Covid Car Cleaning Procedures – A2A Easypark
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Covid Car Cleaning Procedures

Covid-19 Cleaning and Disinfecting Procedures

A2A Easypark Driving Academy, Inc.

Here are some cleaning and disinfecting procedures to help protect yourself and your students, helping to minimise the chances of passing infections from person to person.

The following procedure is based on the cleaning of the Corolla L trim vehicle, and the procedure is similar for the Prius vehicle. The idea is to disinfect all surfaces the driver touches with his or her hands while operating the motor vehicle. Do a full cleaning/disinfecting once at the start or at the end of your workday and do a partial cleaning clean before and after each student of just those things a student touches while in the car.

Use a soap/ or detergent/water solution for cleaning and use your alcohol-based solution for disinfecting. First, make sure to clean any visible signs of dirt, then disinfect starting from outside the vehicle and moving in a counterclockwise circle from passenger side to driver’s side, wearing your freshly cleaned and disinfected gloves.

FULL PROCEDURE

Outside:

  • Disinfect rear passenger outside door handle, then front passenger outside door handle
  • Front driver outside door handle, then rear driver outside door handle.

Enter cab, close door, and open driver’s window for ventilation, then disinfect

Inside Driver Door:

  • the seat belt height adjuster on the door jamb, and the seat belt buckle
  • the exit assist handle on the roof line (the so-called “oh sh*t!” handle)
  • seat riser handle and seat-back tilt handle on the side at the seat bottom
  • the trunk release and gas door release levers on the floor between door and seat
  • the manual under seat forward/aft seat slide adjustment handle
  • inside door close pull handle and change holder cup
  • the inside door lock and release/opening handle
  • the window controls (manual or power).

Disinfect across the front dashboard, from left to right,

Driver Side Dashboard:

  • the left vent controls for opening the vent and directing the airflow
  • the mirror selection switch and the mirror adjustment switch
  • the hood release lever
  • visor and vanity mirror
  • the turn signal switch
  • the steering wheel outside, the horn, and the tilt/telescopic lever underneath steering column
  • the windshield wiper switch.

At the Centre Dash:

  • overhead interior light and switch
  • the rear-view mirror front, back and edges
  • the two centre vents directional controls
  • the hazard lights switch
  • the radio knobs and buttons
  • the three centre circle dials (fan blower location, fan speed and fan temperature)
  • AUX cover and clock buttons
  • centre change cup/power outlet lid
  • the gear selector and the emergency brake handle and button
  • the cup holder top surface, the centre console top surface and centre cubby release button
  • the red seatbelt release buttons for both driver and passenger.

Passenger Side Dash:

  • visor and vanity mirror
  • both handles for opening the two glove boxes
  • the left vent controls for opening the vent and directing the airflow.

Passenger Door and Side

  • the manual under seat forward/aft seat sliding adjustment handle
  • the window opening controls (manual crank or power)
  • the inside door lock and release/opening handle
  • inside door close pull handle and change holder cup
  • the exit assist handle at the roof line (the so-called “oh sh*t!” handle)
  • the seat belt height adjuster on the door pillar and the seat belt buckle
  • seat-back tilt handle on the side at the bottom.

Put all used paper towels inside a plastic bag and tie the top temporarily, then disinfect your gloves. At the end of the day, tie the top of the bag tightly and dispose of the bag and the used towels in the regular trash. Do not reuse the same bag.

Sample Partial Disinfect Procedure

This is a typical example of how and what to disinfect before and after a student drives the car. We disinfect before in order to help keep the student healthy and after in order to help keep the instructor healthy.

The idea here is to disinfect only those things the student touches during the actual lesson, so the steps you actually take may differ from the example given here.

PARTIAL PROCEDURE (done in front of each student before s/he drives)

Outside:

  • Disinfect rear passenger outside door handle, then front passenger outside door handle
  • Front driver outside door handle, then rear driver outside door handle.

Enter cab, close door and open driver’s window for ventilation, then disinfect

Inside Driver Door:

  • the seat belt height adjuster on the door jamb, and the seat belt buckle
  • seat riser handle and seat-back tilt handle on the side at the seat bottom
  • the manual under seat forward/aft seat slide adjustment handle
  • inside door close pull handle and change holder cup
  • the inside door lock and opening handle
  • the window controls (manual or power).

Disinfect across the front dashboard, from left to right,

Driver Side Dashboard:

  • the mirror selection switch and the mirror adjustment switch
  • the turn signal switch
  • the steering wheel, the horn, and the tilt/telescopic lever underneath steering column
  • the windshield wiper switch.

At the Centre Dash:

  • the rear-view mirror front, back and edges
  • the three centre circle dials (fan blower location, fan speed and fan temperature)
  • the gear selector and the emergency brake handle and button
  • the centre console top surface
  • the red seatbelt release buttons for both driver and passenger.

Passenger Side Dash:

  •    —

Passenger Door and Side

  •   —

Put all used paper towels inside a plastic shopping bag and tie the top temporarily, then disinfect your gloves. At the end of the day, tie the top of the bag tightly and dispose of the bag and the used towels in the regular trash. Do not reuse the same bag on the next day.

NOTATIONS / CONSIDERATIONS

At the start of your day, wash hands thoroughly for 20 seconds with soap and water, put on your gloves and wash gloves thoroughly for another 20 seconds before doing any cleaning/disinfecting.

Do not touch your face with your gloves or hands.

All procedures must be done on a car with no signs of visible dirt. Visible dirt must be cleaned first with soap and water or detergent and water.

Fully clean/disinfect 1st thing in the morning (if fully disinfecting at night, then you need to only do the outside door handles in the morning if the car was parked and locked all night).

If you are wearing your gloves and mask 100% of the time, then you are only required to disinfect the vehicle at the start of each lesson and not at the end, but you are still required to disinfect your gloves and all door handles before and after each student.

Clean/disinfect before each student, and in front of the student – it takes about 5 mins. This time comes out of student’s lesson time. As it is done in the sight of the student, you can turn it into a lesson teaching the student how and why to disinfect his/her car if someone outside the household drives one of their cars at home.

All this is assuming you have just one student in the car, with no back-seat passengers. We disinfect rear outside door handles because students do sometimes open the back door to deposit a book-bag or instrument or another item.

These steps are only guidelines, you must in addition use your own good judgement to do what is good and safe for you and your students. The experts and all up-to-date information are at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control at www.bccdc.ca and if there is any difference between these protocols and the information found at BCCDC, the information at the BCCDC takes precedence.

MATERIALS

Give instructors 1 spray bottle with alcohol-based mixture. Bottle may be traded-in at the office whenever the level gets low. Provide 2 reusable cloth face masks per instructor (one in the wash and one on the face).

Materials buy-list for each instructor:

  • 1 protective eye visor/goggles
  • 1 clear spray bottle of alcohol-based disinfectant
  • 2 reusable, washable cloth face masks (1 to wear when other 1 is in the wash)
  • Bunch of bathroom dispenser style hand towels
  • Supply of small plastic garbage bags
  • 1 large bottle of hand sanitizer for each car
  • 1 basket to hold above.
PHOTOS – For Illustration Only Follow the written procedures above, these photos do not show all the parts that need to be disinfected.  
Text Box: Passenger seatbelt release button


Text Box: Cubby Top Surface