Or how to make your life easier and your operative’s safer

The first time you’re asked to produce a Method Statement on the work you are doing you probably took a double take. What’s a Method Statement? What’s it for? Does it have to be complex? Am I giving commercial secrets away? How do I do one?

All a Method Statement does is enable you to help your staff and the main contractor understand and manage the extent of the risks involved in the work you are about to do so that you can ensure the resources necessary to do it safely are to hand and that everyone knows what to do in an emergency situation.

This enables both you and the main contractor to comply with Health and Safety and CDM regulations but more importantly it helps you both run a safer site by ensuring everyone is aware of areas of risk where accidents, if they are going to happen, will happen.

The Ten Point Rule was a simple ‘memory jogger’ that one of our clients, Bovis Lend Lease used with their staff on their BBC Headquarters site at Pacific Quays in Glasgow. I have found that whenever a Method Statement has to be produced this is an excellent tool to ensure I have captured all the relevant information so I can get it right first time. There are no second chances with Health and Safety!

Rule 1. Company, package, title, revision number & date
Rule 2. Description of the works to include

* Time
* Duration
* Sequence
* Location

Rule 3. Resources required

* Personnel
* Supervision
* Plant & equipment
* Materials

Rule 4. Assessment of significant risks for all tasks, including

* Access / egress
* Place of work
* Others at risk (i.e. the public)
* COSHH, noise, manual handling etc

Rule 5. Control measures to be used, including

* Permits
* Security
* Special training

Rule 6. Personal protective equipment requirements
Rule 7. Emergency arrangements, including

* Rescue
* Special First Aid

Rule 8. Temporary amended systems

* Fire / security systems / access

Rule 9. To whom the information has / will be submitted, including

* Checking, review and update provision
* Change requirements
* Confirmation of Operatives briefing

Rule 10. Monitoring and compliance

Please feel free to copy or pass this safety article on to anyone who could find it useful.

Phil Dixon, Managing Director
Newlife Cleaning Systems Ltd

Update: We have now uploaded a wide selection of sample cleaning method statements to our site to download for FREE. Documents are blank formatted so they can be easily tailored to your company and circumstances and are available as pdf or Word document download.

Hope these help.

Phil D

Astute individuals, businesses and government agencies know that clean plus green equals good. More than just a trend, implementing a green cleaning programme is now recognised as a wise business move. The much touted benefits of creating a healthier workplace include increased productivity and reduced costs. Green cleaning has also become a key component in obtaining certification against the environmental standard ISO14001.

If you understand the advantages of green cleaning and have decided to implement a programme, how do you go about choosing the right one? What elements separate superior green cleaning plans from the rest? Below are some features to carefully consider when evaluating a programme prior to implementation.

1. A Holistic Approach

When it comes to maintaining a healthy facility, all areas – from entranceways to toilet areas to HVAC systems – affect the indoor environment. In choosing a green cleaning programme, make sure that the provider looks at your building holistically, considering the building’s purpose and uses.

Because entranceways serve as gateways for pollutants entering the building, a good programme will begin there. While traditional cleaning methods attempt to control this dirt after it enters and spreads throughout the building, effective green cleaning focuses on trapping and removing contaminants at this point of entry. Cleaning chemicals, processes and equipment, ventilation systems, waste removal, and even occupant habits are other areas that a holistic green cleaning programme will address.

2. A Beyond-the-Surface Focus

The primary intent of most cleaning programs is to leave surfaces looking spotless and dirt free. Green cleaning programs should go far beyond this, however. Dirt, bacteria, mould and other pollutants may not be seen, but they can certainly affect the indoor air quality. Green cleaning programmes aim to remove harmful particles from the air, not add to the problem by using harsh chemicals.

Although it may be difficult to judge how well a green cleaning programme has removed unseen particles, you can ask about equipment used to make sure that it is efficient and well maintained. Steps that facility maintenance providers can take to demonstrate a beyond-the-surface focus include emptying vacuum bags when half full and the use of Hepa filters to reduce particulate emissions into the work atmosphere. Even something as simple as a dusting cloth can make a difference: A microfibre cloth captures dust, rather than just moving it around. These small measures ensure that the equipment and processes contribute to, rather than counteract, the effectiveness of your programme.

