Changes of Cleaning Management Methods in Commercial Office Buildings During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of 5 Commercial Office Buildings on Wireless Road, Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

The detection of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was initially reported by The World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31st, 2019. Subsequently, WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11th, 2020. Generally, the person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 is through respiratory droplets generated by infected person during coughing or sneezing. Thus, commercial office buildings, particularly those with a large number of occupants, may pose a high risk of being a source to spread the Coronavirus. In order to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the commercial office buildings, it is imperative to implement the effective cleaning method. This study aims to examine the changed cleaning method for commercial office buildings on the Wireless road during the COVID-19 pandemic with five case studies. All data were gathered through examine information and related literature from books, theses, and related studies. Interviews with relevant stakeholders and survey of the premises. Then, the data was organized and analyzed to identify common characteristics, concluded and discussed in details.

Based on the results of this study, it was found that a shift from standard to pandemic cleaning management methods in commercial office buildings requires an additional list and a higher frequency of cleaning methods. In addition, it entails the procurement of specialized materials and equipment, as well as additional budget management. Furthermore, it was discovered that there are two methods to manage cleaning duties during the pandemic: 1) preventing and reducing the spread of infectious agents, and 2) inhibiting the in-site transmission after the discovery of an infectious person. Additionally, this study revealed that there are three factors affecting the cleaning management methods during the COVID-19 pandemic in commercial office buildings, including: 1) tenant organization type; 2) workspace type; and 3) an infected person.