Shedding Light on Day Cleaning Opportunities

Shedding Light on Day Cleaning Opportunities

If you could reduce employee turnover, improve the quality of cleaning tasks and save your customers money, why wouldn’t you? Those are some typical outcomes for maintenance professionals who transition from night to day cleaning of commercial, educational, hospitality, and health care facilities. However, there are important considerations beyond scheduling cleaning crews to ensure you can make this transition work. These include equipment selection and careful planning to prevent disrupting workers and customers.

Plan Your Work

When we talk about day cleaning, we’re not necessarily suggesting that all cleaning operations take place during regular business hours. According to the New Jersey Green Building Manualpublished by Rutgers University, one of the most successful day cleaning approaches is to split the work among two crews. The first crew could start two hours or so before regular business hours to thoroughly clean bathrooms, break rooms, conference rooms, and main corridors. A porter or porters can remain in the building through mid-day to maintain restrooms and handle spot cleaning tasks. A second crew could come in at mid-day to spot clean restrooms, break rooms, and conference rooms and clean office spaces at the end of the work day. Another approach might be to start cleaning prior to business hours during the week and clean offices and cubicles and other work spaces on Saturday mornings. This approach still delivers a positive impact on energy costs, while minimizing disruption of the workplace.

Careful planning is essential. Prior to starting a day cleaning transition, contractors or in-house maintenance directors should carefully map out the space to identify the areas that should be cleaned prior to business hours, after business hours or at any time during the day.

Choose the Right Equipment

Make sure your equipment is suitable for day cleaning. Vacuums should meet green cleaning noise standards so cleaning does not interrupt business activity. Vacuums also should be equipped with HEPA filtration to prevent dust, allergens, and other particulates from becoming airborne. Use equipment that has earned the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) Gold Seal of Approval. This certifies that the vacuum captures 55 percent or more of the soil from carpet, emits less than 35 microns of particulates per cubic meter and preserves the appearance and texture of carpet. Both the Sanitaire EON™QuietClean® upright and the Sanitaire QuietClean HEPA backpack vacuum are certified Gold by the CRI. The EON QuietClean emits only 68 decibels of operating sound, which meets the U.S. Green Building Council LEED standards for green cleaning. Successful implementation of a day cleaning program requires buy-in from the all levels of management. Assure managers the transition to day cleaning will have a positive return on investment. Responsiveness is essential. Recognize that some changes in cleaning times and methods will likely be necessary and should be made quickly.