FEATURE FIRST OF ITS KIND
Doncaster Council has become the UK’s first local authority to gain ISSA’s CIMS Accreditation. Here, we learn more about their decision to seek such accreditation, and the importance that it will bring to them going forward.
Metro Clean, which is Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council’s in- house cleaning operation, currently maintains cleanliness in more than 350 buildings within the Doncaster area, including schools, health centres and social housing.
With over 25 years’ experience in the cleaning industry, Metro Clean ensures many of its staff are trained to British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc) standards. As an organisation it also constantly monitors the quality of its service-delivery through regular audits. As part of this quality- led approach, Metro Clean strives to remain informed on the latest innovations, techniques and trends within the cleaning industry.
Brian High, Regional Chairman of BICSc North East and Yorkshire, and Area Supervisor at Metro Clean, identified an opportunity for further improvement if they were to apply for ISSA’s Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) accreditation.
Driven by ISSA and supported by BICSc Business Services (BBS), CIMS is a consensus-based management standard that outlines and benchmarks the primary characteristics of a successful, quality cleaning organisation
The Metro Clean CIMS project team, consisting of Drew Oxley, Head of Facilities Management, Ian Taylor, Building Cleaning Manager, as well as Brian High, found that meeting CIMS, would allow them to ‘improve systems, reduce costs, maximise efficiency, engage staff and reduce their carbon footprint’.
They also ascertained that CIMS accreditation should be central to Metro Clean’s future expansion plans. Moreover, they found that many of the CIMS process improvement qualifications would help Metro Clean on the right path to meet Doncaster Council’s broader objective of being
34 | Tomorrow’s Cleaning
Following a comprehensive and exacting audit by BBS auditors, Metro Clean became CIMS accredited, thus making Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council the first Local Authority in the United Kingdom to gain the ISSA CIMS standard.
a digital Council. “Digitising a lot of our systems has allowed Metro Clean to have a far greater control over our resources. This has resulted for example, in reducing staff hours for one of our school contracts by more than 50 hours per week, due to the robust costing systems driven as a direct result of the CIMS process,” said Metro Clean’s Ian Taylor.
After an initial on-site assessment by a local Industry Certification Expert (ICE) representative, Metro Clean ensured changes were made throughout their business to guarantee CIMS Accreditation could be achieved. Metro Clean added evaluation and maintenance to their procurement process, a new staff retention policy and improved their Human Resources backup. Furthermore, to improve interaction with clients, a traffic light system was introduced which allows Metro Clean to gain comprehensive customer feedback more easily, rapidly and regularly.
After implementing these changes and achieving the CIMS Accreditation, Metro Clean confirm that they have experienced tangible benefits. Their staff receive more support, customers are better serviced, finance is more closely monitored, operational systems are more effective, and the whole Metro Clean experience is better for everyone. Holding ‘Toolbox Workshops’ across all Metro Clean’s sites has improved staff ‘buy-in’ to the changes that CIMS accreditation was the catalyst for. Brian High explained: “Informing the staff as to why the changes are being made has helped them get on board and given them a much better understanding as to what they need to do. This has been particularly apparent with the site supervisors, who have felt empowered by the changes and have been charged with the task of sending monthly auditory updates to the main office, a task they have undertaken with relish.”
CIMS accreditation has also given Metro Clean a better understanding about how to modernise their service, and has even led to more innovations in reducing the environmental impact of their cleaning programmes while maintaining high performance standards across all contracts. Brian High summarised: “The benefits gained from the comprehensive review of our organisation far outweighed the effort needed to gain CIMS accreditation.” Metro Clean are consequently better prepared for future challenges and are able to continue to succeed in a highly competitive market.
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