The Janitors' Closet

Don't overwork your folks

Caught an article in The Chronicle about Duke University rearranging their campus janitorial schedule to cover Saturday and Sunday cleaning in dorm restrooms, the library and other facilities used seven days per week.

Covering seven day usage facilities with seven day cleaning makes sense; that's what we do.  What Duke did to accommodate weekends was to move their cleaning staff to an every two week rotation, with a Saturday and Sunday v.s. Thursday and Friday day off routine.  Makes sense on the face of it, but some of the janitorial staff express concerns about meeting family obligations, and keeping weekend-only second jobs, under the new routine.  Makes sense.  Likely they should have simply hired some weekend only part-timers.

In commercial janitorial, I don't like to work folks more than 5 nights straight.  We have very few seven night per week clients, but a good scattering of six.  I have several crew members who are aggressive for work, and would likely take a part time job with someone else if I did not accommodate, so we'll sometimes use them six nights per week - but generally no more.  While I don't like to split up a small job between different crews, I'd rather do that than over-work my folks.

One point I did notice in the article.  None of the students petitioning seemed to be volunteering to clean their own dorm restrooms, weekends or any other time.  Somehow, I'm not surprised.  They also seem to not mind living with a dirty restroom for a couple of days; this does put me in mind of my own college days.

Disaster clean-up: keep your eyes open

Following clients and vendors with presence in the Carolinas, I notice quite a bit of thoughtful preparation in advance of the storm.  Very useful.  Here's a handy OSHA checklist of hazards to keep in mind.  In any disaster clean=up situation, one ought fully evaluate beforehand, look for fall risks, assume power lines to be live, break out protective gear, and use ladders and chain saws properly.

While we don't get involved in much major disaster clean-up (we concentrate on our core business, commercial janitorial), we keep a pretty fair rolodex of firms that do.  And we're always ready to provide immediate relief to clients experiencing day to day floods and biohazard situations (often from the same toilet): wet-vacs, blowers, hospital grade disinfectants, fungicides, and protective gear - from goggles and latex gloves up to surgical masks and bunny suits. 

Our office went up in 1914, and is thus one of very few buildings in Phoenix graced with a basement.  So we keep a couple of (immersable) sump pumps on hand - a high volume one, and a smaller one that can remove standing water down to about a quarter inch.  Handy during a really major rainstorm, or when we leave the hose running too long in the planter.  We also looked pretty hard, a couple of years ago during the Ebola scare, at potentially having to do major medical clean-up.  We formulated procedures, bought a stock of full face masks and bunny suits (when they were cheap, not when disaster hits), and a few related items.   We also prepped for potential power and service issues, and picked up a gas-powered generator, lots of batteries, a chain saw, emergency radio, and so on.

In passing, we've fully restored our 1914 building, mostly doing our own work.  That involved some of the same precautions as a disaster might.  For instance, we've learned that it is not a good idea, when stripping many layers of paint from 100-year old woodwork, to use a flammable paint stripper in the vicinity of a heat-gun.....

4000 feet above the Grand Canyon

Here's a picture article from the Sun, out of Great Britain, about cleaning the underside of the glass in the Grand Canyon Skywalk.

We're right down the freeway, in Phoenix AZ.  The glass we clean, as part of providing commercial janitorial service, is a bit different.  We keep both feet on the ground (as in the photo to the right).

Catch the article, and the pictures.  Not much more I can say.

Spring Cleaning

We're a few days into Spring.  What does that bring to mind, given that I run a janitorial service for a living?

From Cleaning & Maintenance Management:

"Ninety-one percent of Americans participate in some form of spring cleaning every few years, according to a recent study by the American Cleaning Institute (ACI)."

Sounds high to me.  Particularly suspicious was a finding that "millennials are more likely to partake in spring cleaning than baby boomers."  I knew baby boomers were bad - but worse than millennials?

