Can House Cleaners Work During Covid?

Can house cleaners work during Covid? Yes, house cleaners are able to work during the pandemic despite the social distancing rules and other restrictions.

Most people believe this is not the case, however, professional cleaners have been helping people to maintain the cleanliness and healthiness of homes throughout the UK during the lockdown period.

Can house cleaners work during Covid – the Legislation

When the latest national lockdown was announced on January 4th 2021, the Government introduced its latest guidelines.

These guidelines stated that domestic cleaning services could still be provided as long as the legislation was followed to the letter, with cleaners acting in a COVID secure manner.

The guidelines said: “Where it is necessary for you to work in other people’s homes – for example, for nannies, cleaners or tradespeople – you can do so”.

It said this was “essential to keeping the country operating and supporting sectors and employers”.

You should also leave your windows open when inviting cleaners into your home. Even if you’re asymptomatic, you may still have the virus.

You can access and read the guidelines for yourself on the UK Government website here.

The importance of social distancing

Professional cleaners are expected to follow social distancing rules whenever carrying out heir duties.

Cleaners that are also deemed to be vulnerable people are expected to stay at home, but those that aren’t are free to continue providing their services as long as they still follow the rules.

Cleaners are expected to avoid face-to-face contact where possible and are asked to “communicate with households prior to arrival”.

When they do arrive, they need to ensure that those within the home they are cleaning understand “the social distancing and hygiene measures that should be followed once work has commenced”.

Staying safe during cleaning?

Cleaners also need to remove all household waste and cleaning products that they have used if they’re not going to be used again.

Any products that are to be re-used need to be cleaned thoroughly. Cleaners cannot enter the homes of people who are self-isolating following a positive Covid test.

They need to stay at least two metres from others throughout their visit, or one metre with risk mitigation when it’s not possible to keep a two-metre distance.

They must wear face coverings and minimise the time that they spend in confined spaces if they can’t avoid these altogether.

If cleaners are working with others, they should do so either back-to-back or side-to-side instead of face-to-face.

Covid secure cleaning

As you would expect, there is now a vast demand for cleaners with significant experience in keeping environments Covid-secure.

The virus tends to persist on hard surfaces for several hours, which gives it substantial opportunities to move from the hand to the body and therefore cause infection.

Sanitising surfaces can kill the virus quickly, whilst typical disinfectant products and hot, soapy water can reduce the level of it that’s left surfaces.

Surfaces which have proved responsible for transferring the virus include tables, doorknobs and handles, light switches, countertops, taps and sinks.

Even if the number of people coming in and out of your home is small, the virus can still be transmitted.