What bugs are your cloths hiding?

September 15th, 2010

According to a recent Health Protection Agency investigation 56% of dishcloths used in restaurants were of an unacceptable standard carrying faecal bacteria and even dangerous bugs like Listeria.

The HPA visited 120 kitchens in the north east of England and tested a total of 133 cloths. They found that 86 of these cloths carried faecal bacteria, a further 21 carried E. coli, 6 were infected with Staphylococcus aureus and 5 carried Listeria. Exposure to these bacteria can cause food poisoning which is at best an unpleasant experience for most but for the very young, very old or pregnant women  it can have serious consequences.

Many of the restaurants visited also failed on other items of basic food hygiene including 24 cloths which were used on both ready to eat food preparation areas and on raw meat! Whilst many of the establishments disinfected cloths with bleach and other detergents, soaking does not remove the actual actual pieces of food on which the bacteria grow. If the same cloth is then used again these bacteria are then spread onto the next surface which is wiped.

The main HPA recommendations for restaurants (which also apply to other businesses though to a lesser degree) is to use disposable cloths and to change them regularly as well as using separate cloths for areas where raw meat is processed. Of the restaurants visited only 1/3 used disposable cloths with the remaining 66% using reusable cloths and 15% actually unsure how often they changed their cloths at all!

Following on from the HPA recommendations, British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc) recommended a colour coding system for all areas of cleaning to prevent the type of cross contamination highlighted above. As a corporate member of BICSs we ensure that all of our staff are fully trained in the proper use of cleaning colour coded cleaning products. In addition, despite the additional cost, we only use disposable cloths for all of our cleaning to ensure that any bacteria present is disposed of immediately rather than transferred from one area to another.

For guidance, BISCs recommends the use of the following colour scheme which should be used for all cleaning consumables such as cloths, mop heads, buckets, brushes and so forth:

BLUE: General areas and low risk areas

GREEN: General food areas and bar use

RED: Sanitary fittings and washroom floors

YELLOW: Wash basins and washroom surfaces (other than sanitary fittings)

By following this simple guidance and by using disposable cloths we ensure we minimise the retention of harmful bacteria in cleaning consumables and reduce the risk of transfer of bacteria and germs to other surfaces and areas within a customers premises.

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Can a commercial cleaning company really only charge 8 pounds an hour?

September 1st, 2010

We are increasingly finding competitors charging ridiculously low prices to win business. Does it work? Yes sure it does, they win the business on price and everyone is happy. But are they? As a customer, what can you really expect in commercial cleaning for £8 per hour?

Let’s start with the basics – UK minimum wage is £5.93 per hour.

As an employer, there is a requirement to pay employees for holidays – as most cleaners do not work whole days, holiday entitlement is best worked out as a percentage of the hours worked. Assuming the cleaners get 20 days plus UK bank holidays then this percentage works out at 12.08% of the average hours worked for the previous 12 weeks. This takes the cost per employee up to £6.65 per hour.

In addition, employers have to Employers National Insurance for each employee which again is calculated as a percentage. The current rate is 12.8% of earnings so the cost per hour is now £7.50 per employee per hour.

On top of the employee costs there are then additional costs such as cleaning products – in the cleaning industry there is a generally accepted figure of around 7-10% of the wage cost will be the cleaning products cost. Assuming the lower end, the cost per employee per hour is now £8.02.

We haven’t even factored in to the figure other costs such as capital purchases like vacuum cleaners, training, supervisor visits, uniforms, personal protection equipment plus then the general everday costs associated with running a business. Oh and, of course, not forgetting profit!

Now ask yourself, how can anyone charge £8.00 per hour and offer a reliable, quality service?

This is something we come up against every day in business. Put simply, it is impossible for any professional commercial cleaning company to offer a reliable, safe and quality cleaning service for those sorts of prices.

So how and why do companies do it?

Well put simply they are using the up front price as a loss leader – it is a little bit like your local supermarket offering you two cans of beans for the price of one. They lose money on the cans of beans but they hope that when you are there they will be able to sell you other things. When the cleaning company get their foot in the door they will then try and upsell you to buy your consumables through them or maybe they will offer to start doing your window cleaning or grounds maintenance. Often, however, there is nothing they can upsell you as you don’t need any of their additional services so what do they do?

