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 unprecedented challenge during the pandemic, with those responsible for maintaining hygiene in facilities and public-facing venues exposed to risk. During this time of need, cleaning operatives have been kept safe and supported by new technology - in particular, autonomous cleaning robots.

When a disaster strikes, new, innovative solutions able to solve problems more quickly and effectively can gain acceptance in an industry at pace. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, autonomous robots - specifically, robotic floor scrubbers - have proved to be a timely solution for the cleaning sector and have seen increased deployment in facilities across Europe.

Often, when robots enter a specific sector, fears of job losses are never far below the surface. However, in an unprecedented year which dramatically increased the workload for cleaning operatives, these machines have worked effectively alongside human teams, shouldering a share of the burden and providing round-the-clock support.

Revolutionising cleaning

Far from replacing in-house cleaning staff, robots have bolstered their efforts to keep public spaces clean and safe in the wake of COVID-19. With intelligent machines carrying out a larger proportion of cleaning routines, cleaning staff have more opportunity to focus on higher value tasks, like sanitising highcontact surfaces and other hygiene-critical areas. In customer-facing businesses, such as retail, greater automation within cleaning operations has allowed shop floor staff to handle more cognitively challenging work which includes interacting with customers and overseeing changing in-store protocols.

In manufacturing, robotic floor cleaners have allowed employees to manage traffic flow and operate production lines more efficiently. As cleaning teams were stretched to their limits under pandemic conditions, cleaning robots were able to lessen the evergrowing workload.

Support where it matters

Owing to the mechanised consistency offered by robots, managers have been able to plug operational gaps at a time when labour shortages due to illness have put cleaning operations at risk. As a result, robotic floor scrubbers have made up for the shortfall in working hours lost to injury or sickness, a problem which also blighted the sector before the pandemic.

Brain Corp’s statistics back up this trend: so far, Brain Corp’s robots alone have exceeded a total of 4 million hours of productivity across 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 COVID, putting themselves at risk to make sure hygiene standards are maintained.

Accenture reported that owing to COVID-19, 64% of respondents feared for their health, and 82% were concerned for the health of others. Brain Corp’s most recent survey bears this out, finding that 72% of retailers don’t expect consumers to reduce their expectations of cleanliness, even as mass vaccination programmes make headway against the virus.

The use of robotic floor scrubbers has allowed cleaning operatives to meet these heightened hygiene demands. What’s more, robots collect invaluable data while cleaning, meaning that their performance can be accurately tracked and assessed. This provides verifiable evidence of their eff ectiveness, replacing assumption with fact and taking the guesswork out of cleaning operations. In addition, autonomous cleaning units visibly demonstrate to the public and staff a prioritising of safety precautions and show a commitment to general innovation.

Automated robotics and data analytics will become ever more common in the future of the cleaning industry, especially as variants of COVID-19 appear and the cleaning sector adapts quickly to new challenges. Managers able to observe the benefits of automation and take steps to deploy robots into operations early will inevitably reap the rewards of increased safety, enhanced brand reputation and more sustainable operations long into the future.

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