National cuts in government funding for the public services, trickling down through our local councils, has left many sectors feeling the pinch.  This has resulted in vital services, once provided by the council, becoming the responsibility of the individual sector in question.  For many, outsourcing these services to specialist companies has become the best solution.

Tyneside schools are a prominent example of this; alternative arrangements for cleaners had to be found when the council gave intent to remove this service in April.  Instead of having in-house cleaners, many opted to use the services of cleaning companies.

Barry Sleightholme, Business Development Manager at Newlife Cleaning Systems, has worked closely with some of these local schools to provide them with new cleaning services.  He explains why outsourcing cleaning has become a viable option for these services.

What are the benefits of outsourcing cleaning?
The main benefit is that you are releasing your cleaning department to another company, who is professionally qualified to provide you with everything you need.  You can expect a high level of delivery, quality, and uniformity with a contractor’s service.  Alongside this, every issue surrounding this department becomes your contractor’s responsibility.  This can include any staffing issues, the standard of cleaning, the procurement of products and supplies and the organisation of the whole operation.  With someone else taking responsibility for all of these tasks, you and your staff can focus on other duties.

Won’t the quality of work decrease?
The quality is more likely to improve when you outsource your cleaning.  Contractors promise an excellent result, which they then go to great lengths to maintain.  They ensure monthly site inspections from the area manager, who makes sure that the cleaning is at the highest standard possible.

It is also this area manager’s job to respond to any concerns or feedback you have, so you have direct contact with them at all times.  When speaking to the schools we worked with, we found that they preferred this instant contact with the company, as they found that queries they had with public sector cleaners had to travel through a number of official channels before they were answered.  Through direct contact, any issues with staff or damaged equipment can be resolved immediately through a phone call, which keeps the standards at a consistent level.

Will the cleaning staff I currently employ be out of a job?
No, they will instead become employees of the cleaning contractors you outsource to.  There are laws in place to protect them from loosing their jobs, or any of their employment rights, if you choose to outsource.
TUPE Regulations, Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) are in place to protect their rights.  This law states that employees’ contracts and job titles must not be altered at all if you hire a contractor to run the department they work in.  The contractor must duplicate the employee’s contract exactly and keep every detail the same.  For example, when we worked with the schools, many of the cleaners previously worked for the council, and had benefits which were unique to the public sector.  When we became their employers, we duplicated these job benefits in full.
This included the matching of existing pension rights, by working with a national provider which possess the required GAD certificate, to facilitate LGPF comparables.
The contractors also become responsible for any CRB clearances, holiday cover, sick cover, payroll, pensions, administration and HR- including disciplinary and grievance issues; every staffing issue becomes the contractor’s responsibility.

What services will I receive if I outsource my cleaning?
Usually, you will receive two different types of cleaning from your contractor.
The first is daily cleaning, which maintains the day-to-day appearance of the building.  When working with the schools, we provided cleaners in the mornings or afternoons depending on their requirements, during term time.
The second is deep-cleaning, which is more extensive work that takes me a bit longer.  This could be anything from stripping the floor, to kitchen extraction, window cleaning or external grounds maintenance.  Working with the schools, we found it best to do this in non-term time, but cleaning contractors will always work with you to find what is best for your company.

What if there was a service I needed that my contractor couldn’t supply?
If your contractor couldn’t provide something in-house, they can usually provide a sub-contract supplier for you, who you could deal with directly.  For example, none of our window cleaners are trained abseilers, but we work with companies who have them, who could provide some if they were needed.

Can it really be cost-effective to outsource to a private company?
When you consider all that outsourcing can include, you will find that it can truly be a cost-effective option for your company.  A way we cut the overall costs for the schools, was to look at some of the extra services that they were paying for, to see if we could provide them more cheaply.

For example, the schools were spending additional funds on paper products, such as toilet roll and paper towels, as well as soaps and hand creams.  We have access to these products, so we helped the schools make a saving by providing them at cost price.  We also assisted them with water management; by controlling the water tanks in the urinals, water costs can be reduced by 80%.  Finally, we helped the schools we were working with to cut down the costs of security.  The school was charged by the council each time the police were called to a break-in; I reduced the costs by using one of our security suppliers, who was available to visit the building after break-ins.

