unfortunately will always be those who fail to see the value of them. If an organization doesn’t understand the value of training, they probably don’t under-stand the value of cleaning. The two do go hand-in-hand: You can’t train someone on a device and not train them to perform the actual cleaning. The move towards quantitative analysis is another step in bringing validity to the work we do, and training is part of the process. Cleaning Correctly We’ve been cleaning incorrectly for years and have been throwing away billions of dollars in the process. The costs are not just tied to wasted labor; it’s the cost of the people who get sick on the job because we do it wrong, the kids who can’t come to school because they’re sick, the work that doesn’t get done by the people who occupy the buildings because they’re out sick, etc. The real costs and the real savings are not in the cleaning; they’re in the enhanced production of the people using and occupy-ing the facilities we clean. The savings to be realized from training on processes and measurement is so great that the cost of the training and even the equipment becomes irrelevant. Consistency and documentation are both critical to the measurement process. If you don’t have consistency and the ability to perform tasks in the same manner time and again, it isn’t going to give you any useful information. If you don’t document what you’ve done, you can’t set a baseline or modify your process; the collected data must be written down. The other point to remember is that we are in the rudimentary phase of this process. We need to apply it as best we can, learn from it, modify it and continue to use and implement it. Testing and measurement brings more professionalism, more recognition and more profit to the industry. It will become more and more critical as we learn more about how cleaning works, how the testing applies, what difference it makes and how it applies to the productivi-ty and health of building occupants. There will be distractions and some peo-ple will look and say, “Oh, why are you doing this? That’s a waste of time and energy.” Well, people said the same thing about airplanes, trains and automobiles. We’re going to be learning as we go, but I’m convinced it’s the right path to follow. We will see major benefits in cost savings, health and productivity as we go, getting more and more sophisticated in the process. This article was made possible by educa-tional support from Kaivac Inc. CM Wm R. Griffin has over 30 years experience in the cleaning industry as a cleaner, consultant and educator. He is the author of the Comprehensive Custodial Training Manual, How to Sell and Price Contract Cleaning, How to Start and Operate a Successful Cleaning Business and other books and manuals, as well as hundreds of articles regarding cleaning, maintenance and self-employment. For more information or to contact Griffin, visit www.cleaningconsultants.com. Circle Product Information no. 218 on page 32 www.cmmonline.com 43
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