Hiring a professional cleaner is a great way to increase the health and safety of your business. However, not all professionals in the cleaning industry are focused on banishing germs and eradicating pathogens. Some perform the bare minimum and simply clean for appearance. If your custodian or cleaning professional is not cleaning for health and safety, you’re wasting your money. Employees can easily maintain the appearance of the office on their own by cleaning up after themselves and leaving their work areas tidy at the end of the day, but fighting pathogens requires a little more work. To stop wasting money and putting your employees and clients at risk, it’s important to differentiate between the two and work with a professional cleaning company dedicated to the highest sanitization standards. So, ask yourself, is your custodian cleaning for health or appearance?
Differentiating Cleaning and Sanitizing
As germs and pathogens become more powerful, differentiating between cleaning techniques becomes more important. This is especially true for cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing. Cleaning is the first step in the process. It covers the physical act of tidying up. Most people clean a space multiple times throughout the day. Cleaning involves putting things away after using them, organizing an area, and making a space look nice. It also includes the act of removing dirt and germs, but not killing them.
Disinfecting, on the other hand, actively kills 99.9999% of microorganisms like germs and pathogens using chemicals like quaternary ammonia compound products (quats), hydrogen peroxide-based products, and sodium hypochlorite (bleach.) Disinfecting kills germs but doesn’t necessarily remove them from a surface. Sanitizing is when you combine the best of cleaning with the best of disinfecting. It reduces the number of germs, kills remaining germs, and includes re-cleaning after disinfecting to remove any remaining microorganisms. Sanitizing through disinfecting is the best way to clean your facility for health. Cleaning alone is done more so for appearance.
Evaluating Your Cleaning Company
Anyone can start their own cleaning company to provide simple cleaning services, but it takes a lot of resources and training to provide in-depth, infection-control cleaning procedures. If you haven’t already hired a professional cleaning company, make sure that you ask important questions before doing so. If you’ve already hired a cleaning company, go back and reevaluate them.
Check Certifications
There are several different certifications available in the cleaning industry, many of which are unknown to the general public. Ask your cleaning company about their certifications. Legitimate companies who are committed to cleaning for health and safety will carry several different certifications and ensure that their employees undergo ongoing training. We recommend checking for diversity certifications like WBENC and quality control certifications. One of the best certifications is The Certification Training for Surgical Cleaning Technicians (CSCT), which demonstrates that cleaning professionals go above and beyond standards of cleanliness to eradicate germs and kill pathogens on the spot. You can learn more about the CSCT here.
Ask About Staff Training
Companies that solely focus on cleaning won’t need ongoing training. Tidying up tends to stay the same year-in and year-out. However, disinfecting protocols are changing rapidly, especially when new viruses or bacteria are detected. To ensure that you’re getting the most out of your cleaning efforts, ask your current company about staff training.
One training protocol that will demonstrate that your cleaning company is focused on health and safety over appearance is the Certificate of Mastery in Infection Prevention (CMIP). This shows that an individual has the comprehensive ability to facilitate infection prevention care in all clinical environments. They understand how microorganisms like viruses, bacteria, fungi, and pathogens work so that they’re better able to eradicate them and keep you safe. As an added bonus, companies with CMIP certified employees understand the dangers of hazardous cleaning and are able to properly train others and offer guidance when needed. Having CMIP Certified Management could truly mean the difference between sickness and health.
Request an Audit
The only way you’re going to know whether your cleaning company is focused on cleaning for health is if you request an audit. Audits provide accountability of high sanitization standards needed to keep your employees and clients safe. One of the best audits for internal checks is The VeriClean™ audit system. This allows businesses to see if germs have been eradicated during the cleaning process. Using blacklight technology, leftover germs will light up so that you can see areas that weren’t properly disinfected. If you think your cleaning company may not be utilizing the proper procedures, ask about their auditing options.
After reviewing your current custodian cleaning company, are they focused on health or only worried about appearance? If you find that the cleaning team is strictly a surface-level cleaning company, it’s time to make a change. Bee Line is a professional cleaning company that’s trusted by America’s top healthcare networks. As one of the only certified, medical-grade cleaning companies in the region, you can be sure that your business is always cleaned for health and safety.
Consider All Costs
One thing to understand is that a lot of people hire cleaning companies based on the cost alone. They find it hard to justify hiring a cleaning company that charges more when there are so many options that are less expensive. You need to consider all of the possible costs of a cleaning company, especially now. Extremely cheap companies are going to be cleaning for appearance and tidiness, and end up causing safety risks. They perform general janitorial services and likely won’t put any effort into disinfecting or sanitizing your facility. This could end up costing you far more in employee sick days, COVID-19 delays, and overall business productivity. When you hire a company with prices that reflect quality work, you’ll make an investment while simultaneously boosting office morale and energy levels without the risk of several sick days being used. It’s still important to compare prices amongst professional cleaning companies but avoid making a decision solely based on cost.
To enhance your cleaning services and keep your facility safe and healthy, contact Bee Line today. We understand that cleaning professionals are responsible for a lot more than basic surface-level cleaning, especially in the medical field. That’s why Bee Line is dedicated to delivering unbeatable cleaning and sanitizing services to offices, warehouses, schools, healthcare facilities, surgical sites, operating rooms, and beyond. While our disinfecting porters can help you with keeping your facility safe throughout the day, we also understand that anything can happen at any time and surprise spills and monumental messes don’t confine themselves to the 9 – 5 hours. That’s why we provide 24/7 emergency services. If something goes “splat” in the middle of the night, you can count on Bee Line to have a team with the proper equipment ready to clean it up.
To partner with Bee Line, the leader in medical-grade cleaning, contact us today. We’ll provide you with a comprehensive quote for your cleaning needs and ensure that your site is left 100% clean, sanitized, and disinfected to help reduce exposure to harmful bacteria and viruses. When it’s all said and done, you can’t find a more innovative and all-inclusive professional cleaning company anywhere but with Bee Line. We’re dedicated to helping you get started on the path to cleanliness. Call Bee Line at 312-BEE-LINE or message us today to get started.
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