Creating a safe environment for customers and staff to use Technology in hospitality
The challenge of the CV-19 era in the hospitality arena is to ensure the safety of staff and customers from infection by the virus. This takes the form of physical signage and new cleaning processes for all surfaces and equipment with multiple touchpoints.
The visible signs to the customer demonstrate that all is being done to ensure safe social distancing which is manifest in one-way systems, safe queueing spots, single use menus and tables strategically placed to ensure the social distance is maintained between diners. Cleanliness is promoted by hand sanitizer placed on customer hotspots at the entrance, by the toilets and on the tables.
For the staff in the hospitality environment the installation of screens around the ordering points and the use of visors by staff are physical representations of the commitment to safety of the staff.
For both staff and customers, there are physical devices they both use that need to be cleaned after every use. The most common device used by customers is the payment device. All customers will be entering a PIN for transactions over £45 and the device keypad should be cleaned after every user to ensure no viruses or bacteria are on the keypad. There will probably be multi staff users of touchscreens, keyboards, tablets and even headsets. Once again, if these are to be effectively disinfected, these devices must be cleaned after every user, or at the end of each shift.
The new cleaning cycle is expensive in both products and labour and if done correctly creates a downtime for equipment. The cycle also creates risk of damage as equipment such as payment devices, touchscreens, tablets and keyboards are not designed to remain wet for 3 minutes to ensure that the manual cleaning process is completed – this 3 minute dwell time is key to the cleaning product being effective.
It is important that both customers and staff should see these cleaning processes being implemented and this physical commitment will make them feel they are in a safe environment. With customers prioritising safety and cleanliness over value for money and choice, restaurants looking to attract customers in the post-pandemic world cannot afford not to be seen to do this.
In an ideal world this cleaning cycle for technology would be automated and not require labour, reduce the amount of chemicals being used, would not lead to damaged technology and crucially would be effective in killing harmful bacteria and viruses.
The ENS group (The world’s Number 1 supplier of hardware mounting solutions) has launched a portfolio of products utilising UV technology to disinfect high touch surfaces. This technology ensures 99.9 % of viruses and bacteria are automatically removed from all essential front and back of house technology hardware after each interaction on it by any user. For fixed payment devices, touchscreens (Tablets and monitors up to 24”), clocking-in devices and keyboards we are able to mount the UV clean light solution above each device.
For mobile payment devices, tablets and headsets we have the standalone tray solution where after each use the technology can be put on the tray for quick disinfection (menus, keys, pens and notes can also be used on this device). The standalone tray is also an ideal companion to our safe to pay payment solution which allows the hospitality user to mount a payment device on a handle (ideal for drive-thru). The device can be placed on the tray for cleaning after the customer transaction is complete.
These small, visible and effective solutions will ensure staff and customers see the commitment to safety from the hospitality location.
Full details of all the products can be found on our website: https://www.ens-co.com/products/safe-and-productive-portfolio/