In our experience they start to reduce the number of hours spent over a period of time. You start out with 20 hours a week which is costing you £160 per week. Shortly afterwards the cleaner starts to leave 15 minutes earlier each day. You are now getting 18 hours 45 minutes per week but are still paying £160 per week. A few weeks later they again start to leave a little earlier – before you know it you are not getting 20 hours per week but you are now only getting 12 hours per week but you are still paying the same price. Your price per hour is now at over £13 and, most likely, the service will be detoriorating rapidly as the job really did need those 20 hours and 12 just doesn’t cut it.

We went to see a customer a few months back who had exactly this experience – they initially had two cleaners on site for 13 hours each per week so 26 hours per week.For the first few weeks they were really happy with the service but then they noticed some little things not being done as they should be. Few weeks later and staff started to complain that that some of the bins were not being emptied. Another few weeks passed and other staff started to complain about the toilets not being cleaned properly.

The customer called us in as they were unhappy with the service they were now getting – we went along and had a look and for the size of the site and the services required we estimated that 26 hours was pretty accurate and close to what we would have said to provide a quality service. We went off and sent in a proposal to the customer. We got a call back from the customer the same day expressing shock at the price – they were paying £10,000 per year for 26 hours per week – or just £7.39 per hour per cleaner!

We explained to the customer that there was no way anyone could provide them with 26 hours per week for £10,000 per year and we explained it in similar terms to the above. Suddenly it made sense to them. When they were initially getting quotes they had chosen the cheapest and it was cheapest by quite a long way – the customer decided to check their alarm logs to see if the cleaners were doing the full 26 hours per week. They were stunned to find that most weeks they were barely getting 15 hours but were still paying the same price.

The result of the above situation is the customer has now moved their cleaning services across to us -the current cleaning staff have come across to us under TUPE. On speaking to the cleaning staff during the transfer process they confirmed they were pressurised by their former employers to do the minimum every day and to work as quickly as possible and actually at the end they were cleaning two customers in the time window they should have been cleaning just this one and, you guessed it, the other customer was also getting less hours and a lesser service than they believed they were getting.

By all means, especially in the current economic climate, businesses should shop around for a competitive price but that price needs to be realistic and it needs to be relative to the quality of service they want and need to receive. If one cleaning company is charging considerably less than the others, work out how much you are paying per hour and then ask yourself can they really afford to charge that price? Like most things in life, if something seems too good to be true then it probably is…

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Could there be changes afoot in UK Health and Safety legislation?

June 14th, 2010

The new UK coalition government has appointed a special advisor, Lord Young, to review the UK growth of “compensation culture” and specifically to consider a complete overhaul of current health and safety legislation. Following on from his original brief in December before the new government came into power, the formal review is due to start this week and his findings are due by the end of July and will then be reviewed by the government.

Originally introduced in 1974 to protect staff working in factories and chemical plants where there were obvious and very real dangers, Health and Safety rules have now become part of everyday life and few people can avoid them day to day.

UK wide there have been numerous cases of over zealous interpretation, implementation and enforcement of Health and Safety laws even down to plainly ridiculous levels such as restaurants refusing to give customers tooth picks in case they injure themselves!

One of the suggestions of most interest to us is the possibility of removing completely the requirement to follow Health and Safety laws in non dangerous environments such as every day offices.

Lord Young is quoted as saying that we need a system which is “proportionate and not bureaucratic” and that many current rules are “absolute nonsense”.

Whilst on the surface this is very encouraging we are worried about the implications of this for the cleaning industry – would this mean that contract cleaners working in office enviroments would no longer be required to comply with health and safety legislation? What would this mean for COSHH assessments for chemical usage? Would risk assessments still need to carried out? Would removing this requirement completely open the door to more cowboy cleaning contractors who use unsafe products in unsafe ways with little or no regard to employee, customer or staff welfare?

