but we 100% want it this way for the safety of everyone involved in our services. Thank you for taking this request seriously so that we can keep everyone healthy. We will also be adding some health questions to our appointment reminder texts just to keep this in the forefront of transparency.

We want all customers to know that we are monitoring the status of our community regarding the virus daily. So far we strongly believe the steps we are taking provide a safe, sanitary environment for us to work in. However, we do believe there may come a time when temporarily ceasing operations is necessary for the safety of all involved. This is not guaranteed, but we are prepared and ready should the time come. As of now, our business is still considered safe to operate using our safety and sanitation protocols.

Potential for Errand Running…
In a national peer group of cleaning business owners that we are a part of the idea has been tossed around that given the staff we have, and the recent lapse in demand, we might help serve our community by running errands for those that should not risk exposure to the public. These errands would be focused on meeting essential needs such as grocery and toiletry item pickup.

We are not certain how this would work, or the capacity we would have. However, if you or someone you know could really use this service due to the lack of nearby family/friend support please let us know. Our goal would be to cover the costs of our staff member and insurance related items, but not to profit in any way from it. We would implement a layer of safety with this, likely dedicating someone on our staff to do errands, who would then not be allowed to go to cleanings due to their higher public exposure. It’s just a possibility at this point, but if there is demand we would pursue it as a way to help our community if it could be done while meeting our high standards for safety. We are working on a link to our website and hope to have that posted next week.

Hope for The Future…
The virus situation and social isolation is certainly life-changing for our society at this time. But… we want you to know we are still the same happy, friendly, caring company as before and that we will be there for you when this is over. We continue to find ways to laugh, and to enjoy what we are doing for each and every one of you. If you have been significantly affected by recent events please let us know if there is a way we can spread the word about your career, business, or other need. If you own or work at a restaurant serving take-out let us help you promote it and give you business. It is part of our mission to be deeply involved in the community that provides us the opportunity to do what we love, and there is no better time than right now when the need is so high. Thank you for being a part of our cleaning family.  A clean home is a healthy home.

3/7/2020

Dear Customers,

We have created this page to post up-to-the-minute information regarding our response to the coronavirus and any other news for those of you who may have concerns as this situation progresses. As always, you are also encouraged to call our office at (425)673-4733 or send us an email at [email protected] with any questions or concerns. We understand this is a stressful and uncertain time for many people, and we want to provide you with full transparency surrounding our practices and protocols in your homes so you can make the best decisions for your family.

We believe that a clean home is an important part of a broader preventative strategy to reduce the risk of illness. We will continue to provide excellent service while tracking and adhering to the latest in recommendations from health experts at both international and local levels.

Clean and Simple Cleaning™ Policies and Protocols regarding the Coronavirus

First, each week we will hold a training meeting with our technicians to go over the latest recommendations and practices for sanitation in homes, as well as of any equipment that might be used in multiples homes (vacuums, etc.)

Crucially, we will not allow any employees to work when they have the flu or flu-like symptoms, a fever, or have been exposed to coronavirus through a friend or family member. In addition, we ask the same of our customers. We request that you cancel or reschedule your appointment if you or a family member is sick or experiencing flu-like symptoms or has tested positive for the flu or coronavirus. We will waive all lock out fees in the case of illness. Our top priority is to protect our technicians, as well as our customers who are immune-compromised or elderly.

What we’re doing to be proactive: 

  • We are disinfecting door handles, light switches, and other surfaces in our office on a daily basis to avoid spreading germs.
  • Technicians will wash their hands immediately upon arrival at each job, and before leaving. We will be providing disinfectant for them to use in between jobs as well, and they will disinfectant vacuums, knee pads, and other equipment prior to entering and after leaving each home.
  • Employees have been advised they must not work if they have a fever and/or flu-like symptoms, or if their family members or close contacts have such symptoms, unless they have received a negative test for the coronavirus, or similar approval from health officials.
  • As always, cleaning towels are washed and thoroughly sanitized before coming into your home. Used cleaning towels are kept separate. Technicians who use mops will use a fresh mop head in each home.
  • Technicians will always wear gloves in your home. Additionally, all technicians have the option of wearing masks and protective gear for their own protection. This does not mean they are sick

For your information, here is a link to the WHO recommendations for the public: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

These pages from Snohomish and King counties have up-to-date information and alerts:

https://www.snohd.org/484/Novel-Coronavirus-2019

https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/communicable-diseases/disease-control/novel-coronavirus.aspx

The coronavirus is already impacting our community, and we are taking this very seriously. We want to be calm but prepared as we move forward, to protect our clients and our employees.

Clean and Simple will always practice the best cross-contamination protocols and will continue to be a leader in the home cleaning industry by staying at the forefront of the latest research and cleaning techniques. We will improve our cleaning protocols where appropriate by incorporating techniques shown to be effective at preventing the spread of viruses and other germs. And we will continue to provide you with excellent service as well as peace of mind knowing that all the surfaces in your home are clean and sanitized.

Please bookmark this page, as we will update it as needed. We will also post any updates to our Facebook page, and will be in touch via email as well. This situation remains fluid, and we have yet to see how extensive this outbreak will be in our area. In the meantime, be kind to each other and take care of yourselves.