Improve Cleaning Quality With Commercial Cleaning Inspections
Providing your customers with quality cleaning and meeting their cleaning needs and specifications is the foundation of any successful, customer-centered commercial cleaning company. Performing building inspections is an important part of the company's quality assurance program since it is what helps an organization achieve its quality objectives; to assure customers that it is positioned to deliver quality services on a regular basis. Building inspections provide the necessary feedback in order to measure the cleaning services being provided to that customer. It delivers company feedback on how they are performing the required scope of work and what improvements may need to be introduced, developed or corrected.
Building inspections should be routine and are typically scheduled per contract agreement and are typically conducted on a weekly, monthly or quarterly schedule. The primary goal of any building inspection is to be preemptive and hands-on. It should identify quality problems, alert the people responsible, form a correction response, initiate the response, and communicate this to the cleaning technicians, management, and the customer.
Most of the time, the only communication cleaning companies have with their customers is when there is a problem or issue with their cleaning performance. Building inspections open up communication lines with the customer and allows the cleaning company to be proactive instead of reactive with regard to customer complaints. This proactive process can allow the company to evaluate, measure, identify and correct problems before the customer ever realizes there is a problem. Performing building inspections shows your company's commitment to achieve and sustain quality control guidelines.
Who Should Perform Cleaning Inspections?
Most cleaning companies will assign this task to the onsite supervisor or a designated person that is in charge of supervising the work being completed at the building. The onsite supervisor is involved in the day to day operations of the building and therefore is responsible for performing building inspections and follow ups with the employee(s) responsible for the cleaning.
Many companies use checklists that provide a breakdown for all of the tasks the cleaning technicians are required to perform based on the specifications list established for the location. The cleaning technicians can then be rated on their work by use of a scale that rates from poor to excellent.
Some of the specific cleaning areas and duties on the form include: entrance, lobby, trash, elevators, stairwells, dusting, break rooms and restrooms. Inspection results should be provided to the owner or manager of the cleaning company, cleaning technicians, and the account contact person if that is part of your agreement. If you meet with your account contact person on a regular basis, you may do a quarterly inspection together, or come prepared with a copy of the most recent inspection. Here is a sample Building Site Inspection Checklist.
Supervisors should get into the habit of doing a light, visual inspection every time they enter a building. This way they can get into the routine of making sure the quality of cleaning is up to company standards.
In addition to visual inspections, which are subjective, is the process of using an ATP measuring device, which is scientific. ATP testing is used for measuring the growing microorganisms by using adenosine triphosphate or ATP for their detection.
ATP is an energy molecule found in living cells, which gives a direct measure of biological concentration. ATP can be quantified by using a luminometer for measuring organic matter on surfaces. Cleaning companies are using ATP-based inspections to detect and measure ATP on surfaces as a method of ensuring the effectiveness of their cleaning efforts. ATP systems provide a rapid hygiene test for small surface areas. Invisible to the eye, this light is easily measured by a luminometer in relative light units (RLUs). The device is used by swabbing any small touch surface or object; the swab is then placed into the luminometer to measure the amount of ATP present. The measurement from the luminometer gives a reading in RLUs, which is then correlated to an estimated level of cleanliness for the test object or area.
There continues to be improvements and advancements to the instruments available today to the commercial cleaning industry to test and measure. One of these instruments is called the Gloss Meter. It actually tests the floor finish gloss. Another is an electrostatic device, which is used to measures the static electricity on raised floors. It helps to control static electricity and reduce contamination. There are also moisture meters. Inspectors can use moisture meters to test the slip resistance of floors. Commercial cleaning companies need to keep current on the new technologies that are available to them. It demonstrates their commitment to delivering unparalleled customer services by showcasing new technological advancements and important trends in the industry, not just for inspections, but overall strides for excellence.
Drawbacks to Supervisor Cleaning Inspections
One drawback to having the onsite supervisor performing the building inspections is that they can build a strong rapport with the cleaning technicians assigned to the building and not be totally objective in their inspection. Other reasons for a biased inspection may be that they experienced problems with staffing, equipment failures, or other factors that limited their ability to conform to the quality control guidelines. The onsite supervisor may take into account these contributing factors and submit an inaccurate inspection.
Cleaning inspections can be a very stressful task for the onsite supervisor. They are not only accountable for the day to day operations at the location, but must grade themselves and their cleaning staff when performing the building inspections. Ideally, the building inspection is meant to offer objective comments on the quality of work being performed by their cleaning staff. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Supervisors need to be able to separate themselves from their cleaning staff and grade the building inspections based on the company's quality control guidelines rather than any outside influences.
Cleaning companies should have a Supervisor Training Program in place for continuous leadership training and role responsibilities. The onsite supervisor also needs to take responsibility for any part they may have played in a poor performance rating during the building inspection. They need to be able to evaluate the cleaning staff strengths and weaknesses and pass or fail the building without a biased opinion.
Other options for completing building inspections would be floating supervisors from other locations, having upper management, or designated quality control staffs perform the inspections. Regardless of the type of inspections that are performed, the approach must be consistent to be effective. Excessive inspection processes, variances and mistakes can undermine an inspection outcome and consistency of inspections throughout the company. Cleaning companies need to have documented processes in place to eliminate the chances for errors and missed assignments.
Building Inspections Using Mobile Device Apps
Thanks to todays mobile technology, you can throw away those paper-based building inspection checklists and trade it in for a building inspection app. These apps allow your company to use smartphones or tablet devices to complete building inspections onsite, whether online or off-line. Having the ability to complete the inspection regardless of the reception inside the building, gives the supervisor the flexibility to complete the task, anytime, anywhere. Cleaning companies can virtually eliminate the paper trail between the office and cleaning locations.
Onsite supervisors can eliminate the need for clipboards, pens, and paper checklists since the inspection information is captured directly to their mobile device. Supervisors can input the data into the mobile device while onsite and immediately pass along results to the office or customer. Since most mobile devices today are equipped with cameras, supervisors can take photos of problematic quality issues and also offer visual proof that they were fixed.
Here are some mobile inspection software companies that offer inspection apps:
This is a comprehensive series of 7 videos for training janitorial supervisors. There is over 2.5 hours of content here and they will never remember it all if you try to do it all at once. Break it up and do a little each week over time, or schedule it out over a couple months.
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