The global cleaning community and its professional standards are being transformed by technological advancements and applications helping to improve results. 

At the forefront of the latest development is the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc).

Audits are increasingly becoming a popular way to monitor cleaning standards, providing an in-depth report on service delivery, an approach which is beneficial to both client and contractor alike. Unlike a stand-alone cleaning inspection, an audit also focuses on processes and procedures in place and the results highlight any apparent risks and areas that might require improvement.

In response to rising requests within the cleaning community, BICSc announced the option to take audits to another level with the forthcoming launch of the BICSc Audit app.

The BICSc Cleaning & Hygiene Audit App will be another revolutionary addition for the industry. It includes an audit of the cleaning process and paperwork, plus a visual inspection of a percentage of the cleaned environment. The app gives a pass – action – fail result and is available for both members and non-members to use on a subscription basis.

This latest technological innovation features the same criteria that BICSc incorporates for traditional audits and in addition to this, the audit app will be adaptable, allowing users to tailor acceptable quality levels (AQL) to their own individual business requirements.

BICSc Head of Technical Services, Denise Hanson, said: “We are delighted to be able to announce the arrival of our BICSc Audit app, which will be launched to the public this April. This app will help revolutionise the Industry and its adaptability and agility make it a perfect tool for organisations operating within the cleaning community.

“We are excited about this latest technological advancement which demonstrates how BICSc continues to innovate and strive for raising standards across the industry. We anticipate the app will prove extremely popular and will be an invaluable additional asset for the professional cleaning sector on a global scale.”

It is widely acknowledged all audits are instrumental in helping increase operational standards and maintain them at higher levels. The current BICSc Cleaning & Hygiene Audit is comprehensive. It includes an in-depth check of processes, systems, paperwork, policies, areas included in the cleaning specification, staff behaviours and appearance, and the standard of the equipment available to the cleaning operatives.

In facilities where audits are carried out regularly, it is proven that the quality of the cleaning improves, and, frequently, is the start of a cycle of continuing increased standards – the quality of cleaning improves, which increases morale and motivation of the cleaning operatives, which in turn encourages them on to improve on the previous report. 

For a number of years, BICSc has been undertaking independent cleaning and hygiene audits at customers’ requests and this is something that the organisation will continue to do. Increasingly businesses have also made it known that they would like to be able to conduct ad-hoc audits themselves, rather than rigidly sticking with a format of, for example, the recommended minimum four a year undertaken by BICSc, however they want to use the same criteria so that the results can be comparable.

These requests were reviewed and BICSc responded with the announcement of the BICSc Audit app. The new app will feature the same criteria that BICSc use for an audit, but users can set their own overall report score that they feel is more suited to their business (which includes the results from the paperwork and processes section, combined with the results from the cleaning inspection section), and they also have the flexibility of setting their own AQLs for the room categories for the building inspection.

Furthermore, there will be 17 different room categories available to assign to the rooms used for inspection. The user will also be able to add comments and pictures to back-up their response to any of the process and procedures questions.

They will be able to add comments and pictures to rooms that are inspected. They will also be able to add comments and pictures to elements within the room should they wish to drill down to that level during the inspection.

When the audit has been completed the user can submit the results and generate a PDF report that they can download, which will calculate an overall result by including the section results and the inspection results. All comments and pictures that were added during the audit can also be included in the report.

The report will be automatically time and date stamped when it is submitted to remove any query over when the audit was undertaken. The app is a free, Smartphone app available to download from both the Apple and Google app stores. Whilst being designed specifically for a Smartphone, it will also work on an Apple or Android tablet.

Case Study –Audit Success

BICSc recently completed the first BICSc Independent Cleaning & Hygiene Audit in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). 

BICSc Head of Technical Services Denise Hanson highlighted how the app is already helping drive standards within the professional cleaning community.

BICSc team of experts are utilising the app internally prior to it going live. 

Denise’s feedback stated:  “I have put the pass marks in line with the quality levels for an area passing with the EN13549 cleaning standard, with circulation and offices at 93% and washroom areas requiring a 96% pass rate. The team exceeded these scores in all areas. The BICSc Audit pass marks for cleaning are lower at 85% as per the report, but I thought it worth mentioning that the site exceeds the pass levels for the EN standard. 

• Washroom EN standard 96%  SIDF achieved 97%
• Circulation EN standard 93% SIDF achieved 97%
• Office EN standard 93% SIDF achieved 98%

“The BICSc Audit score pass rate is set at 85% so this was more than met by the site with the supporting documentation and staff presentation sections scoring 100%.”

For more information go to www.bics.org.uk