One element of this approach is the Clean and Green initiative. Through Clean and Green, OU’s campuses are being meticulously cleaned to support a safe and gradual return to normal operations.
Enhanced Daily Cleaning
Over the past two months, custodial staff and specialized contractors have been working around the clock to disinfect campus buildings, utilizing enhanced daily cleaning protocols to ensure the highest standards of hygiene and facility modifications to support current COVID-19 prevention best practices.
Electrostatic Cleaning
Commercial electrostatic sprayers will help clean hard-to-reach areas weekly on all three campuses. Electrostatic spray devices release charged particles of cleaning solution that evenly coat all sides of a surface. This novel technique was used to extensively clean across all campuses during spring break, and since then, most campus buildings have remained closed to prevent contamination. Facilities that house essential operations, like clinics and high-occupancy areas at OUHSC and OU-Tulsa, have been thoroughly treated on a regular basis. As the Norman campus gradually repopulates, classrooms, restrooms, elevators and residential common areas will receive weekly electrostatic cleaning.
Clean and Green in the Residence Halls
Extra cleaning protocols have been implemented to reduce any potential spread of the virus in the residence halls. During spring break and through the end of move-out, Housing Operations cleaned with disinfectant throughout all areas and touch points. As preparations for fall move-in grow closer, touch points and common areas of residence halls will be disinfected daily. Residential common spaces and community bathrooms will receive electrostatic cleaning weekly, and more frequently as needed. University Operations is consulting internal and external environmental health and safety experts to research and test in-room devices with efficacy claims of reducing microbial threats like viruses, bacteria and fungi.
Facility Upgrades
Special attention is being given to how facilities can be modified to mitigate the spread of the virus. Manual bathroom fixtures and toilets are being replaced with touchless, motion-sensor fixtures in all public restrooms. To help improve indoor air quality, air filters across all campuses will be upgraded to hospital-grade standards across all three campuses. Throughout the university, 750 additional hand sanitizer stations have been installed near building entrances, elevators and outside of public restrooms.
Green: A Sustainable Campus
In prioritizing human health, OU continues to make sustainable choices to protect environmental health. The Norman campus ranks as a top 15 university for renewable energy and is a three-time Princeton Review Green College. Across all three campuses, the university is transitioning more of the products it uses to maintain its facilities to environmentally friendly alternatives, and as always, is looking for new opportunities to conserve energy and resources.
Additional details on the Clean and Green Initiative are available at ou.edu/cleanandgreen.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information visit www.ou.edu.
