LET’S JUMP AND TAKE THE PLUNGE BEFORE WE ARE PUSHED


Paul Thrupp, the new Deputy Chair of the British Cleaning Council, takes a look into the future and concludes it would be better for the cleaning sector to be ahead of the game rather than have reform forced upon it.


The uncertainty over Brexit, and many other unknowns regarding the direction of the economy – or indeed the whole country – is putting an inevitable focus on issues like resources, costs and skills within the cleaning sector.


We are also facing additional challenges such as a need to reduce our impact on the environment, the rapid development of more autonomous cleaning technologies, and a demand for higher and more consistent cleaning standards to improve public health.


All of this, combined with the shifting expectations of many customers about what sort of services they want and need, and how these services are delivered, means our industry faces a potentially unprecedented level of upheaval in the coming years.


In my role as the Deputy Chair of the British Cleaning Council, recently elected alongside the new Chairman Stan Atkins, I believe that we as a sector need to view these issues as a series of opportunities for long-lasting, positive change.


For example, we have the chance to make higher standards of cleaning something which becomes inextricably linked to a wider culture of better health and wellbeing everywhere - and not just something to concern those working within the healthcare sector.


We have the chance to shape the next generation of cleaning machines, robots and cleaning aids to make the job more comfortable and safer for the operative - and to radically improve the experience of the customer.


Everything from better ergonomics, improved battery power and quieter,


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lighter equipment through to multi- function Internet of Things-enabled kit are on the verge of transforming how we do things - and yet there are still pockets of resistance to this smarter and more automated way of working.


“I believe that we as a sector need to view these issues as a


series of opportunities for long-lasting, positive change.”


We also have the chance to wean ourselves off using high volumes of chemicals and start to look more closely at our actual cleaning processes rather than what’s in our dispensers, plastic bottles and barrels.


Similarly, we have the opportunity to consider more preventative maintenance, and think about how, following cleaning, we can treat surfaces to prevent contamination before it builds up, rather than focus on the clean-up itself.


With a looming skills crisis, through to a generation of cleaning professionals rapidly approaching retirement at one end of the funnel and a lack of youth coming through at the other, together with the potential impact that the UK leaving the EU could have, we also have no real choice but to develop a higher skilled, better-paid and career- focussed approach to all job roles within the cleaning industry.


Putting all of this together, I truly believe that we have a fantastic


opportunity to transform the idea of a ‘cleaning operative’ to one of a ‘Hygiene Technician’ – a multi-skilled, highly-trained professional who manages self-reporting washroom data as much as they manage manual scrubber-driers and squeegees. Someone whose work will help reduce the spread of germs throughout a facility by employing effective maintenance processes.


This ‘Technician’ will also be visible – not one of the army of after-hours magic cleaning fairies we currently have – and they will be an integral part of both the daily working environment and the workplace team. There’s every chance their role could also encompass a wide range of non-cleaning activities, all of which will be needed to ensure a modern office, shop, factory or warehouse can function efficiently, safely and sustainably.


However, to achieve this, we need to be future-proofing the industry right now.


Through my role as the new Deputy Chair of the BCC I will be doing everything I can to highlight the need to embrace change throughout the sector, amongst our members, and with our key industry partners – but we need everyone to get on board if we are to deliver the step-change required.


If we don’t I fear many of the changes needed will be forced upon us because of external circumstances – so surely it would be better for us to grasp the nettle now and ensure that the future shape of our industry is one that we want, which works best for us, and not one simply thrust upon us.


www.britishcleaningcouncil.org twitter.com/TomoCleaning


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