3. Products and Services Offered

The products used in green cleaning play a vital role in the programme’s success. Products should qualify for third-party certification by organisations such as Green Seal. Unlike traditional cleaning products, these certified chemicals and equipment are designed to work effectively, while minimising environmental impact and decreasing risks to health and safety. Here at Newlife HQ we both minimise water usage and avoid the use of harsh acidic products when cleaning urinals by the use of microbiological toilet blocks. (Refer to earlier Blogs to determine the water and financial savings possible which are most attract to heavy users such as hotels, schools and colleges)

4. Knowledgeable Employees

Employees who will be designing and implementing your green cleaning programme must understand the objectives of green cleaning, as well as their own role in the process. Cleaning staff should know each product’s designated use, green cleaning processes and equipment maintenance procedures. Regular inspections and quality control programs ensure that employees’ work meets high standards. The best facilities maintenance providers also continually train their employees on the best practices in green cleaning.

5. Educational and Communication Programmes

A truly professional green cleaning provider goes beyond the tactical implementation of cleaning strategies to become your partner in creating a healthier environment. Most successful programmes include regular communications so that building occupants and facility stakeholders understand the importance of green cleaning and what they can do to make a difference. For example, improper care of live plants can increase contamination levels and require strong pesticides that counteract the green cleaning programme. When occupants know of such risks, they can become a true part of the green cleaning process.

Small actions, including minimising clutter and eating only in designated areas, can go a long way in ensuring a healthy environment. Facility users and tenants should also know whom to contact and how to react to a spill or contamination. The faster such situations are dealt with, the less harm they do to your facility.

Communicating your green programme to the community and building occupants helps you reap the benefits of being a socially conscience facility or business. You will attract the growing numbers of people who care about protecting the earth’s resources and improving indoor air quality.

These five features of effective green cleaning programs may apply to your facility in different ways. Each facility has unique goals, and each maintenance provider will bring its own set of expertise to a project. The provider you choose should recognise your goals and offer customised services and products that ensure your programme’s success.

By Mark Warner on behalf of ISSA

It seems we can’t go a day without more press coverage of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), or the superbug. Infectious disease control has long been the concern of infection control departments in hospitals and nursing homes but rarely has it been the focus of cleaning staff in schools, colleges, day care centres offices, government buildings or large industrial plants. Now, because of recent deaths, we know that many more pathogenic bacteria have become more deadly than ever – and are cropping up in more places than ever. In fact, beyond MRSA, there are other more horrific diseases on the horizon, things like multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter and others that you may hear about in the future.

The cleaning industry has been fighting the MRSA superbug for years. Stories about MRSA and other “flesh-eating bacteria” appeared in many of the broadsheets 15 years ago. To deal with MRSA and other superbugs, it is extremely important we understand what the threat level is so we can adjust our cleaning programme accordingly. What we need to do and when are totally dependent on the environmental degree of danger and on having a complete understanding of the different types of contagious pathogens that we need to confront.

The Degree of Danger

To assess the environmental degree of danger, we have to understand how to identify the degree of threat levels and adjust the procedures, chemistries and tools to fit the situation. To better explain this philosophy; let’s use the DEFCON ranking system

DEFCON 1: No Threat

Normal, everyday cleaning procedures can best be described as a DEFCON 1 threat level-no threat. Although there are minor adjustments that can be made, most of these adjustments are related to the facility’s appearance. One can assume that the existing cleaning programme is adequate if the facility looks and smells clean. Regular neutral floor cleaners or half ounce per gallon disinfectant cleaners are usually preferred to keep end use costs minimised. The biggest concern is not to allow any used cleaning solution to sit in a mop bucket or the recovery tank of a machine. Bacteria can thrive and multiply around moisture on ex[posed bucket or recovery tank surfaces. If the used solution is a disinfectant solution yet is highly soiled, it’s disinfections capabilities can be severely compromised, allowing a massive explosion of the growth of bacteria in the used solution itself!

• Everyday housekeeping procedures may not need to change, assuming that all the proper procedures are already in place.

