Crime-scene cleaners in demand … from retailers
Coronavirus exposures spark demand for disinfecting services
Aftermath Services LLC. is a company that people would often call to clean up a home after a suicide or unattended death. Employees wearing extensive protective gear use precise routines and chemicals to clean, then disinfect surfaces.
Now that expertise is in high demand to clean retail stores, offices and chain restaurants exposed to the new coronavirus.
The Chicago firm has done around 500 jobs related to coronavirus exposure since late February, said Doug Berto, chief executive of the company, which operates about 50 biohazard cleanup offices. The sudden demand spike “put a strain on us,” he said.
Deep cleaning and disinfection that kills the coronavirus has quickly become a requirement for a range of businesses, from Walmart Inc. to high-end fitness clubs such as Equinox, causing a surge in demand for firms that provide disinfecting services, as well as the chemicals and other gear needed to do the job.
Aftermath dusted off its pandemic playbook created—but never used—to fight Ebola in 2014, ordering more disinfecting chemicals and personal protective gear in early February, Mr. Berto said. The cost of such services can range from $1,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the size and complexity of a space, industry executives say.
Disinfecting requires cleaning away dirt and oils, then using specific chemicals on surfaces or sprayed in the air, often allowing the chemicals to sit for a specific amount of time to kill bacteria and viruses, say executives at those businesses and cleaning firms.
“More retailers are asking staff to clean during the day when shoppers can witness the event” to help workers and shoppers to feel safe coming back to stores, said Tom Buiocchi, chief executive of ServiceChannel Inc. The technology company helps businesses such as CVS, Walmart and Chipotle book and manage facilitiesmaintenance and cleaning tasks. In recent weeks ServiceChannel added nearly 50 new cleaning and disinfecting companies to its platform, as requests for the service rise fast, Mr. Buiocchi said.
Retailers deemed essential by government officials that have largely remained open throughout the pandemic, including Walmart and Meijer Inc., the regional big-box chain, are running television ads that include lingering shots of staff wiping down surfaces.
“We are doing touch point disinfecting 12 times a day, then again overnight” in some environments, said Mark Minasian, chief executive of Kellermeyer Bergensons Services. The cleaning and facilities management firm works for Target Corp., Marriott International Inc., Amazon.com Inc., among others.
Since March, KBS has completed more than 120,000 acute coronavirus responses, an emergency request from a client to disinfect after a known or suspected case in a facility, Mr. Minasian said. Demand for acute services is leveling off, while preventive disinfecting demand is rising, he said. To meet demand KBS needed to lease its own trucks to move disinfecting chemicals and personal protective gear directly from manufacturer to its warehouses, Mr. Minasian said. It also has moved thousands of out-of-work cleaners in its hospitality business, hit by the slowdown in travel, over to preventive coronavirus cleanup, he said.
Grocers and big-box stores have closed to clean after outbreaks, and some workers have died. Over 90 Walmart workers from two Massachusetts stores have tested positive for the virus in recent weeks, and one has died, causing store closures for disinfection and outcry from labor activists and Sen. Elizabeth
Warren. At least 18 Walmart workers have died since the start of the outbreak, the Journal has reported.
“It may be impossible to track the source of anyone’s infection, especially in some of these communities that have felt the devastating impact of the virus,” such as Massachusetts, said a Walmart spokesman. “We are following the evolving guidance of public health experts, and we have quickly taken steps aimed at keeping our customers and associates safe,” including employee temperature checks and mandatory facial coverings, he said.
The need to disinfect has many smaller retailers, gyms and restaurants venturing into unfamiliar scientific territory.
“We have never thought about what disinfectants our cleaning companies were using,” said Fokke de Jong, chief executive of Suitsupply, a suit retailer with 46 stores in North America. “We were just looking at, ‘Is it clean and does it smell nice?’”
To design new cleaning protocols, Suitsupply executives have passed around a February study from the Journal of Hospital Infection titled “Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents,” Mr. de Jong said.
As the company’s stores gradually reopen around the world, employees are trained to wash doorknobs, payment stations, fitting rooms and other frequently touched areas often. A new employee guide says to use company-provided disinfectants or a “fresh 4% chlorine bleach solution.” After shoppers try on a suit, it is sent to the company’s tailors for steam cleaning.
Equinox, which operates 99 U.S. fitness clubs, hired two infectious-disease experts to help design its reopening protocol. The company researched which disinfectants and virucides would kill the virus, as well as be safe for use around workers and members, said Judy Turchin, chief operating officer of Equinox. It purchased bulk quantities.
Workers will wipe down surfaces regularly, then spray the disinfectant from cordless electrostatic backpacks, which help the chemicals fully coat surfaces, she said. Maintenance staff will increase by about 20% to meet the new safety standards once clubs reopen.
Spaulding Decon, a crimescene and disaster-restoration cleanup firm with 24 franchised U.S. locations, has been adding staff to keep up with demand related to the coronavirus, Chief Executive Laura Spaulding said. The franchisees, which typically have four workers, are hiring around three new workers apiece, she said.
Virus disinfection was about 5% of its business before coronavirus. It jumped to 90% of the business in March, Ms. Spaulding said. The number of calls to clean up after a known virus exposure is slowing in recent days, she said, with more businesses asking about preventive services.
“It’s easier for us labor wise to do a coronavirus than to clean up a suicide where the body was left unattended for two weeks,” Ms. Spaulding said. “That is very labor intensive.”