Entertainment Venue Deep Cleaning Protocols.

Venues are getting ready to open up to capacity crowds and audiences with the proviso that visitors comply with the vaccination and testing protocols for COVID-19. Aside from more thorough routine cleaning in line with any new guidelines venue owners and event organisers should consider regular deep cleaning of their venues too. 

A deep clean varies from routine cleaning as it usually also involves fogging or dry spray disinfection for virus decontamination and can therefore penetrate areas not accessible by regular staff cleaners. There are now plenty of commercial cleaning companies that can offer such services and when selecting a contractor ensure that they have the appropriate certification for handling and use of any chemicals used in cleaning. As well as certification the chosen contractor should also provide evidence that their staff have been correctly trained and are suitably qualified. The selected contractor can assist venue owners with a risk assessment prior to any deep clean and this should form part of any documented cleaning procedures. 

As well as fogging and dry spray disinfecting check that the contractor will also be thoroughly cleaning all touch items like door handles, switches and AV controls for example. In addition, any deep clean should cover all public access areas plus staff and other restricted areas of the venue too. After any deep cleaning a good contractor will use black lights, referred to as ultraviolet lights (UV) to help detect if there are still any hidden pathogens present on walls, high-touch areas, ledges and furniture. Make sure that any contractor is fully trained and knows how to use UV lights correctly. The cleaning contractor should also provide advice and supply additional cleaning services including: 

• Touch free soap dispensers in toilets.
• Mini sanitiser packs for visitors.
• Signage to remind visitors about any prevailing protocols. 
  

Every venue will have their own cleaning staff who now need to follow new guidelines relating to coronavirus prevention. As well as employing an external contractor for regular deep cleaning it's possible that they can provide short training sessions for any permanent staff responsible for cleaning the venue on a daily basis. These staff should fully understand how antibacterial and antiviral cleaning products should be applied frequently to all of the surfaces that people are likely to come into contact with.

The new requirements and guidelines for cleaning entertainment venues are now a new reality for venue owners and whilst there are likely to be additional costs associated with this, they are also required to prevent future COVID-19 infection spread. Compliance with these measures will surely now be required by any authorities responsible for issuing relevant licences to allow venues to open and operate as normal. 

For organisers planning their music festival using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Photo by Roger Brown from Pexels

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