DEFCON 2 Threat in the Community

The most important time to ramp up the game is when there is a threat in our community (DEFCON 2). At this point, normal procedures need to be more aggressive. Basic chemical disinfectants need to be replaced with hospital grade disinfectants that are specific to the pathogenic threat. It is generally preferred to use a disinfectant cleaner concentrate with a rich mixture ratio such as 2 ounces per gallon to increase the cleaning efficacy of the disinfectant. Hard floor cleaning procedures need to be exemplary. Traditional mop buckets need to be monitored in regard to frequent and consistent solution changes. Disinfectant solutions lose their killing efficacy, as they are loaded with bacteria and soil picked up from the floors. Even solution that looks clean can be overloaded with bacteria. There are several answers to this dilemma, including the use of auto scrubber driers and pressurised self-contained flat mop systems. Both focus on the use of clean, fresh solution being applied to the floor, without the danger of used solution being introduced to the clean solution.. In addition different chemistries are needed for soft, porous surfaces such as carpeting and upholstery. Because carpets and upholstery are porous they can’t be disinfected like hard non-porous surfaces, but using a carpet sanitiser can help. Try to use low moisture systems. The goal is to have the carpets or fabrics dry within two hours to greatly minimise the chances of the formation of bacteria colonies or mould or mildew.. Tools and equipment may need to be upgraded, but more importantly, all the tools and equipment need to be disinfected on a daily basis. Also supply carts, storage areas and the housekeeping offices need to be completely cleaned and disinfected, since they are at the hub of activities that reach into all areas of the facility.

• Speciality disinfectants, disinfected cleaning equipment, and more aggressive procedures need to be implemented.

DEFCON 3 Threat in The Facility

When there is an outbreak in the facility (DEFCON 3), we need to use the strongest disinfectants possible, preferably a tuberculocidal-rated disinfectant. It is critical to use the appropriate procedure for different types of contamination. We may be facing contaminated blood or body fluids, as well as contaminated surfaces and substrate.

Since few people are trained to properly identify body fluids, cleaning personnel should assume that all fluids are potentially infectious and treat them accordingly. To clean up blood or bodily fluid it is recommended that the fluid be saturated with disinfectant cleaner to re-emulsify any dried material and to reduce the viscosity of any thickened fluid. This procedure creates a safer environment for the cleaning person, as well as reducing the possibility of surface-to-surface cross contamination on the soles of the cleaner’s shoes. After absorbing the material, and putting it into a yellow biohazard bag disinfect the surface and allow the disinfectant 10 minutes dwell time.

For general surface disinfection, it is critically important to focus on all the largest environmental reservoirs of bacteria. Obviously, most people are preoccupied with touch points. Although they are important to disinfect, the largest reservoirs of bacteria tend to be the largest horizontal surfaces in a facility: floors, desks and countertops.

In addition, the use of bio-remediation technology can eliminate disease causing bacteria or viruses in the air and inside floor grout lines, concrete and wood floors, under carpeting or vinyl tile or inside the walls. These bacteriological and bio-enzymatic products consume the food sources that the pathogenic bacteria need to survive. In this way, the pathogenic bacteria are displaced with safe, non-pathogenic bacteria that die when the food source is completely gone.

For the air in contaminated buildings, a popular and effective tool is the use of wall mounted or floor standing lamp units that produce UVA or UVC light in a protected vent chamber or tube. These units will sterilise all the air passing through them. Over time they will greatly reduce the airborne bacteria counts to levels less likely to cause infection, literally sanitising the air. Ozone is an effective way to treat the air during times when a room isn’t occupied. It oxidises organic molecules and bacteria in the air by corroding them.

• A three-dimensional approach needs to be used so that the surface, sub-surface and air borne bacteria are addressed effectively, as well as strict adherence to proper procedures for blood and body fluid cleanup.

DEFCON 4: Weapons grade Pathogens in a Facility

The most extreme level is DEFCON 4. There may be a time when we need to completely decontaminate a facility exposed to bio-terrorism or weapons grade pathogens. Keep in mind, any contagious pathogen that has been determined to be lethal to 85% or more of its hosts needs to be handled at this level and there have been naturally occurring diseases that meet this criterion. A good example of this was the Ebola outbreak in Zaire in 1998, with a 90% kill rate.

This decontamination operation is performed on an unoccupied (or evacuated) building. The most common approach for this operation is the use of radiation with Alpha or Beta particle sources or the use of gases and free-radical technology. These technologies are very dangerous and some are explosive, so knowledge and experience are critical.

• This level of decontamination requires special protective equipment, tools and training. It should only be performed by professionals who are experienced in this kind of procedure.

In summary, the most important message is that we need the proper chemistries, the proper tools and the procedural knowledge to have any chance of being successful. Also, we need to have some way to verify or validate that we have accomplished what we wanted to accomplish – the elimination of the disease-causing bacteria or viruses. Equipment like ATP- hygiene monitoring devices and swab cultures may be necessary.

