(Adds details from company)
By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen
COPENHAGEN, May 6 (Reuters) - Returning to work after the
coronavirus lockdown, you could find 'hygiene stewards' on hand
to ask after your health, tell you how to disinfect your mobile
phone, or set up one-way traffic on the staircase.
Denmark's ISS, one of the world's biggest private
employers, said on Wednesday it was seeing higher demand for
disinfection and deep cleaning, as well as advice on how to
maintain social distancing in the workplace.
While airport, hotel and catering services were hard hit by
the lockdown, new business opportunities are arising as large
clients prepare to let people return to work.
"We are training 'hygiene stewards' around the world who
will clean and disinfect workplaces during the day and advise
people on how to act," CEO Jeff Gravenhorst told Reuters in an
interview. "Feeling safe is a big part of returning to work."
In addition to the normal cleaning routine in the evening or
overnight, such stewards will be present during working hours
and help encourage workers to follow guidelines on hygiene and
social distancing.
Britain's Rentokil Initial said last month it had
trained some 7,000 of its staff to perform disinfection and deep
cleaning services, as it was preparing for new business in
markets where restrictions were being eased.
"All our large customers are now contemplating how to return
to work," Gravenhorst said. "We are the last to shut down sites
and the first to reopen them when people begin to return to
their workplaces."
ISS staff will offer advice on how to limit the risk of
spreading the virus, including how to act in the reception or
canteen or how to disinfect mobile phones.
Wearing uniforms and protective gear, the hygiene stewards
will also measure the temperature of every person entering the
building and ask questions about their well-being and
whereabouts to make sure sick people don't turn up to work.
While China and other parts of Asia had reopened, people had
also started to return to work in Denmark, Austria, Belgium and
to a lesser extend in Spain and Italy. Other markets like
Mexico, Indonesia and Singapore had seen the opposite trend.
"We are still in the eye of the storm," Gravenhorst said.
The Copenhagen-based company, which also competes with
companies such as Sodexo and G4S, delivers
services such as cleaning and catering to more than 200,000
clients in 63 countries.
Gravenhorst said that as a result of the lockdown, ISS had
temporarily or permanently laid off just under a quarter of its
471,000 workforce, but that most would return to work once
business picks up.
ISS posted first-quarter revenue of 19.1 billion Danish
crowns ($2.8 billion) on Wednesday, above the 18.2 billion
forecast by analysts.
($1 = 6.8883 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen
Editing by Keith Weir)