Of course, an office is not the most dangerous working environment but there are still dangers present and, in our opinion, we do still need some form of legislation and guidance on how to protect staff, customers and members of the public. As quoted by Lord Young we need proportionate legilsation and that which is appropriate for the environment concerned and risk involved.

We will watch this story with interest over the coming weeks and months and post any relevant updates as soon as we have them.

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How to clean a computer mouse

June 12th, 2010

Previously we looked at how to clean a computer keyboard but what about that other stalwart of computing – the mouse!

Depending on the type of mouse you have the process involved in cleaning a mouse can be quite different. Traditional mice had a physical roller ball on the underside of them and relied on the actual movement of that ball to dictate movement whereas most new mice today tend to use optical sensors which are basically a light (well more specifically an LED) or laser sensors and both are much less prone to getting dirty that the more traditional roller ball.

Below is a picture of each type of mouse – if yours is an optical or laser mouse then you only need follow the first 2 steps of this guide but, if yours is an older style roller ball mouse, then you should follow all the steps. If you are unsure then please check either with your computer manufacturer or with the manuals which came with your computer or mouse before attempting to try and clean it.

computer_mouse

computer_mouse

Regardless of what type of mouse you use it will pick up dust and dirt the more you use it. When roller mice were more common people used mouse mats as they created a more natural and responsive surface but as optical and laser mice have become more common so mouse mats have become a thing of the past meaning mice are typically used on the desk surface and, if you have read our previous article on germs in the office, you will know that the desk is one of dirtiest things in the office – even dirtier than a toilet!

Typically it is time to clean your mouse when the cursor movement starts to get jerky or is not as precise as it used to be.

Before you begin you are going to need a few things – some sort of small pointed object like a pin, a cotton bud, a lint free cloth and some mild dishwashing detergent. Alternatively you can buy alcohol wipes from most office supplies shops which will take the place of the cloth and detergent.

As with cleaning your keybaord the first thing to do is turn your computer off and remove the mouse from the computer. As before, if your mouse is connected via USB this is not strictly necessary but it is best practice none the less.

The first thing you should do is clean the exterior plastic surfaces of the mouse where your hand connects with the mouse. For this use either alcohol wipes or a lint free cloth and some mild dishwashing detergent ensuring that the cloth is always only damp and that the mouse does not get excessively wet. Make sure and clean all the surfaces of the mouse including the underside using this method.

When cleaning the underside you will probably notice there are a number of little rubber pads on the bottom of the mouse. These are used to keep the sensor off the top of your desk and to allow the laser or optical sensor to reflect back off the surface the mouse is on. Often around these pads between the pad and the body of the mouse you will see a build up of dust, fluff and other dirt.  With the pin gently and carefully scrape any dirt you can see out of these gaps. It may take some time as there are often many pads and joins on the mouse (for batteries, for example) but it is worth doing. And be careful! A pin may not be the most dangerous implement in the world but it will hurt if you stick it in your finger!

Once you have cleaned the surfaces of the mouse you now will either have to do one of the following – but not both!

If your mouse is an optical or laser mouse take the cotton bud and very gently wipe the laser or optical sensor and take any excess dust or dirt off. Do not push too hard and take care not to move anything. Once you have done this you are done! One clean mouse!

If your mouse is a roller ball mouse you will have to do a little more and it will involve opening the mouse but DONT WORRY! It is dead simple!

Turn the mouse over so the bottom is facing you and you should see the roller ball protruding out slightly from the bottom of the mouse. Around the ball there should be a little ring with an arrow pointing in the direction you need to turn it to unlock the cover. Press the little ring down gently and turn in the direction indicated by the arrow and the ring should come off. Now remove the mouse ball.

Once you have the ball in your hand you should clean it gently with the lint free cloth and mild detergent ensuring you do not physically damage any of the surfaces as this will affect its future precision.

Inside the actual mouse itself where the roller ball used to be you should see a number (usually two or three) of little rollers attached to the mouse. These will normally have lots of dirt on them and, quite often, will even have a loop of fluff or lift wrapped around the roller. Use the cotton bud dampened with a little mild detergent to gently clean the rollers making sure you rotate them all the way around to clean all the surfaces. If the dirt will still not come off (most often happens when there is a loop all the way around) you may need to use the pin or your finger nail to break the loop and allow you to remove it.

