Keeping The Spread Of Infection At Bay In Stadiums

Jamie Woodhall, Technical & Innovations Manager at Rentokil Specialist Hygiene

In the UK, much of the rest of the world, it feels like everyday life has been turned upside down by Coronavirus. This highly contagious disease has spread to nearly every country in the world, with more than two million people known to be infected. As a result, governments across the globe have enforced social distancing measures Alongside a variety of other restrictions.

In a post-lockdown world, whenever that comes, it will be more important than ever before that sports stadium managers ensure they take the right measures to keep their facilities hygienically clean, and venue employees players and fans safe.

Regular Cleaning Is Essential

Due to their size, footfall and the nature of their layout, stadiums will naturally at times have lots of people in a relatively small space. It is therefore essential that those managing these sites take action, to ensure their facilities don’t serve as a hotbed for viral infection. We advise that standard, regular cleaning is scheduled and tracked, ensuring that it takes place regularly and on time.

It might sound simple but encouraging proper hand hygiene amongst the personnel working in stadiums is essential. Our hands are a natural breeding ground for germs and one of the principal carriers of harmful pathogens – in fact, 80% of infections are spread by hand. Ensuring employees onsite have access to the essential handwashing tools – warm water, soap, drying facilities and ideally, hand sanitiser – goes a long way. There should be ample supplies of these products in the washrooms, breakout and kitchen areas throughout the building, paired with handwashing reminders to encourage best practice.

Proactive Prevention

On top of a regular cleaning regime, facilities managers should be looking to book a minimum of two deep cleans per year, depending on the size of the ground and its hours of operation more may be advisable. When grounds are in use, it is worth considering even more regular deep cleans, such as after every use, to minimise the risk of spreading infection. We recommend that all managers contact professional cleaning companies to create a bespoke service and frequency schedule that works for them. Professionally managed deep cleaning is especially important during a period of illness outbreak, and will tackle those hard-to-reach or rarely seen areas where potentially harmful micro-organisms may have built up. A deep clean should include a thorough disinfection of high frequency touch points as well as moving all furniture or equipment away from the walls, to make sure no areas are missed from the standard cleaning routine. One powerful tool in the deep cleaning arsenal is Ultra Low Volume (ULV) disinfection fogging. This involves using a fogger to generate a mist of disinfectant which settles on top of, underneath and on the sides of objects, enabling specialist technicians to disinfect a large area in a short period of time.

Stadium managers should also consider proactively preparing in case a deep clean is required, such as in the event they have a suspected or confirmed Coronavirus diagnosis onsite. This would require a contingency survey of the premises, typically offered by experts to enable them to gather key information in advance, including preparing a site-specific risk assessment, to enable a quick response in the event of a confirmed or suspected case of Coronavirus being reported on the site at a later date.

If there are no confirmed or suspected cases of Coronavirus on a site, an all-purpose specialist disinfection may be appropriate to help protect against microbial infection, and to help maintain a high level of hygiene in the facility.

Reacting Quickly

In addition to prevention, it’s also important that in the event of a confirmed or suspected case of Coronavirus on the premises, the site manager reacts quickly. According to government guidance, in most circumstances the amount of infectious virus on any contaminated surface is likely to have significantly decreased after 72 hours. This is a key consideration to determine the type of specialist disinfection service that your stadium will need.

For locations with a confirmed or suspected case of Coronavirus on the premises and where the site needs to be up and running quickly, then Rentokil Specialist Hygiene would implement stringently risk assessed infection control measures that go beyond the minimum World Health Organisation guidance.

Firstly, a service manager will survey the site wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), and respiratory protective equipment (RPE). Then, guided by the site-specific risk assessment, method statement and safe operating procedures, Royal Society for Public Health qualified staff would meticulously disinfect rooms and areas that pose a threat of causing cross contamination, using a high-level surface disinfectant on surfaces such as floors, walls, ceilings and any objects. ULV disinfection fogging may also be used when required, to allow for the treatment of large areas in a short space of time.

For locations who can afford to wait 72 hours, then a slightly different process would be followed which could include disinfecting key touchpoints, such as door handles and kitchen surfaces, using a using high-level surface disinfectant to help minimise the risk of infection. ULV disinfection fogging would also be carried out, to help ensure that all necessary areas are disinfected.

Qualified technicians should always be equipped with the necessary PPE, RPE and specialist disinfection equipment, to provide specialist cleaning and disinfection service options safely and effectively. With many businesses adapting to a "delivery model" or having essential fleet vehicles they need kept on the road, a Vehicle Disinfection Service such as ours, which provides a full disinfection of cars, vans and lorries to help safeguard employees and customers, would also be advisable.

All waste generated as part of the disinfection process needs to be segregated onsite and then disposed of in a safe and legally compliant manner, in line with guidance set out by Public Health England, to help eliminate cross contamination.

Final Words

When it comes to cleaning regimes, proactivity is essential to help prevent the spread of disease, particularly during an illness outbreak such as Coronavirus. While hand hygiene will help stem cross contamination, specialist deep cleans will offer that extra level of protection and will provide reassurance to site users that the stadium is hygienically clean.