When owners or facility managers think about restroom cleaning, they often think a man and a mop. In fact, for many cleaning companies, their restroom cleaning still centers around the mop but if not used, cleaned and stored correctly, the mop does little more than spread germs and bacteria around and disperse foul odors. Commercial cleaning have come a long way over the years and study after study has shown that commercial restroom cleaning must get better in order to effectively limit the spread of disease causing germs. Some commercial cleaning companies have risen to the challenge to modern day restroom cleaning and others have not. A facility’s restrooms might be the first place you or your employees notice your cleaning company is neglecting but it’s not likely to be the only area overlooked. How do you know if your commercial cleaning company is doing enough to safeguard your employees’ health and your reputation?
Why Your Restrooms Might Be A Hotspot For Employee Illness & Absences
Your office restrooms are an important component in cleaning for health. Why? Well, for one reason, because of the business of bathrooms typically involves bodily functions, there’s just more germs, microbes and bacteria involved. In addition to the heavier germ load, you have high traffic and lots of touch points. Touch points are those fixtures and surfaces that see many hands over the course of the day like handles, light switches and more. Think about it, office worker A enters the restroom, does his business, touches the stall door and the exit door forgetting to wash his hands and then goes on to touch the phone, mouse, printer and other oft used areas throughout the building. Keep your restrooms clean and the overall spread of disease causing germs will go down. With reduced employee illness comes reduced absenteeism and reduced absenteeism significantly improves your bottom line.
What Should Your Commercial Cleaning Company Do to Effectively Maintain Restrooms?
There are so many things that the best commercial cleaning companies do better than the other guys to keep your restrooms well cared for and your facility running smoothly. There are many line items but overall, it comes down to the systems in place to insure that any plan is executed properly. It’s one thing to say you will clean well it’s another thing to have a plan to make sure things happen as intended. And the very best commercial cleaning companies even have a plan for when things don’t go as intended so they can catch mistakes early before they become problems.
Is Your Janitorial Service Getting the job done?
There are great cleaning companies, terrible cleaning companies and everything in between. If you run a large office, building or facility, don’t settle for good enough, because the chances are it isn’t good enough when it comes to customers, tenants and employees. Some facility managers are hesitant to shop for better cleaning services because they think it’s going to cost them more than they can afford. The reality is, it is often the best professional cleaning companies that can work well under tight budgets because they know how to work up services that will meet budgetary goals and facility requirements. Dirty restrooms are often the tip of the iceberg when it comes to cleaning problems. The bathroom may be the first place you notice work not done but it’s not likely to be the one area getting overlooked. Is your current janitorial company doing the following with regard to your restroom cleaning?
▪ Testing fixtures and dryers or paper dispensers to make sure they are in good working order.
▪ Restocking essential supplies like toilet tissue, hand soap and towels.
▪ Cleaning first and then disinfecting surfaces using appropriate dwell times.
▪ Targeting "hot spots" and “touch points” to reduce the spread of disease.
▪ Thoroughly sweeping floors to remove trash and debris.
▪ Regularly emptying trash & empty sanitary disposal containers before they are full.
▪ Cleaning floors and counters to eliminate splashes, water and keep surfaces looking good.
▪ Use chemicals, agitation and extraction to insure walls, floors, toilets, urinals, sinks, mirrors and fixtures are scrubbed and deep cleaned.
▪ Carefully clean around and behind toilets and other hard-to-reach but critical areas.
▪ Clean fixtures, darkened grout lines on floors, gum and graffiti.
▪ Dust or vacuum vents, clean corners, ceilings and base boards.
▪ Maintain or repair cleaning equipment as needed.
Cleaning restrooms is a dirty job and an important part of any cleaning for health plan. If your current maintenance company isn’t delivering the kind of the work you deserve, it might be time to move on. There are many great cleaning companies that can handle a facility of your size while still delivering the responsive, attentive and consistent service that keeps your employees happy and healthy, your customers coming back and your facility operating smoothly.