Once that is done all you need to do is to return the ball into the mouse, replace the locking ring and pushing down slightly turn the ring the opposite way to that which opened it and you are done!

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TUPE and cleaning

June 7th, 2010

For most companies the two main reasons for going out to tender for cleaning or replacing their existing cleaning services supplier are an unhappiness with the quality of the service provided or the price they are paying for the service.

In some cases, where the cleaning staff and the owners are one and the same this is a very simple process – you can simply tell them you no longer wish to use their services and thats it really! Simple!

However, what happens if the cleaning provider is a company and the cleaners are employees of that company? This is where it gets much more tricky. Under these circumstances a piece of legislation called TUPE (pronounced toupee) comes into effect – Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employees (TUPE) 2006.

TUPE is a regulation which protects employees rights when a contract transfers from one company to another – it does not only apply to cleaning. Employees of the old cleaning company will automatically become employees of the new cleaning company on exactly the same terms and conditions as they had when employed by the original cleaning company. From the employees perspective, it is if their contract of employment had always been with the new cleaning company – all of their rights are all preserved.

So what does this mean for the new customer who was unhappy enough to re tender in the first place?

Well, the first thing it means is the cleaning staff who will be cleaning their premises will be exactly the same as before (assuming none decide to leave as they don’t want to work for the new cleaning company)! Sounds strange, doesn’t it? You are unhappy with the quality of cleaning so you change cleaning company but still keep the same staff!

This is a situation we find ourselves in quite frequently. For larger customers they are aware of TUPE so are not shocked but many smaller customers start the relationship with us by telling us they want us to get rid of the current cleaners but, by law, this is not something we can do.

So what can we do? Well the first thing to consider is if the employee is really to blame for the poor quality service. In most cases we find the fault lies with the cleaning company and their management and supervision (or lack there of). In most situations,the cleaners themselves are being left to their own devices with little or no guidance and with no supervision, inspections, reviews or audits and, a lot of the time, they don’t even realise they are doing a poor job.

In these cases it is a case of putting some strong leadership and management in place and implementing stringent quality processes including regular audits with the cleaners, cleaning supervisors and the customer. By simply doing this we have found the vast majority of cleaners can be turned around quickly and, in a lot of instances, they turn out to be fantastic and capable workers who actually enjoy someone caring about what they do and start to take a real pride in their work.

Now don’t get me wrong – sometimes the employee is just not up to the job and never will improve. So what can we do in this case? As part of the above mentioned quality and audit process a system of performance management needs to be implemented which clearly and simply defines exactly what is expected of the employee, timelines for improvement and, importantly, the consequences to them of not meeting required standards. If implemented correctly this is a sure fire way of either the cleaner leaving of their own free will as they are not enjoying the close supervision and inpection or, in the extreme, creating a case for dismissing the cleaner for inability to perform their duties to a satisfactory standard. In most cases, it should be possible to remove a sub standard cleaner in less than 4 weeks from taking on a contract.

At the very beginning I also talked about customers wishing to change cleaning provider as thy are unhappy with the price they are paying. Very often this is directly related to the lack of satisfaction around the quality of service being received and rather than simply being an issue with the price, it is more an issue with value for money. The customer does not feel they are getting a quality service for the price they are paying. More often than not by addressing the quality issue the price and value issue will go away too.

However, sometimes customers simply want to reduce cost by looking for alternate cleaning providers. This again, indirectly, is affected by TUPE. One of the stipulations of TUPE is that the employees terms and conditions of employment do not change despite their employer changing. What this means in real terms is their pay stays the same, their holiday allowance stays the same – any benefits whatseoever they receive as part of their contract of employment stays exactly the same.

When you consider that staff costs make up the vast bulk of the costs of any cleaning contract TUPE has a massive impact here – before being able to bid for cleaning work where TUPE applies your new cleaning company will need to talk to all the employees affected (or a suitable representative) and get a detailed understanding of their working hours, pay rates, holiday allowances and so on. These costs will then become the starting costs for the new cleaning company so one of two things happen. This removes so much flexibility around costs for cleaning. The new cleaning company has to base their cost model, and therefore the contract value, around prices and costs over which they have no control.

