Contracts

A hard day’s work

LIVERPOOL’S most famous sons got special attention when the city authorities upped their contingency for halting COVID-19’s spread. John, Paul, George, and Ringo (or their effigies at least) got a proper spraying of Prochem’s D500 Microsan biocidal cleaner from start-up sanitising specialist Vaxinol.

National TV news networks picked the story up as did the local newspapers and while The Beatles may have been used to the attention, for Craig Howard it was all very new. Former cleaning solutions salesman Howard and codirector Bradley Griffiths set up their cleaning business in April. “Coronavirus had already kicked off so we moved fast to meet demand for deep cleans from the commercial sector and the business just kept coming in,” said Craig Howard.

Merseyside-based Vaxinol is a commercial, industrial and residential Incentive FM Group, has secured a significant contract. Following 12 months of a delayed and competitive tender, Incentive QAS is now the chosen partner for 65 mixed-use properties across London and the south east of England for a leading property management company.

The new client was forced to pause the procurement phase due to the pandemic but has now appointed Incentive QAS to oversee cleaning services within the 65-strong buildings portfolio that includes commercial property, a business park, retail outlets, and mixed-use commercial spaces. Incentive QAS will be delivering daily cleaning and housekeeping, washroom hygiene, pest control, window cleaning, and periodic cleaning throughout the portfolio.

David Brown, commercial director at BRAYBORNE Facilities Services has won the contract to provide cleaning services to eight primary schools operated by Compass Partnership of Schools Trust across south east London. The appointment is the latest of a series of education cleaning contracts awarded to Brayborne covering 20 sites across southern England.

Part of The Exclusive Services Group, Brayborne manages over 1100 staff across 250 cleaner specialising in disinfection and decontamination using electrostatic spray systems. It also offers carpet, upholstery and mattress cleaning. In addition to the spraying-related services, the business relies on its brand new Prochem SX2100 Steempro Powermax for the balance of the company’s day-to-day work. “It’s a very fast and efficient machine that cuts through the work,” said Howard.

Howard and his two colleagues put the hot water extractor to task recently when called in to clean auditorium upholstery in an old cinema. He said: “The seats were very grubby indeed, but we set to work, going back over the job to sort out any marks and spots, and two days later, thanks to the Steempro and Prochem’s solutions, we brought them back to life.”

Incentive QAS lands ‘significant deal’

INCENTIVE QAS, the cleaning arm of the

WWW.PROCHEM.CO.UK Incentive QAS, said: “It’s a fantastic testament to our operations and our track record in securing this prestigious contract. We were told that we stood out as a front runner from the start, and it was our strong management structure, innovation and experience in the industry that set us apart. The tender was very challenging, particularly with a backdrop of the pandemic, but we didn’t compromise our efforts or commitments during this time.” contracts specialising in daily and periodic cleaning in the commercial and educational sectors. Further contracts in the sector picked up in 2020 include west London’s Hammersmith Academy, The Clere secondary in Newbury GFM Education’s secondary schools Bay House and Brune Park, five sites operated by Havant and Southdown Colleges, and Haberdashers Aske’s Federation’s Knights Academy, Knights Temple Grove and Hatcham College.

Incentive QAS has now entered the mobilisation phase for the new contract, which is set to take around three months. Account manager, Tony Hall, will be bringing his expertise and experience to oversee the commercial partnership. Worth over seven figures, this contract adds to Incentive QAS’s growing client list and portfolio.

David Brown continued: “We’re really excited to deliver these services across the portfolio and we’re confident that our services will further strengthen their customer and client experiences across London, Greater London and the South East. We pride ourselves in prioritising innovation and manageable solutions across commercial and mixed-use spaces, and we look forward to delivering these services successfully over the duration of the contract.”

Compass directs Brayborne to more school cleaning

WWW.INCENTIVE-QAS.COM

“The denominator particularly common to schools during this pandemic is the need for provider flexibility,” said divisional director, Amanda Fry. “Being positioned to take on short notice amends to cleaning specifications and schedules and supply additional day staff while keeping costs down is a plus as far as schools are concerned. To manage major workarounds, you need experience and Brayborne has decades of that.” WWW.BRAYBORNE.CO.UK

I’m speaking to you!

