FOCUS CLEANING
CLEANING SUPPLIES
Ponniah also reports that the original rush
for hand sanitiser and PPE has diminished
over time, but BCC member the Cleaning
and Hygiene Suppliers Assoiation
(CHSA) an organisation that represents
manufacturers and distributors of
cleaning and hygiene products, counters
that demand for cleaning products does
vary from business to business.
While demand for cleaning products
for the catering, leisure and hospitality
industries has collapsed, leading to
employers furloughing workers, other
industries continue to be very busy, for
example, manufacturers of hand and
hard surface sanitiser along with plastic
sack, apron and so tissue makers.
With demand for some products
soaring while supply has
simultaneously shrunk,
many companies need
to take new measures
to carefully manage
the exceptional
situation.
Mark
Jankovich, CEO
of Delphis Eco
predicts that:
“One of the key
challenges for
businesses will be
to ensure the e ective
supply of hand wash and
products for the washroom
and ensuring they are clearly
displayed, easily accessible and kept
topped up and clean, with e ective hand
dryers situated in close proximity to the
sink.
“The stats are widely known - most
people only wash their hands for six
seconds (not the recommended 20
seconds for COVID protection) and around
33 per cent of people don’t use soap when
washing their hands. Clean signage in
washrooms to encourage people to wash
their hands with soap and the reasons
why will be helpful in changing this
statistic.
“Up to 80 per cent of communicable
diseases are transferred by touch. ...
Perhaps what is less well known is that
damp hands are 1,000x more likely to
spread bacteria than dry hands. Hand
hygiene is one of the most important
things in the prevention and control of
many illnesses and as we all now know
is crucial in minimising the spread of
COVID-19.”
FUTURE FORECASTS
According to Ponniah, in the future,
cleaning services need to be aligned with
34 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2021
hygiene products from more sustainable
brands is becoming more of a priority for
many businesses. By embracing less toxic
products, there is benefit both for the
longevity of the environment and for the
safety of their own teams”.
Cleaning has been pushed to front of
mind more than ever before says David
Hagelthorn, Head of Marketing at Hillbrush:
“Adapting to the ‘new normal’ at work
means significant investment in cleaning
time and resources. The reality is that
cleaning costs money; it does not add
value to a business and o en has hidden
financial impacts such as the costs of water,
heating, chemicals, corrosion, monitoring
and validation of cleaning for some types
of operation.
“We have found that businesses are
looking for simple, practical solutions that
will make cleaning regimes much simpler
to implement and manage and this is
reflected in the type of cleaning hardware
they are purchasing too.”
For the moment, BCC members are
united in their belief that how the sector
operates will change in the future because
of the Coronavirus pandemic, and have
called for Government action and improved
regulation to help their sectors adapt to the
‘new normal’.
Melvin, of the CSSA and BCC, said: “We
believe that there is an opportunity for both
Government and the industry to review
the lessons learned during the pandemic
(both good and bad) to collectively increase
skills training for operatives. A er the vital
work they have done during the pandemic,
cleaning operatives can surely no longer be
considered to be low-skilled.”
the way a space is used, with the usage
actively measured and services delivered to
meet those needs.
He says: “We’ve seen a lot of
talk about the positive impact
of fogging, deep cleans and
making the workplace COVIDsecure,
but we can’t simply
look at a point in time and
pat ourselves on the back.
Cleaning regimes need to
support a COVID-secure
approach in workplaces with
people operating in them dayto
day, in a situation that may be
a reality for quite some time.
“While a workplace, in whatever
format, may be clean and hygienic at
9am on a Monday morning, we need to
take a proactive and practical approach
to ensuring ongoing standards while
a space is in use. Implementing a shi
to day cleaning, so o ice users get the
psychological benefit of seeing cleaning
being done is a positive step, but we need
to be able to demonstrate to colleagues
that this is somewhere safe for them to be
for as long as they are there.
“Cleaning services need to show they are
taking health, safety and welfare seriously
and data can do that. If they can prove
that the canteen is cleaned before peaks
in tra ic, that a meeting room is cleaned
a er every use, and that reception has a
particular cleaning focus as a high-risk
area, and that everything is serviced to
a defined and robust methodology, it
provides a superior level of reassurance.”
It’s also important to note that major
considerations such as sustainability
haven’t been discarded due to the
pandemic. Jankovich says that Delphis Eco
have experienced a significant increase in
enquires from potential new clients who
are looking to use sustainable cleaning
products rather than their previously less
sustainable supplies.
He explains: “Buying cleaning and
Cleaning services need to show
they are taking health, safety and welfare
seriously and data can do that. If they can
prove that the canteen is cleaned before peaks in
traffi c, that a meeting room is cleaned after every
use, and that reception has a particular cleaning
focus as a high-risk area, and that everything
is serviced to a defi ned and robust
methodology, it provides a superior
level of reassurance.”
REFERENCE NOTES
(i) http://britishcleaningcouncil.org/
(ii) http://britishcleaningcouncil.org/members-2/
(iii) https://www.ahcp.co.uk
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