With over 50 years of dirt, the workshop had become an unpleasant place to work. So, yes, giving the depot a deep clean has generated several benefits to their business:
· Better staff retention
· Improved recruitment
· A happier workforce
· Improved productivity
The walls were black with 50 years of grime, grease and dirt on them. Giving the overall impression of a neglected workspace.
Our customer had always seen this area as a functional workspace, and therefore not seen the need to clean the walls, until they stepped back and realised that their pride and very high standard that they had displayed in the customer facing area of their business was not being replicated in the depot.
Keeping all workspaces clean and tidy for a better working environment.
Clean workspaces play an essential part in the health safety and wellbeing of employees as well as the benefits above. Industrial cleaning is a specialised cleaning service that not every cleaning company will tackle. Industrial and commercial facilities, such as factories, warehouses, and garages require specialist knowledge, equipment, and techniques to ensure effective and cost-efficient cleaning
Some areas are just dirty.
Our client had realised that you shouldn’t accept that some working areas are just dirty.
· All areas of your business should display the same standards and levels of cleanliness. Industrial cleaning of warehouses, workshops and building exterior should be as important as your offices and any other customer facing environment. You can’t have double standards.
· No area of your business should give the impression of being unmaintained. This sends a poor message to employees as well as customers.
Clean and shinny
However Industrial cleaning is not just about making your workplace look clean and shiny. It is also
· Helping to prevent accidents,
· Helping to prevent injuries,
· Helping to prevent and illnesses caused by dirt, dust, and other hazardous substances
· Helps complying with health and safety regulations,
· Protects the environment,
· Improves productivity and efficiency.
· Helps to create a happy workforce and better working environment.
Showing pride and delivering high standards across your business is where you stand out, drive staff engagement and customer loyalty. In short, industrial cleaning is a critical aspect of workplace management that should not be overlooked.
Industrial cleaning is not a one size fits all
When dealing with industrial cleaning it’s never a one size fits all approach, each clean has different types of hazards to your standard commercial cleaning and requires a different type of skilled cleaning operative to carry out the work.
Complex Industrial cleaning.
The fitters garage / workshop industrial cleaning was one of the most complex cleaning requirements we have done to date, with numerous hazards and with 50 years of dirt, grease and grime to clean away this was always going to be a difficult clean.
Hazards included
· The garage working 24/7,
· Movement of vehicles
· Open pits,
· Electrical boards, switches and sockets on most walls
· 50 years of grease and dirt build up.
Kleanline was able to demonstrate that our approach to providing industrial cleaning is individual to each site. We deliver on our promises because we spend time getting the details right before we start, and Kleanline is able to deliver on time because we don’t treat all industrial cleans in the same way.
Where to start on an industrial clean.
The way Kleanline approaches all its industrial cleans from the quote stage to the final day of the cleaning, is through regular and clear customer communication.
We spend time on site to understand the customers work patterns, meeting with the representatives and managers to understand their requirements and using our knowledge of project management on how to approach the project.
We spent over 2 weeks working on the quote for the garage industrial clean for our customer, with it being such a complex clean, we needed to ensure that we met all requirements as well as managing all the site hazards and still provide a competitive price.
Chemical selection.
With 50 years of grease the chemical selection was going to play a crucial part in this clean. We all know that having the correct tools and the right chemicals to do the job makes things a whole lot easier and ensure that the end result is what was promised to the customer.
Over a week was spent researching and testing the best cleaning options and chemical for this work. Factors that Kleanline needed to be addressed were:
· The sustainability and Environmental impact of the chemical.
· The effectiveness of the chemical
· The cost of the chemical
· The application of the chemical
· Storage of the chemical
· Lasting effects of the chemical.
Just because we have used a certain way of working or chemical on a similar job doesn’t mean that it will be the best option for this job. Each job is unique and chemical selection should be individual to the site and job.
The right chemical for the job.
Having looked at our preferred option of steam, and this having no real effect on the walls we looked to our chemical suppliers for help, and they didn’t disappoint. Like us, the suppliers we use go above and beyond to ensure that the product they supply to us can meet our criteria, and they take the time to trial and demonstrate their products, leaving us in no doubt of the cleaning capabilities.
On this particular project we used a sustainable biotechnology product called Nu-Fuzion from Innuscience. This high-performance product provided us a better alternative to a toxic solvent that posed a risk to the employees’s health. This product fits perfectly into Kleanline’s efforts to be an eco-responsible cleaning contractor and still deliver outstanding results. This product also continues to clean after application meaning the walls should stay cleaner for longer, however I did recommend that they don’t leave it 50 years before there next clean.
The right project management approach.
· Communication,
· Detailed planning,
· project management
· And more communication.
Kleanline knows that to deliver complex projects, and it doesn’t matter how big or small the project is; communication, detailed planning and active project management are key. Winning a contract is not where the hard work ends its where the hard work start.
Going back to taking pride.
My grandmother used to tell me story’s about her and her neighbours, who would be out washing their front door steps and doors, because you didn’t want people to think you had a dirty house. People took pride in their properties both inside and out. The perception was that if you couldn’t keep the outside of the property clean, what was the inside like.
No Different to business. Take the time to provide a clean working environment, in all areas of your business. Take care of your employee workplaces and show pride in your business and property. Let others know that you will deliver to your customers the same high standards you display in your own work areas.
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