The Covid-19 pandemic has posed challenges for many businesses, but especially for gyms and fitness centers.
At the height of the pandemic, many loyal customers got in the habit of doing their workouts (like everything else) at home.
But now, as people cautiously begin revisiting their friendly neighborhood gym, owners and operators face a new challenge in keeping these centers safe.
The truth is, the germs that cause virus and infection spread quickly in the sweaty, hands-on environment of the gym. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Here are some simple steps you can take to boost safety and cleanliness without sacrificing the workout fun.
1. Encourage frequent handwashing
Place handwashing stations in convenient locations throughout the facility. Strongly encourage customers to wash up each time they finish a workout and move to another area.
Insist upon it especially when entering and exiting the facility. Employees should always wash hands after wiping down equipment or surfaces.
Post plenty of signs around the facility to remind customers and employees of the importance of handwashing.
2. Encourage customers to bring their own reusable water bottles
Communal water fountains are so 2019. Replace these with touch-free bottle filling stations.
Encourage customers and employees to get in the habit of bringing a reusable water bottle from home which they can refill at the gym as often as they need to.
3. Staff should wear masks and gloves
Employees should remain masked as much as possible, but especially when cleaning the exercise equipment. Staff that have to touch high-contact surfaces should be required to wear gloves as well.
Some experts even advise the use of full PPE (i.e., a helmet, face shield, gown and goggles) when cleaning. But masks and gloves should be the bare minimum. This protects your employees as well as those with whom they come in contact.
4. Spray or wipe down equipment with disinfectant
Spray down equipment with disinfectant spray after each use.
Another option is to wipe it down with disinfectant wipes. Educate your customers on the importance of wiping down each piece of equipment in the gym after they use it.
In addition, maintain a daily cleaning schedule to ensure that all surfaces are cleaned and disinfected regularly.
5. Fogging a disinfectant
As stated, it is ideal to wipe down the equipment after each use by the users. However, the actual situation is that the staff may be lacking in manpower and the users may not be well educated.
In addition, people who visit gyms touch not only the equipment, but also doorknobs, benches, and any other place they can find. In other words, bacteria and viruses can be present everywhere.
In such cases, space fogging with a disinfectant that is safe for people is worth considering. In particular, fogging hypochlorous acid water (also known as ECA) at a low concentration of 80ppm in a space has a lot of published test data on its effectiveness and safety.
Normally, when this disinfectant is applied to surfaces, it is used at concentrations of 100~400ppm, depending on the application, but in space spraying, it has been confirmed that even at concentrations as low as 80ppm, 99.99% reduction of S. aureus has been recorded after 5 hours of spraying. In terms of safety, the concentration at 30cm from the floor is 0.02ppm, which is much lower than 0.5ppm, the Japanese occupational safety standard for reference. Another characteristic of hypochlorous acid water is that it leaves almost no residue.
If you would like to know more about this system, or if you are interested in installing it, please contact us.
Conclusion
By following these steps, you can ensure that everyone who visits or works in your gym or fitness center remains clean, happy and healthy in the post-pandemic area and beyond.
