We all know businesses need to keep facilities clean, but how this is accomplished can demand a unique approach. This is easier said than done and, in many cases, requires the help of expert and comprehensive facility services.
Cleaning protocols should be in place for any organization, but this may call for the help of those who can add a professional touch. With a focus on customization, this article will break into the importance of unique cleaning protocols for various business needs.
Taking Stock of Facility Service Requirements
Before any cleaning takes place, it’s essential to take stock of the requirements that apply to your specific business and industry. For example, healthcare cleaning services follow very specific protocols and includes a pretty extensive rule book. This is to protect the cleaning crew, organization, patients, and anyone else in the building. Having a clear scope of challenges and regulations within your industry can help shape the custom cleaning protocols you need.
This same sentiment can be geared toward numerous industries worldwide. In the same vein, this is why many types of expert commercial cleaners focus on multiple key industries. They demand a specific skill set and level of experience to get the job done, not only in the task of cleaning but also in industry-specific requirements, challenges, and regulations.
Putting these protocols together requires a unique and multi-faceted approach for any business or industry. Some protocols are bound to have more technical and extensive requirements than others, but there are general best practices you can start with. Creating custom cleaning protocols includes site surveys, physical evaluations, and an overall assessment of the building and the industry-related requirements attached to it.
Designing Custom Protocols for Cleaning
Once you thoroughly understand the business and industry-related requirements, it's time to create your cleaning protocols. Whether we're talking about healthcare warehouse cleaning services or any other industry, cleaning protocols should uphold the daily needs of the organization.
Between cleaning crews and the business in question, immediate efforts should be made toward establishing clear guidelines and objectives. This should be established and followed without fail on a regular schedule. Moreover, cleaning objectives should fall in line with organizational requirements without compromising effectiveness or efficiency.
A few important factors to keep in mind when developing custom cleaning protocols include:
- Cleaning frequency
- Different types of surface materials
- Potential environmental hazards
- Customized solutions for different areas
- Optimizing resources, waste disposal, and cleaning outcomes
With the right approach toward customized cleaning protocols, businesses can keep their facilities looking fresh at all hours of the day. However, creating these rules is only the first step of the process, as implementation is where the real work begins. Drafting these ideas is one thing, but putting them into place alongside everyday operations can be a unique challenge of its own.
Implementing Your New Cleaning Strategies
Although it’s common to outsource cleaning facility services, it’s also important to train immediate staff members. Keeping a commercial building clean requires a group effort from everyone involved, from small to large efforts. Whether that’s simply throwing your trash away or ensuring debris doesn’t get left on the floor, even if it isn’t yours.
Small efforts on a big scale add up, and this is all a part of implementing your customized cleaning protocols. To stay in line with industry requirements and regulations, everyone needs to be educated on the matter and the potential repercussions of not following through.
Implementation may not be easy, even more so for larger businesses, but it's essential for patrons' health and the organization's longevity. Your best shot at success is to take a flexible yet adaptable approach to implementation. These changes can't be memorized overnight but can be through repetitive action and reinforcement.
Keep in mind that your initial protocols may not be concrete, and a little trial and error along the way is normal. You want to keep an open mind to refine your cleaning processes so they’re as effective and efficient as possible. While taking this flexible approach, you should also focus on maintaining quality control along the way.
There are several ways you can accomplish this:
- Partake and enforce regular inspections of the entire facility
- Create a feedback loop among your workforce to learn how to improve cleaning protocols
- Take initiative on effective and proper training programs catered toward cleaning
- Develop physical standard operating procedures that employees and cleaning crews can reference at any time
- Keep track of KPIs where possible to determine upkeep, progress, and weak points
It may sound relatively convoluted, but this is simply the bare minimum for many industries. A good example would be university cleaners, as the sheer size and complexity of the job require nuanced and industry-specific expertise. It’s a double-sided effort, as these institutions have to provide clear guidelines for commercial cleaning services to follow.
Addressing Expected and Unexpected Challenges
Whether you’re experienced in commercial cleaning or not, your business will inevitably encounter many expected and unexpected challenges. This can be said about many industries, regardless of how strict their industry requirements or regulations may be. Falling back on the points about flexibility and adaptability, you have to be able to adapt your cleaning protocols on short notice.
In some cases, there’s no notice at all, and you have to make an immediate shift to meet current cleaning demands. An evident example of this can be seen in warehouse cleaning, as this industry pretty much requires cleaning around the clock. A lot can happen in this environment, and cleaning priorities can shift depending on what’s needed at the moment.
To help create more adaptable cleaning strategies, you can monitor performance and make use of feedback to create fine-tuned systems. However, no matter how efficient your cleaning protocols may be, you should always be aware of the following challenges.
- Any current or upcoming budget constraints
- Changing compliance requirements
- Shifts in internal operations
- Potential accidents that can affect protocol
Of course, these are just a few examples, but the nuances of commercial cleaning in any industry comes will always be unique. One of the biggest obstacles businesses face in this realm is remaining consistent and adaptable at the same time. Your systems should be set in place but not so concrete that they take days or weeks to implement new processes.
That's why a customized approach is so important, as you won't be able to copy and paste the requirements from one industry to the next. It's understandable if this all seems rather complex, but that's exactly why you get experts involved to get some straight answers on the matter.
Cleaning with expertise
You may want to manage your commercial cleaning efforts entirely on your own, but it won’t be long before you find out why facility services like ours exist. Maybe you’re facing some of the challenges mentioned in this article, and you’re ready for a little outside help.
Our work goes far beyond the commercial realm, and we’re more than experienced in creating custom cleaning protocols for a wide variety of industries. If you’d like to improve your organization’s cleaning processes, don’t wait to get the expert help you need.