COMMUNICATION is fraught with difficulties. The story of soldiers in the trenches during the First World War where the message was passed down the line ‘send reinforcements, we are going to advance’ that ended up as ‘send three shillings and four pence, we are going to a dance’ is an illustration of how even one language can cause issues.

It was George Bernard Shaw who spoke about England and America being two nations separated by a common language. So we all think we know what we are saying but the person receiving the message may translate it differently, even when delivered in the same language.

Studies have shown how important body language is: 7% is the spoken word, 38% refers to voice and tone, and 55% relates to body language. Over the last few months of being on Teams and Zoom video calls, some of the body language, let alone the dress code, is pretty poor! The Government has been accused of sending mixed messages. In my personal experience, I have the following illustration. If I started a cleaning operative on a new contract and they had the floor of an office building to clean on their own, I would walk the floor with them and show them everything that needed to be cleaned on a daily or weekly basis. However, if there was a monthly task such as ‘dust the venetian blinds’, I would state this on subsequent site visits. ‘Have you dusted the venetian blinds this month?’ The response would be either ‘No’ or ‘I am going to do that this week’. If, however, I had asked the cleaning operative to remove drinking cups to the kitchen every evening for the catering staff to deal with the next day (later I managed to convince the caterers this was not a cleaning task) I would have needed to ask several times, but I can assure you I only had to tell that cleaning operative once not to remove cups to the kitchen.

The point I am making here is that if you ask people not to do something like ‘stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives’ they are inclined to do it. It is then very difficult to ask them to do something else.

We have all heard the mnemonic which goes with ‘assume’ which is, of course, ‘Never assume, because when you assume you make an Ass out of U and Me’. The use of an incorrect word can have huge negative consequences. Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar did not fly a signal that read ‘England assumes that every man will do his duty’ did he? He flew a signal that read ‘England expects that every man will do his duty’.

In conclusion, I am reminded of Dr Stephen Covey’s ‘7 habits of highly effective people’. Habit number 5 is ‘Seek first to understand then to be understood’ or as one of my colleagues in Belfast said: ‘Stan, you have got two ears and one mouth, use them proportionately’! WWW.BICS.ORG.UK

Health sector cleaning operatives on the frontline in the battle against COVID-19

Delia Cannings, a director of the British Cleaning Council and the national lead for education and training at the Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals (ahcp), reports.

JUST as a little positivity was sneaking back into lives and we were adjusting to the new normal following the decline in COVID-19 cases after the first spike, the second wave hit us in the autumn. Members of the ahcp have been on the frontline in the fight against the virus since March 2020.

My colleagues are directly involved in managing and delivering cleaning and hygiene services in most NHS and independent hospitals. Members also hold key roles in many primary care and GP clinics and surgeries, nursing and care homes, and other residential care settings provided by the public, charitable and private sectors.

As in other sectors of the cleaning and hygiene industry, ahcp cleaning operatives across the country have remained steadfast in their attempts to contain the virus throughout. Members never relented in dedication and commitment. Many have gone above and beyond, working longer hours, taking on extra responsibilities and adopting new standards and practices to prevent COVID-19 contamination.

Colleagues also played a vital role setting up and staffing Nightingale Hospitals and are now operating them again, receiving COVID-19 patients when beds in other facilities run out. The camaraderie observed as teams across occupational areas work together has been phenomenal - they have been supporting each other, holding each up and, sadly, falling in a pile together when the exhaustion kicked in. But, like the rest of the health service, we are now very stretched and in some parts of the country, this has been the case for weeks. Pure fatigue has taken its toll and many colleagues are also self-isolating. The combined impact is concerning. To cover these shortfalls, agency staff have been engaged. In one establishment, 108 staff places needed to be filled. The stark reality is that full, comprehensive training in COVID-19 secure procedures and processes for replacement people cannot be guaranteed where a rapid response is required. Therein lies a further risk factor.

To add to the problem, some people’s behaviours changed while they were furloughed or self-isolating. We have noticed an increase in drinking, smoking and substance abuse among patients, visitors and colleagues. Increased mental health issues, anxiety and depression, self-harm and suicide rates add to the issues already caused by COVID-19, making a difficult situation even more complex.