Unfortunately what this means is that often when changing cleaning companies to a quality provider your cost can actually go UP rather than down as the new company has additional costs to manage around management, supervisions, inspections and audits. Not exactly the outcome customers expect but there is little or nothing cleaning companies can do – it is the law!

In conclusion, if you are unhappy with your current cleaning and it is outsourced by all means DO look at a new cleaning company but when evaluating the new company make sure you fully evaluate and understand their quality processes and how intend to ensure they maintain a quality service throughout the contract term. Finally, be prepared to give the new company a few months to address any issues caused by the staff they are inheriting – there is nothing they can do in the first week so set your expectations accordingly and within a few months you will hopefully have the cleaning service you deserve and will be getting real value for money.

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How to clean a computer keyboard

May 31st, 2010

As our earlier posts highlight a keyboard is one of the most germ ridden items in a typical office – scientific studies have shown keyboard to carry an astonishing 3,295 germs per square INCH!

One of the challenges with keyboards is how difficult they may appear to be to actually clean. People are wary of messing with them in case they break them and their computer stops working. It is a genuine concern to have but, in reality, most keyboards are very well made and are more than capable of taking most of what you throw at them.

Before we begin it is worth showing what we mean by a dirty keyboard – basically if your keyboard is just a little grubby then there is no reason why you could not clean it inside a few minutes with minimal of effort and expense. As an example, below is a picture of the average office keyboard we come across – they are not filthy but the keys, especially the common ones, have dirt on the surfaces from many months or even years of use. Note: there is a current trend towards black keyboards with modern computers. While they may look great they also hide the dirt really well so, if your keyboard is black by design, you should consider cleaning it at least once a week to be on the safe side.

dirty-keyboard

dirty-keyboard

If your keyboard looks like this then you only need to spend a few minutes once a week to make a big difference to not only the life of the keyboard but also to your health and that of your colleagues.

First of all you are going to need a few basic items – namely a can of compressed air, some cotton buds, a lint free cloth and some mild dishwashing detergent. Alternatively you can buy alcohol wipes from most office supplies shops which will take the place of all the items above bar the compressed air.

The first thing to do is to turn off your computer and unplug the keyboard. If the keyboard uses USB then you can unplug it without turning the computer off but, if you are not sure, turn it off just in case!

Once you have removed it from the computer, the next thing to do is to turn it upside down and tap quite firmly on the underside of the keyboard i.e. the side which does not have the keys on it. Shake the keyboard gently as you do so and remove as many of the crumbs and bits from between and under the keys as possible.

Next, using the can of compressed air, direct the air stream between the rows of keys and use the air jet to dislodge any stubborn dirt and bits. Once dislodged repeat the above turning upside down process and remove the last of the crumbs and rubbish from under the keys.
Once you have done that you now need to move on to the keys themselves. Assuming your keys is only mildy dirty you should not have to remove the actual keys from the keyboard.

Make up a solution of warm water and dishwashing detergent – dip the cotton bud into the solution and remove any excess water. Now quite firmly wipe the surface of each key and between the keys with the cotton bud making sure you regularly rinse and replace the cotton bud as needed. Make sure the cotton bud is not too wet though a few drips of water between the keys should not do any harm. If necessary, dry the keys now with the link free cloth.

Once completed, repeat the same process for the main flat surfaces of the keyboard paying particulr attention to the section in front of the space bar where the heel of your hands will naturally rest – again, dry off with the cloth if necessary.

As mentioned before you can use alcohol wipes from any office supplise shop to substitute for the cleaning detergent and cotton buds but these will not be as good for cleaning between the keys hence why we prefer the above method.

If you follow the above process and repeat every week your keyboard will be clean and germ free and you will be well on your way to a healthier and altogether more pleasant working experience.

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Which is king? Time spent cleaning or the service provided?