Keep in mind, when the threat is high and the cost of failure is high, we need to clean everything! The enemy in this case is invisible, so we need to assume that what looks clean may not be actually clean. In this day and age, we really can’t be too vigilant. Fore-warned is forearmed.

This article, re-produced with kind permission, is written by Max Warner, international director of disinfection and decontamination certification for Airx Laboratories and appeared in www.ISSA.com

Most sectors of the cleaning industry have been rather scathing about the government’s ‘quick fix’ of throwing £50,000,000+ at the current hygiene problems within the NHS.

Equally vocal have been the usual trades union demands that the funds be spent on introducing more in-house cleaning staff and ‘good old fashioned Matrons’ instead of the work going to the dreaded private sector.

Against this backdrop, every cleaning trade magazine is bursting with articles about the latest gizmos, chemicals or Heath Robinson contraptions, which will save patient’s lives by eradicating every bug and virus known to man.

Where is the voice of reason and common sense amongst all this discordant background noise? New Labour has pumped more money into the NHS over the last 10 years than it’s founder Bevin could possibly ever imagine. Why does it appear to have gone so horribly wrong?

Newlife’s experiences’ travelling around the country carrying out hospital deep cleans for primary care trusts have been shocking and horrifying. Basic standards of day-to-day cleanliness vary dramatically from site to site. Each authority has a different interpretation of the work specification they want achieved to obtain the results they desire under the same Deep Clean programme. In some cases the ultimate cleaning objective appears to have morphed from decontamination to having “clean shiny floors” or simple wall washing with no attention being paid to soft furnishings, fixtures and fittings.

Is this simply Trusts trying to get extra cleaning works completed under the guise of decontaminating their premises or is it a simple fundamental lack of cleaning knowledge?

Surely common Best Practice methods could be adopted by following the methodology of our European neighbours who already have proven lower levels of infection.

Simple screening of incoming patients, staff and other workers would identify carriers and allow isolation and specialist cleaning to be directed more cost effectively straight to where it is most needed.

Further education of patients would allow them to gently dissuade their own casual visitors and empower them to remonstrate with hospital staff and visitors that are not adhering to basic personal hygiene standards.

We believe that seemingly simple steps such as these would reduce bacterial infections to an acceptable level leaving “one-off” deep cleaning budgets free to be focussed on emergency requirements as they arise.

Columbus Dixon

In earlier blogs we discussed the methodology your facility cleaning service provider has probably used to make up their charge for providing your cleaning services.

One of the reasons for doing this was to enable users to realise the competitive pressures the marketplace has put so many contractors under which in turn is reflected in net profit margins of less than 4% on average within the cleaning industry.

‘So what?’ you may think, at least I know someone isn’t making a fortune out of only cleaning my offices for me. But low margins such as this are not conducive to good service.

When margins are so low, profit has to be generated from other areas – reducing area management levels, cutting either the quality or the quantity of materials delivered to site or in the worst cases both, chiselling staff by not paying accrued holidays when they leave, charging you when there are ‘no-shows’ of staff and myriad other ways.

The common denominator of these is reduction of service standards, your service standards.

In our Vision Statement we make specific reference to ‘morals and ethics’ so behaviour such as this is anathema to us, indeed in a recent reverse online auction for the cleaning of retail premises with a national store chain, we pulled the plug on our bids when we realised certain sales consultants were willing to earn their commission by buying market share for their employer at zero profit. (I would love to know what their Operations manager who actually has to try and run the contracts thinks!)

Yes, the purchasing department probably celebrated what they assumed was a massive saving on their cleaning budget. But one night’s celebration for them has so far turned into 4 months of headaches for their store managers, their service and supplies department and the actual cleaning staff doing the work on the shop floor, because that winning bid didn’t have enough direct costs* built in to allow them to meet the work specification in the first place.

What is the moral of the story? Just like anything in life, you only get what you pay for. If you are asking for cleaning bids, make sure everyone is quoting against the same specification. If you want a high level of daily supervision, write it into the spec. If you want to be able to talk to a manager 24/7, write it into the spec. Whatever you want, you must write it into the specification.

When you have all your quotes in, you should then break the costs down into the various headings suggested in my earlier post. If you can’t do this easily yourself from their documentation, get a representative in from the company and ask him to do it in front of you. It is only by drilling down like this that you can discover whether the deal being offered is what it appears to be and whether it actually really does meet your specification.

