Leawood cleaning company sees increase in business because of flu

LEAWOOD, Kan. - The surge flu cases has created new business for Coverall, a health based cleaning system that disinfects offices and stores to help prevent employees from getting sick.

"Millions and millions of dollars are lost to sick employees every year," Coverall Regional Manager Casey Millsap said. "You lose a lot of workplace productivity and that's lost revenue. So it's really important for us to try make sure that we keep your office healthy."

Coverall treatment goes far behind dusters and Windex. Crews use professional disinfecting cleaning products and specially-made hand towels.

"We call them disinfecting bombs," Millsap said. "It's like a bug bomb. We just go in and we set them off and they do about 2 some thousand square feet."

The hand towels are numbered, so when cleaners fold them, they know which part of the cloth has been used and which part is still clean.

"You have eight chances," Coverall franchise owner Mark Gant said. "Eight uses out of one towel."

The towels are also color coded. Blue towels are for offices, yellow towels are for bathrooms and green towels are for kitchens.

"We don't want to cross contaminate," Gant said. "A bathroom rag is not going to be used in the office. An office rag is not going to be used in the bathroom."

Phones, keyboards, cabinets even elevator buttons all get thorough scrub down. 

Coverall cleaners said they can only be part of the solution. If people don't practice healthy habits, even the most thorough cleaning isn't going to help. They said washing hands, covering coughs and staying home when sick are just as important as the cleaning when it comes to keeping employees healthy.