C&M
SPECIAL REPORT
Robots aren't taking jobs, they're supporting workers Michel Spruijt, GM and VP of Braincorp Europe, reports. CLEANING staff have been faced with an
public spaces clean and safe in the wake of
unprecedented challenge during the pandemic,
COVID-19. With intelligent machines carrying
with those responsible for maintaining hygiene
out a larger proportion of cleaning routines,
in facilities and public-facing venues exposed
cleaning staff have more opportunity to focus
to risk. During this time of need, cleaning
on higher value tasks, like sanitising high-
operatives have been kept safe and supported
contact surfaces and other hygiene-critical
by new technology - in particular, autonomous
areas. In customer-facing businesses, such
cleaning robots.
as retail, greater automation within cleaning
When a disaster strikes, new, innovative
operations has allowed shop floor staff to
solutions able to solve problems more quickly
handle more cognitively challenging work
and effectively can gain acceptance in an
which includes interacting with customers and
industry at pace. Since the outbreak of COVID-19,
overseeing changing in-store protocols.
autonomous robots - specifically, robotic floor
In manufacturing, robotic floor cleaners
scrubbers - have proved to be a timely solution
have allowed employees to manage traffic
for the cleaning sector and have seen increased
flow and operate production lines more
deployment in facilities across Europe.
efficiently. As cleaning teams were stretched
Often, when robots enter a specific sector,
to their limits under pandemic conditions,
fears of job losses are never far below the
cleaning robots were able to lessen the ever-
surface. However, in an unprecedented year
growing workload.
which dramatically increased the workload for cleaning operatives, these machines
Support where it matters
have worked effectively alongside human
Owing to the mechanised consistency offered
teams, shouldering a share of the burden and
by robots, managers have been able to plug
problem which also blighted the sector before
providing round-the-clock support.
operational gaps at a time when labour
the pandemic.
shortages due to illness have put cleaning
Brain Corp’s statistics back up this trend: so
Revolutionising cleaning
operations at risk. As a result, robotic floor
far, Brain Corp’s robots alone have exceeded a
Far from replacing in-house cleaning staff,
scrubbers have made up for the shortfall in
total of 4 million hours of productivity across a
robots have bolstered their efforts to keep
working hours lost to injury or sickness, a
variety of industries. In a recent study published by The Health and Safety Executive, health and safety hazards have been shown to be a constant problem for the cleaning sector. Falls and slips are still the most common form of non-fatal accidents on the job (29%). These hazards affect cleaning staff directly, given their daily exposure to risks whilst going about their work. Robotic solutions mean that human error and exposure to hazards of this type can be significantly reduced. Redefining priorities in the wake of health fears The benefits to cleaning staff and facilities of deploying cleaning robots are not only material, but psychological. Employee fear surrounding cleanliness when returning to work has been well documented: cleaning operatives have had to take on hazardous work in the midst of
28 NOVEMBER 2021
WWW.CLEANINGMAG.COM
