To help navigate their way through the pandemic successfully, universities around the UK have been spending millions of pounds each on ensuring that their campuses are made covid-secure, including cleaning, staff training, signage, social distancing measures, personal protective equipment and hand sanitiser.
This is according to a new analysis from Research Professional News (RPN), revealing the changes that have been made between March, when the first national lockdown was introduced, and September.
King’s College London, for example, has estimated that it will spend £14,449,660 over the academic year to make the campus safe. The biggest expense will go on creating enough space for social distancing, reaching £5,175,000, while£4,111,666 will go on masks, wipe pods and sanitisers.
Queen Mary, University of London, meanwhile, will have spent £35,820 on specialist cleaning, almost £200,000 on screens and over £600,000 on PPE and hand sanitiser.
RPN’s associate editor Harriet Swain said: “Some of these figures uncovered by the freedom of information request are staggering. They show just how much it is costing universities to keep their campuses open during the pandemic.
“They also show how some universities - particularly those that have set up their own testing systems - are spending a lot more than others. Since much of the spending is on ongoing expenses, such as hand sanitiser and cleaning, the costs are likely to increase substantially over the next few months.”
Hygiene in the workplace and elsewhere has never been more important than right now to help reduce transmission of the coronavirus and ensure the protection of those on-site. Appropriate products should be used and staff should be properly trained, but it can also be very beneficial to hire commercial cleaning services to help you get on top of it all.