These little adjustments can be made within any public sector, and result in big savings overall, making outsourcing cleaning as cost-effective as it is high quality.

If you are interested in outsourcing your cleaning department, or would like to know more, Newlife Cleaning Systems welcome your enquiries.  You can visit www.newlifecleaning.com, telephone 0800 018 9099 or contact Barry Sleightholme in confidence on 07720 461 582.

The term feminine hygiene was probably thought up by a man as a seemingly polite conversational phrase or euphemism to cover all personal care products used by menstruating women.

In the context we are discussing today we are solely covering the disposal of used feminine hygiene protective products by users of commercial premises. This could be your office staff or indeed members of the public.

These days the sanitary bin is a ubiquitous product standing guard in the corner of the toilet cubicle but this was not always the case. Indeed it is still common in smaller, old fashioned premises to see brown disposal bags hung up on a hook and a simple flip-top bin for disposal.

This leads to the dangers of drain blockages if the user tries to flush away the used product through embarrassment or leaves the daily cleaner the unpleasant task of emptying the bin and disposing of the contents amongst the general office waste. This is not a service acceptable to many cleaning operatives these days and would not normally be included within an office cleaning contract.

Bridging the gap between this in house, DIY method of disposal and the full range of professional feminine hygiene disposal services, are systems utilising stand alone bins which contain a disposable cartridge. To alleviate any smells they contain deodorising crystals and just like a standard professional disposal bin the flip top operates in such a way that the contents of the internal disposable cartridge are not visible to users.

Once again disposal is carried out by in house staff but at least the internal cartridges can be sealed albeit disposal is still with the general office waste.

Great claims are often made about the biodegradability of these types of sanitary bins and liners. But is this true? When you balance the initial purchase cost of the bins themselves, a constant supply of cartridges and the unpleasantness of exchanging the cartridges then disposing it alongside general waste .The cost versus benefit is not so apparent especially if you are the one who has to change the cartridge as most probably your cleaning staff will refuse point blank.

This leaves the full professional service as the most likely solution to a trouble free, out-of-mind service. Or so you think?

Just like buying any goods or services it is vital that you compare ‘apples with apples not oranges’ otherwise you will end up make a mistake which you are locked into and which in many cases you will be paying for the pleasure of, in advance, for many years to come!

While this might sound elementary you should check whether you need the service at all. If female staff are not employed and your premises are not used by the general public, why bother? If the female staff are of a certain age there might not be a requirement. To avoid any embarrassment or doubt simply ask the staff if they would like the service.

Once past these basic fundamentals use the following checklist to ensure you are getting proper value for money by asking your potential sanitary waste disposal supplier:

How often will you exchange the sanitary bins as I want a monthly service for hygiene reasons?

Do you expect me to sign a contract which locks me in for 36 or 60 months?

If you do, what notice do I have to give you and is it on any particular date?

Will you charge me separately each year for a Duty of Care certificate?

Do you charge 13 weeks in advance?

Do your staff just remove the contents of the bin so my staff have to clean it or do they take the whole unit away and hygienically clean it?

Can I have a look at an example of your contract agreement so I can see what small print there is?

If you’re not happy with what you hear call 0800 018 9099 or look at our range and service agreement on sanitary-bins.newlifecleaning.com

Columbus Dixon September 2010.

First published 5 years ago Crisis in Cleaning by Scott Young is an invaluable tool for any cleaning contractor or manager with responsibility for premises cleaning especially where hard floors are involved.

In it he willingly shares 56 years experience in the industry with a career spanning window cleaning to building cleaning contractor then on into manufacturing of cleaning equipment based and designed on his many years of practice in the field.

What this book is about is one mans quest to explain the importance of professional cleaning.

It is mandatory reading for all Newlife Cleaning Systems Area Managers which is the highest endorsement we can give.

It doesn’t matter whether you have just started your first commercial contract or you’re a facility manager with a ‘slip and trip’ problem in your client’s kitchens. The answer is in this personal journey to excellence.

A limited number of copies are available, P+P free, to the first 50 readers who register their interest.

please email sales.national@newlifecleaning.com with your postage and contact details

Columbus Dixon Aug 2010

As the winter flu season looms ever closer demand for swine flu hand sanitizers is rocketing but is our faith in these alcohol based solutions misplaced?

