College Campus Maintenance Cleaning During Fall Semester and Beyond

The new school year is just getting underway, and that means that facilities maintenance teams are ramping up their cleaning schedule. Classroom cleaning, dormitory building cleaning, and many other spaces are on the long list of cleaning duties during the academic year, and they are critical to helping students and faculty stay safe. But these and other maintenance tasks can stretch custodial staff and resources very thin. 

This is why MasterCorp offers cleaning services to help any and all higher education facilities ensure proper cleaning and reduce the risk of disease transmission. Here we’ll take a deeper look at some important spaces that benefit from a regular cleaning schedule, areas where deep clean services can be beneficial, and how MasterCorp cleaning services can help support your custodial staff and facilities maintenance team in the fall and throughout the year.

College campus spaces that benefit from being cleaned and disinfected

During the coronavirus pandemic, many colleges and universities implemented enhanced cleaning practices to help reduce the risk of infection and prevent the spread of disease. These disease control and prevention practices introduced new cleaning supplies and maintenance tasks which have been very beneficial for students, faculty, and staff alike. 

These new facilities maintenance practices in many cases included developing new cleaning schedules to ensure that common spaces were regularly addressed. These spaces often came with certain challenges to cleaning, especially during the academic year.

• College dorm rooms and buildings: During the school year, dormitory buildings are fully occupied. As a result, it can be a challenge to develop a regular cleaning schedule or deep clean routine. College dorm cleaning includes making sure that door handles and other high-touch surfaces are cleaned and disinfected, along with restrooms and other common areas.
• College classrooms: Because many classrooms and lecture halls are only used for part of each day, it is a bit easier to develop a cleaning schedule and facilities maintenance routine for these spaces. However, they still present unique challenges for cleaning, including shared furniture and surfaces, high-traffic floors, and high-touch areas like desks and door handles.
• Laboratories: Lab rooms and similar scientific spaces on college campuses have their own unique cleaning needs, including chemical spills, fumes or odors, and surfaces requiring regular disinfection.
• Offices: College campuses also have hundreds of office spaces spread across numerous structures. All of these are high-occupancy spaces where employees and faculty spend many hours each day. They also require proper cleaning for disease control and prevention, especially during the school year.
• Libraries: Reference areas, study cubbies, bookshelves, and many other unique spaces exist in college library facilities. And each of them requires unique cleaning practices that will produce results while protecting valuable volumes and collections.

These are just a handful of the many unique spaces found on college campuses, and all of them require a specific cleaning schedule and facilities maintenance plan to ensure the safety of faculty, students, staff, and visitors.

Cleaning schedule considerations for college facilities

Given the variety of spaces to consider, it can be difficult for facilities maintenance staff to manage all college campus maintenance cleaning during the academic year and beyond. However, there are some basic considerations that can help staff develop and follow a cleaning schedule that addresses all spaces regularly.

1. Downtime of each space – While some spaces may be occupied at all times, most will have some downtime during which they can be cleaned and disinfected. Offices, some libraries, and classrooms all have hours when they are not in use, and this can be a good place to start in determining a schedule
2. Needs of each space – Some rooms or areas are used less frequently, and therefore can be cleaned less often. Figuring out the traffic of each building or room can help determine how frequently deep cleaning is needed.
3. Student and faculty assistance – in some spaces, such as classrooms, faculty and students may help keep high touch spaces clean by using disinfecting wipes, microfiber cloth, or other materials. Office staff may also have a routine for basic surface cleaning, which can help keep some spaces clean in between deep cleaning services.

Taking these factors and others into consideration can help facilities maintenance teams develop a cleaning schedule that addresses not only classroom cleaning but all spaces and buildings.

Supporting Your Facilities Staff with Professional Cleaning Services

MasterCorp offers education facility cleaning services in a variety of ways. From supplementing your current maintenance teams and custodial staff to providing comprehensive cleaning service for all higher education spaces, we take pride in partnering with you and your team to provide the best level of service and support available. 

From deep clean services in all higher education buildings to specialized cleaning services including HVAC systems, laboratories, medical facilities, and more, contact our team to learn how MasterCorp can enhance your campus buildings. We will team with you to understand your needs and develop a customized plan that saves you time and money while ensuring the safety of your students, faculty, staff, and visitors throughout the school year.