Better Protection Against Corona With a Concept of Hygiene in Schools

Better Conduct a Concept of Hygiene for Schools digital

Educational institutions around the world have closed their doors in favor of containing COVID-19 to protect their students and staff. This unprecedented mass closure has been instrumental in mitigating the spread of the coronavirus. At the same time, students and teachers were confronted with other problems: Lack of access to effective education, adequate nutrition, health and hygiene services and psychosocial support.

Some countries, such as Germany, have therefore started to reopen the schools step by step for all grades. In order for this to happen, every educational institution is obliged to draw up a hygiene concept to ensure that staff and students remain protected. As a rule, the local school authorities have provided a model concept, which must be adapted to the conditions of the school by a crisis team.

It is not easy to comply with all the guidelines and regulations in everyday school life. Checklists make it easier to draw up a hygiene concept for the school and to implement the measures decided upon and to monitor them continuously. Regular inspections of the school building and on the school premises give school management, staff, pupils and parents the certainty that health protection during the Corona pandemic is being taken care of.

The use of digital technology in this process can additionally facilitate the work. Apps and desktop software offer many advantages that pen and paper cannot provide. Why should they not be used for the hygiene concept at a school? Now is the right time to enable continuity of learning through digital solutions.

This article deals with the following topics:

1. Back to school with hygiene concept

2. Temporary closure procedure

Provide the School With a Hygiene Concept

In schools there are often many people in a small space. This can cause infectious diseases to spread particularly easily. The law for the prevention and control of infectious diseases (Infektionsschutzgesetz) pursues the purpose of preventing transmissible diseases in humans, recognizing infections at an early stage and preventing their further spread.

The law also imposes obligations on schools and training institutions for children and young people or their management. In accordance with § 36 Para. 1 of the Infection Protection Act (IfSG), schools are obliged to lay down internal procedures for maintaining infection hygiene in hygiene concepts. Everything must be recorded in writing.

The purpose of the hygiene concepts is to minimise the risk of infection in the facilities concerned. The hygiene concept must be reviewed regularly and, if necessary, modified or supplemented. In addition, it must be adapted to the organisational and structural-functional conditions of the facility.

School employees must have access to the hygiene concept at all times. At regular intervals, employees and pupils must be informed about the hygiene measures laid down. When drawing up the hygiene concepr, all hygiene-relevant areas of the facility must be taken into account. The following points must be taken into the hygiene concept:

1. Risk Analysis

• in the common area
• in the kitchen area
• in the sanitary area

2. Risk Assessment

• dependent on the persons to be cared for in the institution (defence and immune situation, vaccination status, age), pathogens and transmission routes
• minor risks to be accepted
• high risk (must lead to minimization measures)

3. Risk Minimization

• determination of cleaning/disinfection measures
• disposable towels
• liquid soap
• separate toilets

4. Definition of Monitoring Measures

• regular checks by the person in charge of the institution
• written documentation based on checklists >/li>

5. Updating of the Hygiene Concept

• at intervals to be determined in advance

6. Documentation and Training

• lay down in writing the details of the hygiene concept
• Determine information or training of the participants

If certain areas are not available in a school, they can be left out. On the other hand, the hygiene concept has to be extended to include the respective special features in the institution that have not been mentioned so far. Since the public health department is obliged to monitor the facility, including the hygiene concept, it should be involved in the preparation of the concept from the outset.

In every school, in addition to the hygiene concept, cleaning and disinfection plans should be drawn up for all areas, which contain specifications for cleaning and disinfection and describe who, when, what activity, how and with what means must be carried out.

Use for the Creation of Digital Possibilities

The reopening of schools during the global pandemic is not a return to normality. After schools have reopened, the overall goal is to safely reintegrate students into the school environment to prevent further learning losses. In addition, social isolation is also a bitter pill for children and young people.

To plan and maintain safe operation safely and effectively, a digital solution such as Lumiform is a good choice. With the mobile app and desktop software inspections and audits, hygiene concepts for schools can be created digitally and the implementation of measures can be monitored regularly. Any kind of quality and safety inspection can be easily carried out on site using a tablet or smartphone - online or offline.

Increasing problems can be reported in no time at all and assigned to the responsible colleagues. The simple communication with all team members and third parties allows to improve internal processes and to solve occurring incidents up to four times faster.

Schools can benefit from the app solution not only for the hygiene concept, but also for other inspections in the facility:

• Generate real-time data via internal processes. This makes quality and safety measurable and processes can be continuously optimized on the basis of the data.
• Get an overview of everything that's going on on site.
• Reports are created automatically - this saves the complete postprocessing.
• Save time by analyzing all data more easily and identifying areas that need your attention more quickly.


• Via 12,000 templates, which can be used immediately and adapted to your own needs at any time.

So that those responsible in schools can get started immediately, we have compiled some checklists with which the new requirements can be implemented step by step and checked again and again. All templates can be easily adapted to internal company requirements and regional guidelines of state authorities.