Jacks And Jills Of All Trades An investment in education is an investment in people. By: Richard DiPaolo, editorial director F Rich DiPaolo is the edito-rial director of Cleaning & Maintenance Management, Professional Carwashing & Detailing and Water Technology magazines. DiPaolo is active in the commercial cleaning, car-washing and water treat-ment industries, attending events and meeting with readers to stay abreast to trends. He can be reached at [email protected]. For many years, the JanSan industry was thought of as a mature industry. Cleaning tasks even dating back to the 19 th Cen-tury were straightforward and completed with basic and, later on, cumbersome tools and equipment. For instance, the first record of a vacuum cleaner being invented is in 1860, when Daniel Hess pat-ented the technology. Asia in February 2003, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shined a spotlight on an emphasis for cleaning. Both the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as other prominent associations, offered cleaning-specific guidelines to meet this challenge. Evolution Continues As cleaning’s importance and impact on health evolved, the professional JanSan industry elevated in status. With this attention and investment in interest now being paid to a once thought of mature industry — when thought of at all — a rejuvenation occurred. Environmentally safer products were introduced over the past decade that buyers trust are cost com-parable and effective. Equipment became smaller, quieter, easier and safer to operate, lighter and more versatile. Automated tools and processes have now infil-trated the market, minimizing manual stress and requirements. Even industry knowledge and training made sig-nificant advances over recent years. Today, there are custodial training programs and management training programs available. However, about the only thing stuck in the past in this industry is how managers and owners pay, re-cruit, recognize and retain quality workers. Cleaning For Appearances Turns To Focus On Health Up until the 1900s, safely removing dirt and contam-inants from an area or surface — the basic definition, purpose and goal of cleaning — required the use of manual carpet sweepers and machines, impractical by today’s standards, that used gas or oil, such as John S. Thurman’s 1899 gas-powered machine. While the vacuum cleaner transformed over the century, such as the first convertible upright line of vacuums being introduced in 1950 and in 1963, when David Oreck started manufacturing uprights specifically for the hotel industry, other cleaning tools, such as mops, brooms, buckets and dusters, evolved slowly. Moreover, the connection between clean sur-faces and the environment on health has been well documented over the centuries as well. An appropriate measure to help combat cross-contamination and outbreaks, specified cleaning steps can help keep people safe and environments sanitary. We can look as recent as this century to highlight cleaning’s importance on health and well-being. For example, the severe acute respiratory syn-drome (SARS) outbreak, which was first reported in Wearing The Hats Furthermore, as our country and its economy strug-gled these past few years, businesses had to make tough choices. 12 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • May 2013
CMM – Archives May 2013: 12