We don't do spring cleaning.  We figure that a client's facility needs to be maintained at optimum level ongoing, not just when the mood strikes.  Thus, we also include various periodic services (burnishing and refinishing, carpet cleaning, windows) on a regular schedule, so that nothing is ever neglected, or allowed to deteriorate. 

Spring cleaning strikes me as akin to restoration.  Maintenance is cheaper, preserves the facility, and never embarrasses our client.

Or us.

How we "Nudge" people

 

Several years ago, I read and much enjoyed "Nudge", by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, respectively an economist at the University of Chicago and a Law Professor at Harvard.  Essence of their argument (from my perspective) is that, by presenting information and options, and organizing decision making processes optimally, one can gently guide ("nudge") folks into decisions that will work better for them, without applying coercion.

I provide janitorial service in Phoenix AZ.  I quote a lot of janitorial jobs where the current provider is doing as perfectly adequate job, according to his somewhat limited specs.  The facility might look less than optimal because the carpet needs to be cleaned, or the exterior windows washed, or the VCT burnished.  None of these "periodic" services, or cleaning supplies, are in the specs, but might well be available (for extra billing) should the customer call.  The customer doesn't call - perhaps he's too busy, or forgotten what's not in the specs - so the periodic work does not happen, the appearance of the building deteriorates, and the janitorial service forgoes a bit of extra revenue.  Because the facility looks less than ideal (because of the dirty carpet, etc.) I'm there bidding on the current fellow's job.

In quoting a job, we generally give the prospective client two prices - one for basic janitorial (but with our health, security and indoor air quality programs built in) and a second price for a bundle of "periodic" services - perhaps a bi-weekly burnishing, an as-needed scrub and refinish, a quarterly carpet cleaning, monthly windows, and a quarterly ceramic or stone floor scrub.  One monthly price for the bundle, rolled into the monthly bill.  We optimize the frequencies, so the carpet and tile are never trashed, and we can do more of a maintenance than a restorative job (cheaper for us, cheaper for the client).  We schedule the jobs well in advance, and can thus even out work loads.  The client gets the same bill every month, so doesn't have to budget, or get approved, extra charges.  The client never has to remember to call to order a job.  And the facility looks good ongoing.

We "nudge" (never require) the prospective client to take the "full service" package.  It's better for him - less hassle, better looking facility; it's better for us - for the same reasons.

Several years ago, I read and much enjoyed "Nudge", by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, respectively an economist at the University of Chicago and a Law Professor at Harvard.  Essence of their argument (from my perspective) is that, by presenting information and options, and organizing decision making processes optimally, one can gently guide ("nudge") folks into decisions that will work better for them, without applying coercion.

I provide janitorial service in Phoenix AZ.  I quote a lot of janitorial jobs where the current provider is doing as perfectly adequate job, according to his somewhat limited specs.  The facility might look less than optimal because the carpet needs to be cleaned, or the exterior windows washed, or the VCT burnished.  None of these "periodic" services, or cleaning supplies, are in the specs, but might well be available (for extra billing) should the customer call.  The customer doesn't call - perhaps he's too busy, or forgotten what's not in the specs - so the periodic work does not happen, the appearance of the building deteriorates, and the janitorial service forgoes a bit of extra revenue.  Because the facility looks less than ideal (because of the dirty carpet, etc.) I'm there bidding on the current fellow's job.

In quoting a job, we generally give the prospective client two prices - one for basic janitorial (but with our health, security and indoor air quality programs built in) and a second price for a bundle of "periodic" services - perhaps a bi-weekly burnishing, an as-needed scrub and refinish, a quarterly carpet cleaning, monthly windows, and a quarterly ceramic or stone floor scrub.  One monthly price for the bundle, rolled into the monthly bill.  We optimize the frequencies, so the carpet and tile are never trashed, and we can do more of a maintenance than a restorative job (cheaper for us, cheaper for the client).  We schedule the jobs well in advance, and can thus even out work loads.  The client gets the same bill every month, so doesn't have to budget, or get approved, extra charges.  The client never has to remember to call to order a job.  And the facility looks good ongoing.

