In today's world, our brains are tuned to expect everything fast; during the process we have started missing out on various aspects like “details”. We give the results quickly to make the world satisfied, but end up with irreversible impacts. Cleaning is no exception. 

Lot of money is spent on unique beautiful buildings. With unique designs and materials comes unique challenges.​

The Middle East has its own unique challenges. Dust storms, humidity, flash floods, are few examples.​

Places get dirty in minutes, but it takes hours or even days to fix. It takes a lot of acceptance, positive attitude, self-motivation, and effort. Every cleaning crew member knows that after their job, again the place will go back to square one.

Have you ever realised how difficult it is, when you work on a chunk of data in a spreadsheet and before you could save it, the system crashed. Yes, that is exactly how every cleaning crew feels, but the difference is they expect the unexpected.

Leaders in the cleaning industry are trained on products and safety, but they miss some important aspects,

#Identify​

#Understand​

#Choose​

#Identify the surfaces, ​

A manager instructed his staff to clean the stainless steel lift panels and gave them metal cleaner to remove the rust. It showed a great result initially, so the staff were asked to continue to clean all the elevators, but the chemical was corrosive and was meant for industrial use and started showing signs of damage after 12 hours. Next morning 12 elevators were found damaged and the manager was sacked immediately. The estimated loss was close to AED 50,000. Investigations revealed that it was actually an ACP-Aluminium Composite Panel and not stainless. Lack of effort to understand the surface resulted in property damage, financial loss, loss of employment and reputation. It took months to get the same panel as it was custom made. 

Leaders must be trained on different surfaces like ​Marble Vs Granite, Laminated wood Vs Untreated wood, Organic fabrics Vs Inorganic fabrics, Natural floors Vs Artificial floors,​ Stainless Steel Vs ACP, Chrome Vs Copper/ Iron / Aluminium​. Best practice is to seek advice from designers/ experts and understand the surface first.

#Identify the dirt

One of the property management companies changed the entire flooring of the swimming pool area; assuming that stains were permanent. Later it was found that the stains could be removed as it did not penetrate the surface but formed scales due to calcification. It just required enough contact time to react and break the dirt. If they had an expert’s advice, they could have saved a lot of money.  

Leaders needs to be trained about the difference between Corrosion Vs Scaling, Itching Vs Staining, Paint Vs Dye​

#Understand the characters of the surface

One of the cleaners tried to spot a stain on an expensive curtain, he sprayed a multipurpose cleaner on the fabric and tried to remove the stain assuming that it is the safest chemical to use, though he was successful in removing the stain, he damaged the curtain. The curtain required dry-cleaning with a solvent and not a water based chemical. Natural fabrics like cotton react in a different way when compared to inorganic fabrics like nylon and polyester.  

Leaders need to be trained on the characters like Porous Vs Non-Porous,​Acid sensitive Vs Non-sensitive, Rigid Vs Delicate, and Corrosive Vs Non-corrosive.

#Choose the Process and Product​

#Process

A large car parking area was required to be cleaned by using a ride-on scrubber drier, two contractors used the same chemical and one contractor delivered an extraordinary result whereas the other contractor delivered an acceptable result. After investigating, it was found that one contractor used a scrubber drier with only disk brushes whereas the other contractor who delivered extraordinary results used a scrubber drier with both cylindrical and disk brushes. The contractor has invested a little more initially but he was able to win over the other contractor and secure a huge business. It’s a simple logic in the older days when there were no washing machines, people used to use a hand brush to brush the shirt collar in one direction from left to right and if the stain was stubborn, they use to scrub in the opposite direction from top to bottom to remove the stain easily, the same logic was applied, the surface was scrubbed in vertical and horizontal direction to attain the desired results.

Analyse the associated risks, Take necessary precautions, List down the steps involved, Test, Reassess if the process is practical, and Standardise.​

#Products 

Choose the right products Like #Chemicals, #Tools and #Equipment​

#Chemicals

Leaders should be trained on difference between​ Water based Vs Solvent based,​ Enzyme Vs Inorganic,​Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic, ​Acid Vs Alkaline​, Diluted VS RTU​

#Tools​

Soft Vs Hard Brush, Sponge Vs Scoring pads, Cotton Vs Microfiber​

#Equipments​

High-speed Vs Low Speed, Short Vs Long Battery run time, Ergonomics, Customization for time and temp​, Area coverage in a Hr​, Availability of spares and service​, Durability, Capacity of containers​.

I have personally experienced people buffing the marble floor which has no polish and makes it worse. Some have used hand soap to wash the marble and stripped the polish. Some tried to strip the polish assuming that they were cleaning.

Though there is a lot to be studied to unlearn and learn, I always believe “one size never fits all.” 

About the author:

Abhilash Bandaru is a Cleaning Expert with over 17 years of experience from leading Hotels and Facility Management companies in UAE and India, Currently he works as a Soft Services Manager with Whitespot.