The holiday season is a critical time for UK retailers, and TCFM is here to help with all your retail cleaning. With increased foot traffic, extended trading hours, and the pressure to create a memorable shopping experience, facilities management plays a crucial role in ensuring a successful and profitable holiday season for the retail sector.
TC Facilities Management (TCFM) is a leading provider of facilities management solutions in the UK. We understand the challenges retailers face during the holiday season. This retail cleaning guide provides practical advice and actionable tips to help you prepare your retail facility for the holiday rush.
Retail Cleaning: Touchpoints
Touchpoint cleaning focuses on disinfecting the surfaces and objects that people frequently come into contact with. In retail, such ‘touchpoints’ include door handles, lift buttons, handrails and checkout areas. Because of the extra traffic during the holiday rush, additional touchpoint cleaning reduces the spread of germs and bacteria, which can spread illnesses.
Drawing on our experience across thousands of sites, TCFM uses cutting-edge products and techniques for touchpoint cleaning. Our advanced cleaning solutions not only eradicate bacteria but also provide lasting surface protection, ensuring a cleaner and healthier environment between professional cleans.
How TCFM can help: TCFM understands the heightened importance of touchpoint cleaning in the post-pandemic world. We recommend adding touchpoint cleaning as part of your retail cleaning contract. To further support your needs, we can also provide:
- Deep cleans: For a thorough and intensive clean.
- Top-up cleans: Ideal for high-traffic periods.
- Surface protection consultation: Expert advice on specialised treatments to maintain hygiene between cleans.
Simply let us know your requirements, and we’ll tailor a cleaning solution to meet your specific needs.
Health and Safety Considerations
Plan for crowd control to manage high-traffic areas and prevent overcrowding. The holiday season often sees a significant increase in customer traffic, which can lead to congestion and potential safety hazards. Implement measures to manage crowds effectively, such as creating designated walkways, using barriers to guide customer flow, and deploying additional colleagues to monitor high-traffic areas.
Also, regularly inspect and maintain floors to prevent slips and trips. The holiday season often brings inclement weather, increasing the risk of slips and falls on wet or slippery floors. Implement a proactive approach to floor safety by using anti-slip mats, strategically placing warning signs, and ensuring that any spills are cleaned up immediately.
Emergency exits should always be clear and accessible. In the event of an emergency, it is crucial that customers and colleagues can evacuate the premises quickly and safely. Ensure that all emergency exits are clearly marked, free from obstructions, and check that they are equipped with functioning emergency lighting.
Have trained first aid personnel available. Accidents can happen despite your best efforts to prevent them. Ensure that you have trained first aid personnel on hand to respond to any medical emergencies that may arise during the holiday season.
How TCFM can help: TCFM offers expert facilities management services to increase the productivity of your premises, keep your colleagues safe and improve workplace wellbeing.
Colleague Training Recommendations
All colleagues should be aware of emergency procedures. In the event of an emergency, it is crucial that all your colleagues know what to do and how to respond. Conduct regular training sessions to refresh their knowledge of emergency procedures, including evacuation routes, fire safety protocols, and first aid procedures.
To ensure the safety and well-being of everyone in the workplace, it is imperative that all colleagues are thoroughly familiar with emergency procedures and can respond effectively in critical situations. This necessitates comprehensive and recurring training sessions and a plan to keep their knowledge of emergency protocols current and readily applicable.
Emergency procedures training should be conducted at least once a year, with more frequent sessions for high-risk departments or roles. Training content must cover all critical aspects of emergency response, including:
- Evacuation routes and procedures, ensuring staff can quickly and safely exit the building in various emergencies.
- Fire safety protocols, encompassing fire prevention, the proper use of fire extinguishers, and the location of fire alarms.
- First aid procedures, equipping colleagues with basic life-saving skills to handle medical emergencies until professional help arrives.
How TCFM can help: TCFM offers incident response plans as a standard part of an initial site security analysis.
Security Measures and Loss Prevention
Increase CCTV monitoring to deter theft and ensure public safety. The holiday season usually sees unwelcome increases in theft and other security incidents. Enhance your CCTV monitoring to deter criminal activity and ensure the safety of your customers and colleagues. Consider deploying additional roving security personnel during peak trading hours to provide a visible deterrent and rapid response capability.
Implement strict inventory control measures to prevent stock loss. Accurate inventory management is crucial during the holiday season to prevent stock loss and ensure that you can meet customer demand. Implement robust inventory control measures, including regular stock checks, secure storage practices, and colleague training on inventory management procedures.
How TCFM can help: Our specialist security services team can provide extra physical security patrols and help you train colleagues on loss prevention strategies and how to identify suspicious behaviour.
Proactive Maintenance and Emergency Response
Conduct regular preventative maintenance to minimise the risk of breakdowns. A proactive approach to maintenance can help prevent costly and disruptive breakdowns during the holiday season. Schedule preventative maintenance for critical equipment, such as lighting and security systems, to ensure their continued operation during this critical period.
Develop a comprehensive emergency maintenance plan to ensure a quick response to any issues. Despite your best efforts, unexpected breakdowns or facilities-related emergencies can and do occur. Develop a comprehensive emergency maintenance plan to ensure a quick and effective response to any issues that may arise. This plan should include contact information for emergency maintenance services, escalation procedures, and contingency plans for critical equipment failures.
How TCFM can help: TCFM’s facility services include access to a nationwide network of maintenance experts who can help you fix critical failures promptly.
Contact TCFM Today
TCFM is committed to providing exceptional facilities management services to the retail sector in the UK. Our bespoke cleaning solutions are designed to meet your specific needs and ensure a smooth and successful holiday season. Contact TCFM today to learn more about how we can help you prepare your retail facility for the holiday rush.