We "nudge" (never require) the prospective client to take the "full service" package.  It's better for him - less hassle, better looking facility; it's better for us - for the same reasons.

So clean the fridge

The average cleaning frequency for the office refrigerator is 93 days (at least in Britain), according to a survey in Ladders, a UK publication.

Recommended "deep cleaning" frequency is every 4 weeks, according to some authorities.  I figure a bit more often; even if the half eaten burrito I store is fine, and stays in the fridge just until tomorrow, other items, if contaminated, can ship bacteria to my (once) healthy lunch.

49% of respondents to the survey, one might note,  had no idea of what temperature to set, or how to do so.  So even the rare clean fridge might be a problem.

We catch refrigerators for some of our commercial janitorial clients.  We like to do so weekly; better for the client's health (they might not feel sick, and be grumpy, when we drop by to inspect the job), and easier to clean if done often, so we charge a bit less per cleaning.  It's often an issue to train the client's folks on what we'll throw out (pretty much everything except condiments and unopened beverages), and when it's going to happen.  What seems to work best is a BIG sign on the fridge:  "Take your stuff home on Friday; everything will become trash during the weekend cleaning".

And let's not even think about microwaves.

But sometimes there's too much wax

I ruminated the other day about why one ought use floor finish. 

But, as in all good things (think beer), you can overdo it.  Started a small industrial facility (a metal fabricator) a couple of weeks ago.  The stated reason for bringing in a professional janitorial service was that the gal - not quite an employee, not quite a firm - who's been doing the cleaning for years is costing them too much in floor finish, even though they are buying the low cost stuff from a home improvement warehouse.  As with many in-house, or kind of in-house, janitors, the client provides chemicals, equipment, training (or would if they'd thought of it), and had never thought much about the cost.

(As a rule, we include periodic VCT, carpet and ceramic work as part of our ongoing service and price, and never charge separately for chemicals)

Didn't pay much attention to the floors as I began my initial walk-through; they were almost black, looking a bit like a dirty version of modern very dark brown fake-plank flooring.  Until I looked under a mat.  The floors themselves were a light chestnut.  The black was a whole lot of finish, with dirt and grit waxed in.  But they did have a shine.

When told about the cost of the ongoing finish purchases, and eyeballing the floor, as asked about frequency of re-finishing.  She'd been laying down finish every night, five nights per week - for several years.

We stripped a test patch, to see if we could remove the gunk, without damaging the floor.  And to get a rough idea of what kind of time (and stripper quantity) might be involved.  We did get most of the finish off.  A two foot square area took us a couple of hours.  The client was happy with the appearance, but not particularly with the estimate.

 

Tile - or carpet?

We started service for a large industrial facility the beginning of last week.  Nice modern facility, that the previous janitorial service had let go, for so long that the client had more or less forgotten what a clean facility might look like.  We spent the first couple of nights bringing the routine janitorial up to speed (one can now see the paint on the walls around the Bradley sinks in the shop), and then rolled into floor work.  (We generally include periodic floor and window work as part of our ongoing service and billing- burnishing and refinishing VCT, carpet cleaning and protecting, ceramic, stone and concrete scrubbing, and so on.)

The worst part, appearance wise, involved lots of junked up textured ceramic, in office and shop lunchroom areas; took us a couple of nights to scrub.  Then we addressed office carpet cleaning, and some shop restroom concrete.  Last night, we finished the concrete and got into carpet cleaning in a couple of small shop areas.

Received this from the client's Quality Supervisor, this morning:

"...Also, kudos to your team that shampooed the quality office carpet last night! I have never seen the carpet look this good, great job!"

