Page 14 - NY Cooperator Expo April 2019

14 THE COOPERATOR —APRIL 2019 COOPERATOR.COM Hygiene in Shared Amenities Keeping It Clean BY A J SIDRANSKY LANDSCAPING, LAWN CARE & CURB APPEAL/EXPO O ne of the biggest perks of mod- ern multifamily living is the all- inclusive, amenity-rich building or HOA. Depending on your own building’s offerings, you can go to the gym, swim, have a spa treatment, entertain your kids in the community playroom, or even take in a movie. When you add in food delivery ser- vices, work-from-home arrangements and Netflix, you don’t really have to leave the building if you don’t want to. Keeping amenities well maintained is crucial to retaining their value and protect- ing the safety of those who use them. But that maintenance goes beyond just keeping the floors swept and the lights on. What about hygiene? Is the spa as clean as you would like to believe? Is the children’s play- room a real-life petri dish? Is the screening room a stopover for bed bugs or roaches? Insuring the Best Conditions Gail Hamilton is the New York City Ex- ecutive Director/partner at Professional Fitness Management, a firm that manages building amenities in the greater New York/ New Jersey and Washington, D.C. markets. She has more than 30 years’ experience in the field and has worked all over the con- tinental United States. “For each facility,” she says, “you want to make sure there is adequate signage with the rules and regu- lations, disclaimers, emergency procedures and contact personnel displayed inside the facility. For instance, ‘slippery when wet,’ around pool areas and in shower areas. Things that reduce risk to the property and personnel should be posted and clearly un- derstandable. There should also be training in place for any on-site personnel.” “The top priority is to maintain a safe, hygienic environment,” says Vincent Ra- polla, a property manager at 77 Hudson Street, a 420-unit high-rise condominium in Jersey City, New Jersey. One of the means his team uses to accomplish that is a system of sign-offs to keep track of what’s going on in the association’s various amenity areas – particularly the pool and health club. Done by the maintenance staff, the sign-offs keep track of what safety and hygiene measures where completed, and at what time. “This way I can always tell our clients with cer- tainty that we are keeping the facility in top shape,” says Rapolla. Pools and Spas “Pools, saunas, and so forth are known as ‘bathing establishments,’” in industry lingo, says Hamilton. “And a bathing estab- lishment comes under the auspices of the New York City co-op and condo manage- Department of Health in New York City. ment firm, says they have gyms in about There are approximately 15 signage bullet 25 of the buildings they manage. “In small points pertaining to pool safety and hy- giene. There are four \\\[inspection\\\] cycles per “with, say, less than 12 pieces of equipment, year, and city inspectors come around un- announced. A pool has to be permitted, and gyms in his buildings are also unstaffed, once the pool is permitted, the permit goes as they are neither large nor busy enough to the Department of Health, which then to require full-time attendants. “The gyms comes and does an inspection. If you don’t are cleaned twice a day by the buildings’ have any violations, they come back about maintenance staff,” he says. “Gyms tend to every three months or so. If you do have a be busy early in the morning, from say 5:00 violation, and you can correct it on the spot, a.m. to 8:00 a.m., then not again till late in they don’t close you down. But if you can’t, the afternoon into the evening. We clean they will close you down on the spot. When once in the late morning, and once in the you rectify the issue, they will return and re- inspect within a few weeks.” Saunas and Steam Rooms Hamilton cautions that the issue in steam rooms and saunas is more about safety than cleanliness, in most situations. Inspectors are seeking to make sure that temperature controls are working properly – because heat can kill. If the controls aren’t accurate, that’s a major risk both to anyone using the facility and to the building or association in terms of liability. Alarms have to be func- tioning and fully operational. Signage is re- quired, as are working temperature gauges. for a children’s play area to quickly become showed her the sign-off logs building staff You don’t want anyone to roast, poach or a petri dish of bacteria and other biohaz- steam to death. Gyms and Fitness Rooms Dan Wollman, CEO of Gumley Haft, a gyms in residential buildings,” he says, there aren’t any regular inspections.” The later evening. We have a machine called a Dupray machine, which is a ‘green’ prod- uct. It cleans and disinfects at the same time with superheated water which reaches 212 degrees. As one of my supers says, ‘No one is allergic to water.’ These facilities often have security cameras as well, not to spy on the residents, but rather for security and emergencies to alert the front desk in the event of a problem.” Childrens’ Play Spaces Kids are a blessing, but they can also be keeping a dirty playroom after her grand- messy. Fun as they are, it doesn’t take long child became sick following a visit. Rapolla ards. To prevent the spread of illness and as well as the products they used. That sat- infection among young residents (and their adult caregivers), “all toys should be wiped down every day with disinfecting and sani- tizing solution,” says Hamilton. This should be done by the building staff, but parents should do it too. “There should be sanitizing wipes all over the playroom as well. Chang- ing tables should be set off at the far end of the rooms.” Buildings can adopt a policy of not allowing sick children to enter common play areas, but these policies are determined on a building-by-building basis. “There are general rules,” says Wollman, “but we don’t tell parents how to raise their children. At 1125 Park, for instance, they have both gym and playroom rules. We ask that residents clean up after their children and that they not have parties in the play- room. We also use the Dupray machine in the playroom. It cleans everything and any- thing.” Rapolla says that while they don’t have a specific policy to keep sick kids out of the playroom at 77 Hudson, they do what they can to keep the playroom hygienic. They got rid of all the small toys, and wipe down ev- erything a couple of times a day. He relates a story of one resident who accused them of uses to keep track of cleaning and hygiene, ISTOCKPHOTO.COM