May 21st, 2010

One of the biggest challenges we face both when acquiring new customers and when working with existing customers is the perceived correlation between time spent cleaning and the quality of the service provided – whilst it is absolutely valid that to do cleaning properly you need to spend time at it, how important is it if a cleaner does not spend the time the customer feels is warranted on a task as long as they are providing the level of service expected?

When most customers look for a cleaning company they have a time in mind which they feel it will take to do the job properly – we often get calls asking for a quote for 10 hours office cleaning per week, for example but when we talk to customers we do not tend to talk in terms of cleaning hours – we talk in terms of delivering the service the customer expects within their budget.  What would happen if a customer had a contract with us for 10 hours per week but it was simply not possible to provide the service within that timescale? Would the customer be willing to pay the cleaning staff overtime for the additional hours required to provide a quality service? Highly unlikely! In fact quite the opposite – we would either be expected to fund the additional time or the customer would end the contract as they would be unhappy with the quality of service we were providing. The clue is in the last statement, the underlying reason they outsourced their cleaning in the first place – quality of service.

When we survey a site and provide the customer with a quotation we have worked out how long we feel it will take to do properly and we base our price on that (as labour typically makes up 60-70% of  a cleaning companies overheads). We, of course, share this information with our customers and, due to our experience and expertise, we can usually get it right to within a very short time on most jobs but sometimes we do get it wrong. For example, sometimes a member of staff can be especially good and can work very efficiently or, unfortunately, sometimes they can be especially bad  and both of these outcomes will have an impact on the time spent cleaning – one will work in the customers favour whilst the other will work in our favour.

We do not have any customers where the contract is based around x hours per week – it just does not work in our experience. We have lots of staff who are paid for, for example, 30 hours per week but might actually only work 27 hours in a given week but, on the flip side, we also have lots of very satisfied customers who can’t fault the service we provide. It may not sound like good business sense on our part but our staff are happy and our customers are happy – what else matters?

When it is all said and done – why do companies look at outsourcing their cleaning? What is their objective? A clean and safe workplace or a person on site for x hours per week?

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Is a few hours per week enough for effective office cleaning?

May 17th, 2010

It is a reality of business today that more and more companies are finding trading difficult and, in such times, it is only natural to want to reduce costs wherever possible. Cleaning is always one of the first areas which is looked at as it is seen as a pure overhead and it is not a revenue generating service although, interestingly, in research carried out by Durable UK in 2006, 82% of office workers feel they would work harder in a cleaner office and an astonishing 71% thought that bad desk hygiene could cause them to take more sickies!

Obviously at that end of the scale things are pretty much beyond our span of control but another side effect we see is customers wanting to reduce the number of hours their cleaner(s) spend on site. While we agree that some cleaning is better than no cleaning, we have to ask the question – can you do effective office cleaning in only a few hours per week? It is worth pointing out that we are, of course, not referring to a small office with a few desks or only one employee – for the purposes of most of our clients we are referring to offices with 15 or more employees, 2-3 washrooms, a meeting room, a few individual offices and most likely a small kitchen and canteen areas.

The first thing businesses need to understand is that if you cut the number of hours cleaning you are directly affecting the quality of the service you receive – in commercial cleaning manpower makes up in excess of 70% of all costs so it is logical to conclude that reducing the hours worked per week by half will have a major impact on quality. Would it halve the quality of the service? Probably not but it would have a major impact none the less.

Quite often we take on new clients who have previously outsourced to another cleaning company and have changed due to a deterioration in quality. The thing we hear most often is “it was good to start off with but then…” or something to that effect. In the majority of these cases, whilst we of course welcome the opportunity to gain new customers, it is apparent to us that the biggest part of the problem is the lack of time allowed for perform the cleaning (which is usually directly linked the the price paid).

Generally speaking, we estimate that a competent and properly trained commercial cleaning operative can “clean” an area of approximately 2,000 square feet in an hour when performing daily cleaning. This assumes a general mixed area of carpeted and hard floors plus desks, cupboards and so on. With that in mind if your office is 3,000 square feet you should be allowing a minimum of 90 minutes per day for cleaning.