We have also seen an increase in vermin problems facing ahcp cleaning operatives, as during lockdown periods waste and rubbish is not readily available, so starving rats and mice have left their natural habitats to venture boldly into new areas to seek food and shelter, leaving their trails of carnage behind them. In some cases, in the absence of humans in the street, vermin seem to think they are running things now!

All these challenges are impacting on the dilemmas our cleaning teams face and must all be managed. A number of strategies and initiatives have been introduced to assist and support colleagues in dealing with these challenges and help them continue to provide a first-class cleaning and hygiene service. These include: • COVID-19 testing kits being delivered to the homes of staff and collected. • Health and well-being sessions. • Online support, counselling and discussion groups. • Confidential help lines. • Workshops for sharing best practice. • An increase in break times to enable sufficient rest and rehydration. • Ongoing COVID-19 secure training for staff.

But, in the long-term, only a vaccine can provide a solution to the virus and prevent further spikes.

It would be remiss not to mention the devastating impact the Government announcement earlier in the year about its future immigration policy had on ahcp members and the cleaning and hygiene sector as a whole. For workers in our industry to be categorised as unskilled was an insult and a serious kick in the teeth.

I challenge the decision-makers in Government to spend 24 hours working alongside healthcare cleaning professionals in these pandemic times and beyond before writing us off as SKILL-LESS!

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The human challenge of cleaning in a pandemic

Lee Andrews, CEO of DOC Cleaning, reports.

IN normal times, one of the wonderful things about a cleaning company is the human factor. The pride in delivering a service across hundreds of locations, day after day, through hundreds of committed staff. If you don’t enjoy the people aspect of cleaning, then you’re in the wrong industry.

And yet the human factor has proved immensely difficult to deal with in 2020, especially for those contractors involved in office cleaning, retail, hospitality and, as is the case here at DOC, in the cleaning of museums, galleries and entertainment venues.

Many industries have been hit hard, but cleaning, an outsourced industry whose destiny is so utterly bound up with the fortunes of customers, has taken a beating in human terms. Brave staff, who have acted as an emergency service before, during and after lockdown, now face a protracted period of unemployment until such time as the country is rescued by a vaccine. The reinstatement of furlough, whilst welcome, was regrettably announced rather late in the day for many employees.

It’s not just frontline staff who have felt the strain. Whilst other industries ravaged by the pandemic have cut overheads, the labour-intensive nature of cleaning means that our overhead has been under far greater pressure than in normal times. HR, payroll, admin, finance, operations - all have had their shoulder to the wheel solidly since March. As we all know, the sheer weight of amendments to rosters, timesheets, payroll and invoices, not to mention the handling of potential redundancies, has placed demands on overhead in a way that is hard to imagine in other industries.

COVID-19 has thrown into sharp relief the perils of working as an outsourced supplier or contractor. One of the reasons why organisations outsource in the first place is to benefit from the inherent flexibility of the arrangement - the ability to switch a service on or off at fairly short notice. Yet it has also highlighted the peculiar disconnect that exists in cleaning between the value of the service during the pandemic and its apparent expendability. In what I hope will turn out to be a minority of cases, I have heard about customers who were quick to ignore contracts and suspend cleaning with little or no notice - all in a manner that is hard to imagine with other outsourced services. Have organisations whose buildings have remained closed for long periods cancelled their IT support contracts for example? Or did they see it as too big a risk?

On the positive side, I am also aware of many customers who have made financial commitments to their cleaning contractor in the form of retainer payments whilst their buildings have been wholly or partially closed. They have understood that cleaning contractors did not have the option of simply closing down until the storm blew over. They have recognised the benefits of continuity, knowing that when the time comes their contractor will be ready and primed to restart the service, not to mention being available at a moment’s notice to step in with interim emergency cleaning tasks.

The creation of sustainable employment and the protection of employees’ health and safety has always been a key strategic objective both at DOC and for the vast majority of contractors who are in this business for the long term. It is of immense credit to our industry that we have doggedly pursued this objective throughout the pandemic and that we will continue to do so until life returns to normal.

Season’s Greetings to you all. Here’s to a New Year that more closely resembles the ones we’re used to! WWW.DOCCLEANING.COM

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