This year, even the cleanest public places suddenly seemed to be more unsanitary than usual. What did this mean for a place like your local gym or school’s locker room? Well, let’s just say that we were all on the same page as far as temporary shutdowns for locker room sanitization.
With widespread distribution of a vaccine just around the corner, it may be time to start thinking about how to best sanitize that locker room. Even with a healthy and vaccinated population, we have seen first-hand how airborne germs and bacteria can spread so easily, and be such a detriment. Luckily, sanitization technology has innovated accordingly to meet these new needs. Here are some locker room sanitization suggestions:
Locker Room Sanitization: Foggers & Sprays
A new catalogue of no-touch disinfectant spray and fogger devices have hit the market in the U.S. These devices enable cleaning crews to slowly but surely coat all locker room surfaces with a film of antibacterial disinfectant solution, and kill, as they say, “99.9% of germs and bacteria.”
Where traditional cleaning methods fail in reaching all nooks and crannies of your typical locker room, a disinfectant spray device will effectively reach and disinfect every inch of a locker room from top to bottom. Of course, all-inclusive cleanings such as this method may not be possible throughout the day – for example, in between classes or during normal operating hours – so an exhaustive disinfecting should be saved for the end of the day. This should leave time for all surfaces, areas, and lockers to absorb the cleaning liquids and dry.
Locker Room Sanitization: Individual Cleaning Kits
Throughout the day, a typical locker room will see a lot of visitors, and on average, these visitors will be anywhere from sweaty to dirty, or muddy. Locker rooms are also a place where soiled clothing is removed, and people cleanse themselves in the facilities. Bathrooms, sinks, showers, and lockers are all high volume areas, so even the most diligent sanitation staff wouldn’t be able to clean and disinfect these high volume areas as efficiently as the combined efforts of each locker room user.
Many gyms have adopted the offering of communal disinfectant supplies. Place 15 or 20 spray bottles filled with the same EPA-approved disinfectant solution at the entrance of the locker room, along with rolls of durable paper towels, and advise locker room visitors to spray and wipe down all surfaces they touch or use before and after use. This will keep minimal the need for re-cleaning and re-disinfecting the high volume areas, and will give everyone some peace of mind.
Locker Room Sanitization: UV Disinfecting Lamps
An attractive new disinfecting method has been found in UV lamps and bulbs. While it’s advised that these lamps aren’t used to disinfect any part of the human body, UV lights, specifically, UVC lights, can be added or installed in locker rooms to supplement the around-the-clock disinfecting efforts without requiring much effort on the part of sanitization staff.