* Direct Costs – direct costs are the costs incurred only in doing the job. So it covers labour, equipment, materials, consumables, Nic, supervision, training, holiday pay etc

Take A Good Look To See What They Are Hiding Under The Carpet…
In today’s economy, property owners and managers alike are constantly scanning the horizon, searching for opportunities to outsource their building cleaning and maintenance services to specialist companies in order to improve operational efficiencies. When it comes to finding a cleaning services company that will provide best practices at the right price, successfully managing the vendor selection process is mission critical to obtaining a good fit.

Size Matters
Long before drafting a specification, a tender request or short-listing companies, spend plenty of time clearly identifying your requirements. The more you detail your expectations – eventually within your tender document — the more precisely your needs can be met. If this is your first experience in dealing with cleaning contracts, talk to vendors informally to help you uncover the range of services available.

Once you’ve nailed down performance measures, it’s time to tackle the tender request. A finely tuned tender document gives cleaning companies the necessary information that ensures an accurate response — and makes side-by-side bid comparisons much easier.

Later, when the quotes come in for your cleaning services, don’t get caught comparing apples with oranges. Be specific — up front — about your requirements (see the chart below).

RFP Requirements for Building Cleaning Services

* Cleaning Specifications*
* Employee training
* Indemnifications
* Quality Assurance
* Supplies:
o Quality? Quantity? Who pays?
* Cleanable Square Footage
* Equipment:
o New vs. Used
* Insurance Requirements:
o Rates and coverage limits
* Recycling
* Supply Storage Areas
* Communications
* Hours, Days of Service
* Payroll Taxes: NMW.
* Holiday pay
* Environmental ISO14001
* COSHH
* Safety
* Workers’ Compensation
* Contract Duration
* Identification:
o Badges, Uniforms
* Personnel Screening
* Staffing Levels
* Pay rates

*Each addition task or frequency of clean in your cleaning specification will equate to additional labour costs as time = money. This will affect the cost of the bid.

Narrowing the Field of Cleaning Companies
When deciding which companies to consider, use these criteria as a guide:

Commitment to Quality
Does the company really have a quality assurance program to “Inspect what you Expect?” Do they have a formal accredited Quality Management System such as ISO 9001?

Environmental
Many companies talk about their “green” credentials but do they actually operate to recognised standards, which are externally assessed such as ISO14001?

Reputation/References
History repeats, so references should be a major factor in your decision. Talk to referees, visit their buildings and inspect the quality of the vendor’s custodial services. It is often useful to visit sites they manage which are not similar to your own so you can determine their range of capabilities.

Scope of Resources
Is the vendor able to expand with you? Do they offer the operations manuals, training programs, management or back office support you need?

Existing Relationships
Relationships are a key factor in the bidding process. Not all cleaning companies are created equal. Large contracts require a large trust level.

Cultural Match
Is the vendor large or small? Local or national? Do they mirror your requirements in terms of scope, locations, and objectives? Do they participate in reputable industry organisations? Do you feel comfortable with their level of professionalism?

Added-Value Capacity
Do they offer additional services that can be easily ‘bolted-on’ to their current contract with you thus removing a third party suppliers overhead contribution thus making a financial saving for you with no visible degradation of service levels

Price
The bottom line is critical, but beware of the “penny-wise, pound-foolish” syndrome. Cheap cleaning companies could end up costing you more in the long run. Make sure you identify the labour, equipment and supplies needed to do the job thoroughly by comparing every quote closely.

The Dreaded Walkaround aka The Site Survey
Hosting a cleaning walkaround is probably not high on your list of fun, but it is the second major ingredient in receiving an accurate bid package. Whatever you do, do NOT delegate it to a junior member of staff. To get a true feel for the scope of your work, companies must see the facility’s level of cleanliness, types of supplies, square footage, flooring surfaces, building density and the like to ensure they can provide the service levels you need. If a junior staff member who neither knows nor understands the ramifications of the cleaning programme guides them, you run a high chance of giving out a very negative message of your expectations.

Pulling Back the Curtain: Understanding Pricing Models
Once you’ve reviewed the proposals from the cleaning companies, you can prepare your pricing model. Most include:

* Labour, including payroll taxes, insurances and benefits
* Direct Operating Costs, including supplies, uniforms, transport, equipment, PAT tests, employee screening, training etc.
* Overhead and Profit

Vendors should be willing to fully explain their pricing model and answer any questions about their services and pricing methods.

