Facility Day Cleaning: The Essential Checklist

Having a visible and active facility day-cleaning program goes a long way. Not only does it help reduce dangerous germs, the presence of a day cleaner reassures employees and visitors that you’ve upped your game – doing everything you can to keep them healthy.

Day cleaners, often referred to as day porters, serve a variety of roles but at the core their job is to maintain your facility when its open and at its busiest. From spills to disinfecting tables, they’re on the job until the night crew comes in to do the deep cleaning.

In the age of COVID-19, day porters have spent a lot of time disinfecting frequently touched surfaces, and rightfully so. These areas are like major metropolitan centers for bacteria and viruses.

With that said, day porters do so much more. Our day porter teams are prepared to handle an array of needs and receive training customized to your facility.

The checklist below lays out what you should expect from a day porter, regardless if that person is on staff or part of your contracted service.

Facility Day Cleaning. The Checklist.

Consumables Police

Running out of toilet paper is bad. Running out of hand sanitizer is frightening. What they police:

  • Paper towels
  • Soap
  • Toilet paper
  • Sanitizing stations

Break Rooms and Common Spaces

No one wants overflowing trash and messy counters.

  • Spot cleaning for messy counters, sinks, etc.
  • Trash removal after breakfast + lunch
  • Spot sweeping (crumbs are gross)
  • Touchpoint disinfection

Restroom Rescue

Things happen. Go with a pro.

  • Spot mopping
  • Trash checks
  • Counter cleanup – no one likes those puddles by the sink.
  • Quick cleans. Water stains on the mirror? Dirty toilet? No problem.

Special Services

If it involves cleaning, generally your day porter can help.

  • Meeting room setup – from getting rid of fingerprints to a quick vacuum, a day porter is on call for when the executives arrive unexpectedly.
  • Cardboard removal. Manufacturers produce a lot of recyclable material. Day porters know how to handle compacters and other machinery.

Daily Disinfection + Cleaning

It wouldn’t be a day if we didn’t kill some germs.

  • Disinfect frequently touched surfaces such as handles, sinks and tables.
  • Monitor entryways for dirty mats and slick floors.
  • On call to handle any unexpected spills or messes.

If you’re curious to learn more about day porters, check out another recent blog post: Office Cleaning Basics: What’s a Day Porter and Do I Need One?

About the Author 

Jeremy Angle leads our team in Southeast Wisconsin. As general manager of our Milwaukee branch, he works with some of our largest clients to ensure they have the right cleaning program in place. 

4 ways to ID a great post-construction cleanup service

Curious what to look for in a post-construction cleanup service to help you ID one that’s not only effective but also efficient?  

It’s a common question. And it’s one that often gets overlooked during the building process. Everyone is focused on completing the job – not cleaning up afterward. But it’s a critical step to ensure your space is ready for employees and visitors.  

We’re going to break down what you should expect from your post-construction cleanup crew, so that when it comes time to hire a team, you see the red flags before it’s too late. 

  1. Timely service. Sometimes, post-construction cleanup isn’t easy to plan in advance, due to moving project deadlines, delays and other issues. A top-tier cleaning service will be able to respond quickly and professionally. At KleenMark, our crews are prepared and staffed to respond without significant lead time.  
  1. Training. Effective cleaning requires the right training. Ensure the service you select has teams who understand your nuanced needs and how to prepare a new or refurbished space for reopening. Our cleaners undergo expert, in-house training when hired and receive monthly training updates.  
  1. Experience. We’ve been at it for 60 years, so our crews know the ins and outs of what it takes to ensure a quality post-construction cleanup. The result: More efficient cleanups that take less time. Make sure the service you select can work quickly AND effectively. 
  1.  Equipment. HEPA vacuum cleaners. A fleet of floor scrubbers. The right equipment makes a difference. Check to ensure your service has the equipment and gear needed to handle the job.  

These four things may sound simple. And they are. But often they’re overlooked or not considered up front. The result is a less-than-satisfactory cleanup that slows down the final stage of your construction project and causes unnecessary frustration. 

About the Author 

Jeremy Angle leads our team in Southeast Wisconsin. As general manager of our Milwaukee branch, he works with some of our largest clients to ensure they have the right cleaning program in place. 

Good. Better. Best. How often to disinfect hard surfaces and high-touch areas in manufacturing facilities.

If a million-dollar cleaning question exists for manufacturers in the age of COVID-19, it’s this: How often should I disinfect the hard surfaces and high-touch areas in my facility?

Here’s the truth: A perfect answer doesn’t exist. That’s because the only way to guarantee a facility is always COVID-free is to disinfect it and then lock it down. And that’s not realistic.

With that said, you can get really close. Strategic disinfection done frequently enough to fit your specific needs can significantly reduce the chance of COVID-19 living – and spreading – in your facility.

A lot of variables come into play. But the number of people and foot traffic in your facility is the best indicator of how often to disinfect. Your most commonly used areas need more attention – think, entryways, break rooms, shared workstations, etc. Places where people don’t congregate may warrant less attention.