It is common knowledge that good hygiene can prevent the transmission of infectious diseases such as swine flu. This is backed up by the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene (IFH). Hands play an integral role in transmitting a virus as they regularly come into contact with known portals of entry for pathogens. These include the obvious ones such as the nose and mouth, alongside the less obvious, such as the conjunctiva of the eyes.

It follows on from this that good hand hygiene leads to a reduction in the transmission of viruses. This is where hand sanitizers come in. Even though nothing really beats good old hand washing a hand sanitizer can prove a useful ally in the battle against swine flu. Although no hand sanitizer is proven to prevent swine flu, according to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) they do undoubtedly help protect you and your family from the H1N1 virus by limiting its potential for transmission.

Research has shown that unlike many methods of combating a virus, alcohol based swine flu hand sanitizers do not lead to viral adaption and the formation of a resistant strain. This is good news for the health conscious among you as it guarantees the effectiveness of swine flu hand sanitizers regardless of the form the virus takes. If the hand gel is used properly and applied to the entire hand for at least 20 seconds it provides a good alternative to hand washing. Swine flu hand sanitizing gel can be especially convenient if you are on the go and hand washing facilities are not readily available.

In our earlier posts we discussed how even in this day and age of high tech cleanliness it was possible for men to give an instant judgement on the cleanliness or not of urinals simply by their smell.

We suggested the benefits of a microbiological led approach to dealing with the bacteria that are the source of urinal smells.

Since then we have carried out the first of a number of trials using these products on our own facilities. This three-month trial will be repeated over the coming months using a variety of competing though similar biologically based cleaning and maintenance products.

Our first test product was Eco-Cubes available from www.eco-works.co.uk and was tested 25/02/09 – 25/05/09

For a charge of £60+vat for a trial pack we received 50 Eco-cubes, 1 litre of biological cleaner, a normal trigger spray and clear, simply understood laminated instructions for use by our cleaner.

The facilities being cleaned consisted of two urinals currently being used 50+ times per day with 70% of users favouring one particular urinal. We had only occupied the premises for a short period of 5 months and previously the facilities were subject to two or three times this level of usage by the original workforce.

Prior to the trial the urinal bottle traps were removed and thoroughly cleaned to remove scale build up. The waste pipes leading to the drainage system were not de-scaled immediately as this involved removing pipework that had been hidden behind fitted sinks. The water supply to the header tank was turned off.

Following the easy to use instructions 1 cube was placed in each urinal and the diluted washroom cleaner was used to clean the urinal, wall and floor surfaces around the immediate area. The urinal was then flushed with 3 litres of water.

Within days a noticeable difference to the smell of the whole facility was apparent. In addition the cleaner sprayed on the wall and floor surfaces thoroughly cleaned the area and lightened the grouting (especially the horizontal areas due to the longer dwell time) and also an area of Altro flooring underneath the more heavily used urinal which previously was stained / burnt by urine.

Normal daily cleaning took place till 17/04/09 when it became apparent that the urinals were not draining properly. On removing the traps and pipework it became apparent that there was a massive build up of loose scale within the drainage pipework. This was manually cleaned away and the water flow returned to normal and remained so throughout the balance of the trial period.

We believe that we may have compromised the trial by not descaling all the drainage pipework from the start as it was apparent that the blockage was caused by scale being sloughed off the inside of the pipework in large pieces as the biological cleaner attacked this build-up daily.

On completion of the trial we had 20 cubes remaining and 250mm of Washroom Cleaner.

SUMMARY

The product was clearly capable of performing the cleaning task and produced a pleasant fragrance. By not adequately descaling the complete length of the drainage pipework we compromised the initial trail. It is intended to maintain the test programme till the end of August 2009 at which point all the pipework will be opened up to see if the build up has returned. No water was added to the urinals other than the 3 litres used daily in the cleaning programme.

The only negative observation made was that the appearance of the cubes in the urinal soon changed from a dark green/blue cube to a washed out irregular shape as it broke down in the urinal which was not aesthetically attractive.

The trial will continue till all the product is used at which point it will be possible to give an exact idea of the cost per urinal per day.

Columbus Dixon