Apples to Apples:
Selecting the Vendor to Provide Your Building Cleaning Services
Selection often distills down to two simple (yet complex!) factors:

* Can the vendor do the job?
* Can we work well together?

How well does the cleaning company stack up? Which one offers the right mix of service, staff, equipment and price to get the job done right, on time, on budget everytime?

To find the answers and ensure fair comparison, revisit your tender requirements and examine these details from their quotation in particular:

Labour – Verify the number of cleaning hours (not head count) received per day. While the National Minimum Wage was supposed to level the playing field we strongly advise you also check that wage rates are realistic. This is simple to do by researching cleaning recruitment adverts in your locale. There is no point employing a contractor who gives you a cheap price by paying their staff below the local going rate. All that does is lead to a revolving door syndrome where you get constant staff changes. If there is to be a transfer of incumbent staff to another contractor, be aware that TUPE applies. This EU legislation governs the Transfer of Undertakings and Protects Employment rights and is a legislative nightmare that is beyond the scope of this blog. Please contact us for additional, site-specific advice.
Employment Costs. Ask for National Insurance contributions and holiday pay including Bank holiday payments to be broken down by category and compare. Ask for explanations of any large discrepancies
Insurances. Accredited service companies should have documented proof of required public liability and employers insurances. Ensure that there is cover available to at least £10m for any one accident. Remember especially dangerous services where operatives work at height, use specialist machinery or handle dangerous substances all require additional cover which will be detailed in the main policy but not on the certificate that most companies use to prove they have cover.
Equipment. Does the bid have enough budgeted to do the job? Compare among the different janitorial companies. What is their repair policy – how long will it take to repair? PAT testing – how often?
Supplies. Be sure to agree on quality. Tissue, soap and towels are a major expense in cleaning services and can be a major complaint area if quality is not agreed upon. Determine whether stock is delivered ‘just in time’ or on a planned schedule basis. It can make a big difference to you if you are the one everyone calls when the loo rolls run out!

Armed with this well-planned selection process, your hiring decision is bound to be a success!

Columbus-Dixon

As all premises are unique it is almost impossible to give you an answer in straight monetary terms. But if you have followed our suggested route for tendering your cleaning contract as detailed in our earlier blog, you now have three or four cleaning proposals for your site sitting in front of you that should meet your defined criteria. This means that broadly speaking you should be comparing apples with apples.

What are those “apples” made up of in monetary terms?

Labour: Quite naturally the costs of the staff that perform the cleaning operation are the largest expense. Including any working supervisor and all statutory costs such as National Insurance Tax, payroll costs will make up anywhere between 65 – 75% of the cost of your cleaning service. The large variation depends on the size of the job i.e. a one cleaner job would be nearer 65% than a ten cleaner job. Also the degree of mechanisation of the job influences this percentage. For example a job that predominantly involves the cleaning and polishing of a large sales shop floor would probably have a low labour content but a balancing increase in equipment depreciation and maintenance as auto scrubber driers and ultra speed burnishers would be used to increase productivity.

Management and nonworking supervision: Area Management costs equate to 3-5% of the value of your cleaning operation. On a larger job, say anything over five or six operatives, there will probably be a requirement for a non-working site supervisor to organise and manage the staff and liase with you. While day to day management will be by the site supervisor there is also a requirement for an external Area Manager who is the working link between your business and your appointed contractor. On smaller contracts where there is no non-working site supervisor, the Area Manager’s role is more visible as they will perform more of the site supervisor type duties. It is helpful to consider that if the average quote you have to clean your premises is say £300 per week then the Area management element represents just £780 per annum. If an Area Manager’s salary is say £16k p.a. by the time you add statutory costs, transport and administration you are looking at an overall package cost of £30k p.a. This indicates therefore that you are paying for just over 2.5% of your managers time or an alternative way of looking at it is that your Area Manager has to look after 40 sites the same size as yours!

Equipment: As noted previously equipment costs can vary dramatically if your site is capable of increased mechanisation. But usually the higher this percentage is there is a larger corresponding reduction in labour costs. The average cost is probably anywhere between 3-5% of your cleaning charge. It is important to realise the time frame that the equipment will be depreciated over to avoid your site being equipped with old decrepit gear which is long past it’s sell by date. Realistically vacuums will last 2-3 years, floor polishers four years and ASD’s (auto scrubber driers) approximately 5 years. NB equipment costs should include all maintenance; spare parts including new batteries every 6-700 operating hours and an annual PAT test.

