Help Is Here: Becoming a Successful “Cleaning for Health” Manager
With 90% of companies requiring a return-to-office (RTO) by 2024, the demand for cleaning for health has never been higher.1 In fact, a recent survey of facility executives found that 40% would pay a higher price for “increased infection control procedures.”2 With increased awareness of germs, our cleaning staff is under more pressure than ever before. But here’s the catch: the turnover rate is soaring, and many are cleaning without proper training.3 This scenario has left our cleaning managers juggling a daunting array of tasks, leading to exhaustion and burnout.
In this blog, I’ll shed light on crucial aspects that cleaning for health managers must grasp for success. This includes understanding what cleaning for health is, becoming familiar with best practices, and mastering the art of management that are important with these practices. While I aim to offer valuable information here, the realm of knowledge extends far beyond this scope. If you’re eager to dive deeper, I encourage you to explore the wealth of information available in the new ANSI National Accreditation Board-accredited HealthyClean® Trained Manager Certificate Course generously offered for free by CloroxPro. Seize this opportunity today and enhance your expertise and credibility in the world of cleaning for health with this brand-new program! More information is available below.
Decoding Cleaning for Health
Cleaning for health is the process of maintaining and keeping buildings visibly clean and reducing the spread of germs and other unwanted matter.3 To clean for health requires specific approaches, best practices and tools that are focused on removing unwanted matter from a building that has the potential to impact health. While it should be the goal of every cleaning operation, due to its complexity and differences in how it needs to get done, that is not always the case. At the onset, cleaning for health appears to place additional demands on an operation, but in fact, it can be incorporated and even lead to reductions in time and labor when implemented properly.
3 Cleaning for Health Cleaning Essentials for Managers
- Cleaning and disinfecting can help break the chain of infection: One way that germs spread from person to person is through inanimate objects like door handles, light switches, and elevator buttons. When done properly, cleaning can interrupt the spread by killing germs on surfaces so that they cannot spread. Conversely, cleaning improperly can have the opposite effect, by cross-contaminating in the indoor environment.
- Safe techniques help avoid injury: Lifting with your legs and not your back, mopping 2–3 feet in front of you, not overloading your cart, and asking for help if when lifting heavy items are all things that front-line cleaners can do to help stay safe while working.
- Ready-to-use (RTU) products are efficient, effective, and safe: Not having to prepare a product prior to a shift or going back to the supply closet to refill offers an efficiency that is not often considered when purchasing a product. RTU products are always at the right concentration to work as intended. With RTUs, there is no opportunity to under dilute, which can create a more toxic product, or overdilute, which could cause the product to be ineffective. Frontline cleaners prefer to use RTU products because they know they work, and products that work lead to more efficient operations.
3 Cleaning for Health Managing Essentials for Managers
- Communication is king: Whether it be with front line cleaners or building owners, communication is critical to helping the operation run smoothly. Lack of clear communication leads to lack of appreciation and can also lead to confusion and distrust.
- Standardization keeps it simple: Standardization is using the same equipment, tools, materials, products, and processes across an organization. It makes logistics, purchasing, training, and auditing simpler and more efficient. Using the same products across an organization, color coding clothes, and kitting janitor supplies and tools are examples of standardization.
- Training engages and improves outcomes: When employees feel invested in performance improves, buildings are healthier, and turnover declines.
In the face of increased demands and heightened awareness surrounding hygiene, the role of cleaning for health managers has never been more crucial. As frontline cleaners navigate this challenge, the strain on managers is real too. In this blog, I’ve explored essential elements of cleaning for health, shedding light on what it is, best practices, and how management’s role is essential. While it provides some foundational understanding, the world of expertise in cleaning for health is much broader than this. To further improve your knowledge and skills, I encourage you to take advantage of the new opportunity offered by CloroxPro’s new Trained Manager course. More information is available below. Empower yourself today and embrace the path toward becoming a proficient and successful cleaning for health manager. Together, we can elevate our standards and create safer, healthier environments for all!
The CloroxPro HealthyClean Certificate Program offers high-quality and FREE education and training on Cleaning for Health for frontline cleaners & managers, including:
- NEW! An ANSI National Accreditation Board-accredited Trained Manager course on Cleaning for Health and designed for cleaning managers.
- An ANSI National Accreditation Board-accredited Trained Specialist course on Cleaning for Health and designed for front-line cleaners and managers (available in both English & Spanish)
- A 20 min microlearning module on cleaning and disinfecting in healthcare and designed for EVS managers.
- 3 short (5-7 min) microlearning modules addressing some of the most challenging commercial cleaning tasks designed for cleaning managers. These modules each introduce a CloroxPro product that can help.
Become a successful cleaning for health manager by supplementing your current program with ours today!
- To learn more or sign up, visit our website at www.cloroxpro.com/healthyclean
- To learn more about what high-quality education and training is, check out these blogs on finding the right education and training program:
References
1. Hyken S. Nine Out Of 10 Companies Will Require Employees To Return To The Office [Internet]. Forbes. [cited 2023 Oct 16]. Available from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2023/09/24/nine-out-of-10-companies-will-require-employees-to-return-to-the-office/?sh=56fd0ece2baf
2. Results: 2023 Facility Executive Contractor Expectations Survey [Internet]. CleanLink. [cited 2023 Oct 16]. Available from: https://www.cleanlink.com/cp/article/Results-2023-Facility-Executive-Contractor-Expectations-Survey–29867
3. Five Industrial & Institutional Cleaning Trends That Will Define 2023 – Kline & Company [Internet]. klinegroup.com. 2023 [cited 2023 Oct 16]. Available from: https://klinegroup.com/articles/five-industrial-and-institutional-cleaning-trends-that-will-define-2023/
4. Berry MA. Protecting the Built Environment: Cleaning for Health [Internet]. Amazon. Tricomm Twenty First Pr; 1994 [cited 2023 Oct 16]. Available from: https://www.amazon.com/Protecting-Built-Environment-Cleaning-Health/dp/0963571508