No matter what best fits your needs – and budget – always follow this 3-step guide to surface disinfection.

Below are three approaches we’ve commonly used with manufacturers looking to enhance their approach to hard-surface disinfection.

Good: Nightly disinfection

Consider this the base level. Nightly, when the last shift leaves (or during the third shift, which is often slower and less populated), make sure your cleaners are disinfecting hard surfaces throughout the facility.

They need to focus on high-touch surfaces. But they should also work to disinfect any equipment and materials that may be shared between shifts. Focus on dwell times (this can be found on the EPA-approved label). And make sure they target primary areas where multiple people will be working.

Better: Stagger your deep disinfection

This approach has gained some traction among manufacturers. The idea is that one “pod” of employees works several days to complete its weekly shift. Then, a cleaning team comes in and thoroughly disinfects the facility on the last night that that “pod” works.

After the facility is disinfected, the next pod of employees begins their work week in a clean, disinfected facility. This concept is meant to reduce cross contamination between employees, therefore reducing downtime if you do end up with a confirmed COVID-19 case.

When we work in a scenario such as this, our teams come in and do a thorough disinfection. That means we likely use electrostatic sprayers to ensure all surfaces are free from bacteria and viruses.

With this approach, we most often still do daily cleaning and high-touchpoint disinfecting to reduce the presence of bacteria and viruses while your employees are working.

Best: Multiple day porters

Day porters are the unsung heroes keeping manufacturing facilities clean and disinfected when workers are in the building.

They primarily focus on high-touchpoint disinfection. That means they’re regularly wiping things like door handles, shared tools, vending machines and counters with EPA-approved disinfectants that kill COVID-19. Read: What’s a day porter, and do I need one?

What we’re seeing from many organizations is the addition of a second, or even third, day porter for each shift or business day. The reason is increased disinfecting simply requires more hands and more resources.

The presence of more day porters also reassures your employees that you take their health and safety seriously. The addition of day porters goes hand-in-hand with nightly disinfecting.

Don’t forget: Empower employees

In the end, a cleaning team can’t be in all places at all times. Give your employees resources to help disinfect hard surfaces will help promote peace of mind and ultimately create a cleaner facility.

Consider the following opportunities:

  • Keep a bottle of disinfectant at shared workstations and in communal areas.
  • Provide wipes in break rooms.
  • Provide hand sanitizing stations or individual bottles for each employee.
  • Encourage employees to wipe down their workspace when they are done with their shift.
  • Place clear communication (posters, signs, etc.) throughout the plant to encourage employee cleanliness.

Of course, every facility is different. We understand you’ll have specific challenges and needs, from layout to labor. Give us a call or email any time for help dialing in your disinfecting program.

About the Author

Jeremy Angle leads our team in Southeast Wisconsin. As general manager of our Milwaukee branch, he works with some of our largest clients to ensure they have the right cleaning program in place.

Six Ways to Incorporate Green-cleaning Practices During a Pandemic

It’s not always easy being green, especially when we’re in the midst of a pandemic. But when it comes to your facility’s cleaning program, you can still take small, strategic steps to incorporate green-cleaning practices.  

Since 2011, we’ve held ISSA’s “Cleaning Industry Management Standard – Green Building” certification (excuse the humble brag). We only mention it because we have the training and the chops to help you achieve your environmental goals. 

Choosing to adopt green cleaning practices will not only help the environment by reducing the release of harmful chemicals into our waterways; it benefits your staff, cleaning team and potentially your bottom line.  

We know that’s tricky right now, because you need to use powerful disinfectants to kill COVID-19. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Below are six easy ways to layer in some green cleaning. 

6 Green-cleaning Hacks 

Amp up your recycling program. Make sure recycling bins are placed throughout the office, if not at every workstation. Establish a plan for collecting and recycling used toner cartridges and batteries.  

Opt for green cleaners. More than likely, there’s a “green” variety of each cleaner you’re currently using. Try to choose eco-friendly window cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, stainless steel polishes, degreaser for floors, etc. It’s perfectly safe to continue to use these in the age of COVID-19, as long as you also use a disinfectant from the EPA’s List-N group. Using these green cleaners will help reduce employee and cleaning staff exposure to cleaning chemical irritants such as chlorine and ammonia, which can be harmful to the skin and lungs 

Use cold water. Hot water isn’t always necessary when cleaning. Using cold water can be just as effective and help reduce energy usage and costs. 

Use high-efficient batteries. They’ll hold a charge longer. Opt for cordless options when you can. For instance, Proteam’s GoFree vacuums are a great example. 

Watch your VOCs. Keep an eye out for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Lower VOC means less emission of harmful toxins into the air. That’s good for everyone. 

Source green. If you outsource your cleaning, make sure the company you choose is green certified and follows best practices that can improve your own facility’s environmental impact.  

You can learn more about our green-cleaning practices, here

About the Author 

Jeremy Angle leads our team in Southeast Wisconsin. As general manager of our Milwaukee branch, he works with some of our largest clients to ensure they have the right cleaning program in place. 

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