If you are only cleaning the same office once a week though that productivity drops right down to around 600 square feet per hour as there will be more dirt and more clutter to work through meaning the time to perform each task professionally and competently is increased. If we then follow this through, the same 3,000 square foot office being cleaned once a week should be being cleaned for 5 hours to achieve the same standard as daily cleaning yet most customers believe that the weekly clean should take the same time as the daily clean and therefore the price for the clean should be the same. In reality, by only cleaning once a week you do reduce the cost but not by 80% – the typical reduction is more like 30%. Yes that means you save 30% on your cleaning bill but it also means your offices are dirtier for longer, your staff will be less motivated, customers may well be put off by the lack of cleanliness or just tidyness.

It has always been our mantra that quality comes first – we would rather be honest with a customer and walk away (which we have done) if we do not feel we are able to provide the level of service and quality on which we have built our business and our brand. When you consider most small office contracts we are involved in cost between £5,000 – £8,000 per year, is it really worth the risk to save £50 per week?

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What should you look for in a commercial or office cleaning company?

May 12th, 2010

As already commented before cleaning seems to be the next “boom” small business – it is easy for anyone to get a website, some business cards and off they go. For many customers this may seem like a good thing – lots of choice and competition which will help drive down the cost but is it really a good thing? All too often when times are hard cleaning is one of the first things to get cut – it is not essential in many peoples eyes and is either considered a luxury or something that staff can do themselves.

Every day we compete against single employee cleaners even in the commercial space – at a high level a company with a single cleaner can still clean your offices and, if they are cheaper, would it not make sense to use them and save some money? Ultimately that decision lies with the customer and how important cost is to them – if cost is the primary driver and the most important decision criteria then it is unlikely that any professional cleaning company will be able to compete against someone with no overheads and charging £6 per hour.

Often, however, price is not the main driver – customers care about quality of service, they care about reliability, they care about a cleaning companies ability to deal with holidays and sickness, they care about proper insurance and they care about proper health and safety processes being in place for the protection of their staff, customers and members of the public.

Like anything when price is the driver most often the quality suffers – corners get cut so the cleaner can fit in that extra customer or they use sub standard equipment or cleaning products. They fail to turn up all too often because of problems at home or being ill or, unfortunately, because they have a “better” job that day which is paying them more. Regardless of why they fail to turn up you, the customer pay the price – not literally as of course you won’t be paying them for that day but your customers will notice the lack of cleanliness and your staff will complain as they are the ones who will have to take up the slack and do the cleaning themselves.

The other concern is around insurance – all too often small companies either do not have insurance at all or, even when they do, it is either wholly inadequate in terms of the policy limits or for what it covers or, more often, what it does not cover.

Finally, cleaning done properly can be a great way to make your business and your offices safer and a more pleasant environment for staff and customers alike but, if it is not done correctly it can introduce a whole raft of problems and dangers to your customers and staff. These problems range from trip and slip hazards from trailing cables or wet floors through to chemical issues caused by incorrect dosage or usage of cleaning products. By using a professional cleaning company who understand the risks and follow the proper procedures of preparing risk assessments, method statements and COSHH chemical assessments many, if not all, of these incidents can be avoided and, where they cannot be totally avoided, the risks and outcomes can be minimised hugely.

So ultimately it comes down to just how important cost is to you and your business? Do you want to save  a few pounds a week and pay for it later or would you rather spend that little bit more and get a professional, reliable and hassle free cleaning service? Business in Nottingham – the choice is yours….

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Which office surface carries the most germs?

April 25th, 2010

Toilet seat or phone? Might seem like a silly question but, then again, the answer might just suprise you!

According to research carried out by Dr Charles Gerba of University of Arizona in 2002 the average office phone carries over 25,000 germs per square inch whereas the toilet seat carries a mere 49! Even an office desk carries over 20,000 germs per square inch which is nearly 45 times more than the loo seat! Scary!

Below are the main results from the study -

Phone: 25,127 germs per square inch
Desktop surface: 20,961 germs per square inch
Keyboard: 3,295 germs per square inch
Mouse: 1,676 germs per square inch
Fax machine: 301 germs per square inch
Photocopier: 69 germs per square inch
Toilet seat: 49 germs per square inch

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