Always with the stories (you accumulate a few in 40-plus years in the industry), I responded:

"Glad the quality office looks better. We’ve fooled with worse.  Had a small place years back – offices of a trash collection firm – located right down at the dump.  No dumpster for the trash – we were supposed to open the back door and toss it.  They had a couple of back rooms with so much gunk in (and on top of) the carpet (and enough oil that it was kind of shiny) that my folks thought it was really grubby tile, at first…."

True story.  These days, we try to stick with rather more upscale clients, like the industrial one referenced.

(Top photo is the before, bottom the after.  As usual, the regular lines are lay of the knap from the extractor; when the carpet has dried, we can vacuum it to pull out the lines.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can't tell how dirty the floor is until you try.

Started a new janitorial client last night; they're a large sales and development office for a local manufacturer.  It's a re-purposed 1920s warehouse in downtown Phoenix, a half mile from my office.

Most of the floors are honed concrete, likely with a penetrating sealer.  They looked a little dingy, so I did, by hand, a small test patch near the front door.  The floor lightened remarkably, so I suggested a couple of test patches, no charge, with a scrubber and wet-vac, partly to see how much difference we could make in various areas, and partly to let me better estimate time, and hence cost, to do the full job.

I'd assumed that most of the area was reasonably clean, so we'd get nowhere near the difference I noted by the entry.  The main entry sits on an arterial street, asphalt, with lots of petroleum distillates, and likely diesel residue, walking in - and no entry mats in use. Most of the gunk, in theory, should not have traveled much further back in the building.

So the test patch we did in the large break-room/rec-room in the back of the space was evocative.  Looks like we'll be doing a full scrub - for a couple bucks extra. Might be a one-shot, if the client gets treated entry matting, or perhaps a periodic service.

In passing, I might draw a metaphor for a changing society, or business style.  Back in the mid-eighties, we were officing a half mile away, in a really neat 1928 office building at First Avenue and Adams, 2 short blocks from the very center of Phoenix.  We had a large open space with our desks around the perimeter; we seriously considered getting an old fashioned pool table, the kind with claw feet and tassels around the pockets, to adorn the center area.

The new, and I might say yuppie style, client has a basketball court.

It was, back then, a kinder and gentler world.

Thoughts on cutting workplace absenteeism, going into flu season

Some thoughts from flu season, a couple of years back:

Flu and cold season is just around the corner.  Sick employees coming to work will infect others, who will infect others. Here's an article quoting a friend, Dr. Charles Gerba, down the road at the University of Arizona:

“In our studies, we found if we put a tracer virus on the doorknob of an office building, we can detect it on 50 percent of the people’s hands that work in the office and half of the surfaces they commonly touch,” says Dr. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona. “People who come to work with the cold virus spread it around.”

Regardless of how thorough a job your janitorial service is doing for you, they cannot deal with ongoing issues through the course of the day.  Here's a few things to look at:

1) Get a pack of sanitizing wipes; have your folks use them throughout the day on shared "touch-points": the front door push bar, phone hand sets, counters, elevator buttons, and the like

2) Place hand sanitizer dispensers at strategic points around the office, like the entry to the lunchroom, or a customer sales counter area

3) Speaking of lunchrooms, constantly wipe, with the sanitizing wipe, coffee pot handles, the fridge and microwave handles (and the microwave control panel), the sink faucet, the counter, the hinged top of the trash can

4) Not that I'm a misogynist (or at least not much), but studies have shown that gals' desks harbor many more critters than do ours.  Two reasons: many ladies take their purses with them into the restroom, and into the stall, and set them on the floor.  Stall floors in restrooms are particularly nasty due to the plume of fine water droplets that erupts from the toilet bowl when it's flushed.  Then, they take the purse back to the cubicle, and set it on the desk.  Go figure.  The second reason is that gals, more than fellows, stash chips and candy bars and such in their desk drawers, attracting critters.  (In passing, I've been advised that if you find yourself stuck in the office over the lunch hour, with no lunch to hand, go rummaging through gals' desk drawers.  Just don't tell them I told so.)

