Two types of contractor,


Shane Curran, Managing Director at National Support Services Ltd., takes a look at standards, and asks why some of us have them and some of us don’t.


For every high quality, professional, compliant and ethical cleaning contractor, there are a significant number of companies who want those same values from their service providers. On the other side of the coin, there are companies that do not demand those values from their service providers.


We have all been in situations where we are asked for references, to show proof of our certifications, evidence of quality management systems, and undergo numerous checks to validate that our client is getting the professional, compliant, ethical and quality cleaning contractor we have declared to be in our proposal. And conversely, we have all seen clients engage cleaning contractors without any checks, references or validation that the cleaning contractor will be a safe pair of hands and that they will not end up causing loss to the client in the long term.


Since the start of the economic difficulties in 2008, there has been a huge focus on


26 | CONTRACT CLEANING


reducing costs and many client engagements show an incessant race to the bottom on the cost of cleaning services, to the expense of the quality of service on the ground, and sometimes with a blind eye turned away from compliance with employment legislation. There comes a point when companies have to look at the overall picture and understand the value that can be gained from a quality cleaning service, professionally delivered by well trained cleaning professionals. Companies should beware of the cleaning company who professes to save 25% off your current hourly rate – the reality is that any compliant cleaning contractor is paying minimum rates of pay, as set out in legislation, and are working on a margin significantly less than 25%! If the sales pitch sounds too good to be true, it usually is!


A company looking to source a cleaning contractor should ensure that the contractor does not expose their company to risk of loss through:


• Shortcuts resulting in poor safety standards and the resulting risk of personal injury claims.


• Industrial relations issues as a result of non- compliance with employment legislation.


• Excess management time spent dealing with complaints due to poor cleaning standards (most likely as a result of poor training).


• Theft of goods, cash or intellectual property. • Infection due to cross-contamination.


• Accidents due to poor, or no training of the cleaning staff.


A company looking to source a cleaning contractor should undertake a number of checks on that contractor:


• Does the cleaning contractor have a training plan for their cleaning professionals and can they produce evidence of this training plan?


• Are the cleaning professionals uniformed and well-presented?


www.tomorrowscleaningireland.com


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