Cleaning materials: It is often thought that the larger the cleaning company the bigger the discounts they will get purchasing cleaning materials therefore you will get a lower cost service from them. But with the cleaning materials the cleaning staff will use, not the consumables that your staff use such as hand soaps and lavatory papers, only equating to 3-4% of the cleaning service costs, it can be seen what a pointless exercise it is constantly chiselling material costs down by pressurising suppliers and lowering the quality of the products in use. Customers would actually be far better of paying 50% more for better quality materials and consumables such as micro fibre cloths as the improved cleaning results achieved by less manpower inputs have the potential to generate far larger savings.

P.P.E: Personal protective equipment costs are mandatory, period. There can be no cutting of corners in ensuring the cleaning staff working on your site are protected against infection and accidents. But these costs only equate to a maximum of 1% of the job value in the majority of cases. Some entry-level companies try to reduce their costs by making it their staff’s own responsibility to supply safety shoes and hard hats. Did you realise hard hats are date stamped and have a shelf life? We strongly advise that your original tender request defines responsibility for the supply and management of P.P.E. as resting solely with the contractor.

Training: Training costs in any half decent cleaning company should equate to 1-2% of turnover. Historically though cleaning has been looked upon as an unskilled occupation as anyone can do cleaning, can’t they?

The introduction of the national minimum wage, increasingly high standards of health and safety and the drive to mechanise cleaning where possible are slowly but surely dispelling this myth. It should be noted though that training has to be a continuous process as labour turnover rates within the cleaning industry are usually notoriously high. Experience has shown that probably the best form of training that your contractor can give their staff is functional on-the-job training based around the BICS operator training programme. We would strongly advise you to resist any entreaties and bribes of financial assistance to introduce cleaning NVQ’s. As the first assessment centre for Building Cleaning Interiors NVQ in the UK we found that while temporarily motivational for the cleaning staff that could understand them, they did not result in improved cleaning standards as they were too paper based.

Overheads: Overhead costs are the costs of administering, managing and financing the cleaning business itself and usually average between 10-20% of turnover depending on the size of the contractor. If you want a contractor who operates a Quality or Environmental Management System, for example, you have to be prepared to pay more towards overheads than you would to a one man band operating out of a back street garage. At the end of the day the purchasing decision you make will be based on you being comfortable that the cleaning company is capable of delivering what you want and that you feel there is a good fit between both your cultures.

Profit: The average cleaning contracting company in the UK generates net profits of circa 5-6%. But consider the fact that if your cleaning contractor isn’t making a profit how long do you think they will remain in business?

Cleaning is a hard, unremitting service to provide with the contractor’s reputation resting in the hands of a largely part-time, ever changing workforce. The low levels of profit generated and unrealistic customer demands to continually reduce costs have created an industry full of scams and schemes to save pennies at whoever’s expense. By carefully comparing your competing contractors quotations and sales documentation with the above you should now be able to identify areas where costs have been cut to the detriment of your service just to win your business. By doing this analysis now you should be able to weed out the quick-buck commission salesman who just wants to make the sale.

Success will have been achieved if the same workforce and Area manager are cleaning your premises over the next twelve months. Conversely, if you’re cleaning staff keeps changing review your tender against the checklist and speedily identify where the failure is occurring.

Columbus Dixon

Or how to get more bangs for each of your cleaning bucks

It doesn’t matter whether your premises are cleaned in-house or the service is contracted out, one simple way to ensure you are getting the maximum value from your office cleaning service that is so simple it always gets undervalued is the work specification!

Work specification? When you initially either set up your own DIY cleaning plan for your premises or when you employed a contractor you will probably have set down on paper what you wanted cleaned and how often. Didn’t you? Well have you ever revisited it? Have you ever checked that the cleaners that you have now have even seen it?

What’s my point? Well in time everything changes. Not only have your cleaners probably changed many times since you implemented your initial cleaning programme but so will have the layout of your building and probably the importance you attach to cleaning certain bits which were once considered high profile. If the work specification is up-to-date and relevant it both ensures your cleaning staff know what is expected from them but also allows you to factually respond to those clients who always want more and more squeezed into their cleaning programme but aren’t willing to pay extra for it.

