CLEANING & HYGIENE
EASING THE CLEANER’S LOT
Cleaning can be a gruelling, back-breaking task. Lee Radzki, from Tork manufacturer Essity, considers how the use of aids such as robots, ergonomic systems and sensors can help to ease the cleaner’s burden.
New reports emerge every week about cleaners threatening to strike over pay and poor conditions.
Operatives in a number of government departments pledged to walk out last October in a demand for higher wages and sick pay.
A failure to pay COVID bonuses – apparently promised, but never delivered – was one of the reasons behind a recent cleaners’ dispute at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. Harrods’ cleaners also threatened strike action over Christmas claiming that although their team had been cut by half, they were still expected to carry out the same amount of work.
Staff shortages are at the very heart of the current discontent. According to recent research by the British Cleaning Council, between 50 and 60% of cleaning companies now have insufficient numbers of employees to cover the hours they are contracted to provide.
Cleaners are therefore overworked, demoralised and exhausted. And standards are expected to be higher than ever post-COVID while the sector also struggles to attract new employees in a category that is still often regarded as 'low-skilled work'.
So, facilities need to do what they can to make the cleaner’s life easier in order to retain good workers and keep them engaged.
Ergonomic tools and equipment will go a long way to make the cleaner’s life easier. Trolleys should be lightweight and manoeuvrable and mops should be designed to
26 | TOMORROW’S FM
minimise the need for stretching and bending on the part of the cleaner. Trolleys incorporating ‘follow me’ technology operated via a remote control will avoid the need for operatives to push a heavily-loaded cart. And robot sweepers, scrubbers and vacuums can be used to clean large floor areas, freeing up humans for other, less onerous tasks.
Washroom cleaning can be particularly challenging because automated systems tend to be impractical in such a restricted space. Most tasks will need to be carried out by hand and a great deal of time will be spent replenishing the soap and paper supplies.
The design of a washroom can have a huge impact on the cleaner’s working day. Continuous flooring and smooth surfaces will be significantly easier to clean than small tiles with grout lines, for example. Automatic taps will attract fewer fingermarks than manual versions. And curved dispensers with no sharp corners or edges where dirt could collect will be easier to wipe clean than boxy units.
All dispensers should be easy to open and refill while also being designed to reduce consumption because this will lighten the maintenance burden.
Bulk fill soaps need to be manually refilled – a task that can be both messy and time-consuming. Any spills will have to be removed from sinks and this will further add to the cleaner’s workload.
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58