5) Check the hand soap dispensers in the restrooms: If you use "bulk" soap (it comes by the gallon, and you pour it into the wall dispenser or the under-the-counter bottle), you've a 25% likelihood of the soap harboring bacteria - even if it's anti-bacterial soap.  Better to buy the pre-package product.  When the dispenser is empty, you pop in a fresh package and nozzle combination.  Much less chance of contamination.

In passing, the season might be a good excuse to review what your current office cleaning service is doing, infection control-wise.  A good hospital grade disinfectant, after cleaning, in restrooms and lunchrooms; a hydrogen peroxide based cleaner/sanitizer, with a microfiber cloth, for general touch-points; vacuuming hard surface floors, followed by microfiber mopping, both to remove fine particles and pathogens from your facility; black-light inspections, regularly; and crew training.  And, for safety and OSHA compliance, be sure there is a Safety Data Sheet book in your janitors' closet - that matches the labels on the janitor's chemicals.  Here's a bit on what we do at CBN.

Some thoughts from flu season, a couple of years back:

Flu and cold season is just around the corner.  Sick employees coming to work will infect others, who will infect others. Here's an article quoting a friend, Dr. Charles Gerba, down the road at the University of Arizona:

“In our studies, we found if we put a tracer virus on the doorknob of an office building, we can detect it on 50 percent of the people’s hands that work in the office and half of the surfaces they commonly touch,” says Dr. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona. “People who come to work with the cold virus spread it around.”

Regardless of how thorough a job your janitorial service is doing for you, they cannot deal with ongoing issues through the course of the day.  Here's a few things to look at:

1) Get a pack of sanitizing wipes; have your folks use them throughout the day on shared "touch-points": the front door push bar, phone hand sets, counters, elevator buttons, and the like

2) Place hand sanitizer dispensers at strategic points around the office, like the entry to the lunchroom, or a customer sales counter area

3) Speaking of lunchrooms, constantly wipe, with the sanitizing wipe, coffee pot handles, the fridge and microwave handles (and the microwave control panel), the sink faucet, the counter, the hinged top of the trash can

4) Not that I'm a misogynist (or at least not much), but studies have shown that gals' desks harbor many more critters than do ours.  Two reasons: many ladies take their purses with them into the restroom, and into the stall, and set them on the floor.  Stall floors in restrooms are particularly nasty due to the plume of fine water droplets that erupts from the toilet bowl when it's flushed.  Then, they take the purse back to the cubicle, and set it on the desk.  Go figure.  The second reason is that gals, more than fellows, stash chips and candy bars and such in their desk drawers, attracting critters.  (In passing, I've been advised that if you find yourself stuck in the office over the lunch hour, with no lunch to hand, go rummaging through gals' desk drawers.  Just don't tell them I told so.)

5) Check the hand soap dispensers in the restrooms: If you use "bulk" soap (it comes by the gallon, and you pour it into the wall dispenser or the under-the-counter bottle), you've a 25% likelihood of the soap harboring bacteria - even if it's anti-bacterial soap.  Better to buy the pre-package product.  When the dispenser is empty, you pop in a fresh package and nozzle combination.  Much less chance of contamination.

In passing, the season might be a good excuse to review what your current office cleaning service is doing, infection control-wise.  A good hospital grade disinfectant, after cleaning, in restrooms and lunchrooms; a hydrogen peroxide based cleaner/sanitizer, with a microfiber cloth, for general touch-points; vacuuming hard surface floors, followed by microfiber mopping, both to remove fine particles and pathogens from your facility; black-light inspections, regularly; and crew training.  And, for safety and OSHA compliance, be sure there is a Safety Data Sheet book in your janitors' closet - that matches the labels on the janitor's chemicals.  Here's a bit on what we do at CBN.