We have all experienced client ‘management staff’ who glibly talk about adding extra duties onto the cleaners with the full expectation that this should quite simply just be included within the present cleaning shift. We had one retail client who decided that instead of their sales staff sweeping the sales floor daily our two staff who had a 90-minute cleaning time slot should take over the responsibility of doing it. What’s the big deal? Well if you have 180 minutes to maintain a highly polished vinyl sales floor and it’s 31,000 square feet that is one heck of a lot of extra sweeping work to absorb into your cleaning shift!

Because our work is carefully detailed by area, the regularity of cleaning determined by both Health and Safety implications and by the prestige that the client attaches to certain areas of their customers shopping experience and because we tell our clients up front how the sales floor should look just after cleaning and also at the end of their trading day we were able, in simple no-nonsense language explain to this junior manager that we were more than happy to sweep their sales floor for them but that it would require additional cleaning time of 3.25* hours every day even allowing for the fact that the floor under the fixtures didn’t need sweeping, to do it. They of course were gob smacked that it was possible for us to tell them factually what labour input was required to sweep their floor and this made their decision to keep their own staff sweeping the floor a no-brainer

When your cleaning programme is detailed, timed and the expected results are known it is easy to make someone with no cleaning experience understand the ramifications of such requests so that you aren’t giving your cleaning staff totally unrealistic cleaning stints and just storing up complaints and higher labour turnover rates for the future when they struggle to manage.

Next week I will discuss how to make your specification your first step in your own quality audit system so you can prove you have done a good job.

* ISSA standard time of 9 minutes a thousand square foot with a 2’ dust mop

Outsourcing your building cleaning services means more than just finding quality contractors to clean your facilities. It’s a strategic business decision with many great benefits. But it all comes down to a single bottom-line: making your business better. Outsourcing your facility services can give you a competitive advantage by providing both the time and the additional investment you need to help you grow your business and outrun your competition.

Focus On Your Core Competency
Your business provides specialised products, goods or services. Each business function that does not directly support, develop or improve your products or services – like facility services – can be outsourced. For example, outsourcing your business’s cleaning needs to a specialist cleaning contractor allows you and your team to concentrate on your core competencies and mission-critical objectives, not cleaning your facility. “You look after your core business while we look after the chore business”

Reduce Costs
Cost-savings alone can be a good enough reason for businesses to outsource tasks like cleaning to contractors. As you well know, retaining in-house employees is a very expensive endeavour, and in-house facility services personnel are no exception. What value do these employees add to your core business function? The answer is most likely little to none. But you still have to pay for those individuals’ national insurance tax, salary and benefits package (Public and employees liability insurances, holiday and sick pay, etc.), not to mention numerous indirect costs like tools and equipment, management, recruitment and training.

Outsourcing your cleaning services to specialist contractors and other similar services to a contracted facility services provider can help you control operating costs and establish a budget, freeing up capital that can be invested in your core business at a greater rate of return. Also, in a rapidly changing world, the contracting out of your non-core services to a specialist can allow the introduction of new work practices and methods overnight. Even with the complexities of TUPE it is possible to agree with your incoming contractor that after a defined period of say within 6 or 9 months of the contract commencing that you want changes to your service levels implemented that will generate financial savings of “x” % of your original cleaning budget. It is then up to the contractor to manage the process of redefining staffing levels, introducing more efficient cleaning processes and with your support, redefining the end users expectations of the visible cleaning outputs to give you the financial savings agreed as the target from the outset.

A Cleaning Contractor Offers Expertise
Just like your company has expertise in a particular field, outsourced facility service providers are highly specialised companies, whether they are cleaning contractors, grounds maintenance or industrial cleaners. They have the experience and expertise to manage your facility better than you do because it’s what they do, day in, day out. And they are always at the forefront of technological advancements in their industry, ensuring that clients are receiving the best efficiencies in facility operations. Also as specialists they are able to offer a career path within their industry, which enables the retention and growth of exceptional staff, which an in-house service provider just doesn’t have the scope to provide.

An outsourced facility services provider, such as a cleaning contractor, affords you a higher level of service at a lower cost, bringing best-in-class capabilities to your facility not otherwise available from in-house resources.

Scalability
Another word for scalability: flexibility. Outsourcing lets you easily adjust the level of staffing for facility operations on an as-needed basis, helping you control operating costs and easily adjust for changes in staffing and service requirements as your needs change.