Facility Management Archives

We have 60 years of experience providing commercial cleaners service to Madison, WI.

August 8, 2023 BY Sortis_Marketing

IN Contract Cleaning, Facility Management, Office Cleaning, Services

FAQs About Our Commercial Cleaners Services in Madison WI

Have a question? The Kleen Team has the answers!

We have 60 years of experience providing commercial cleaners service to Madison, WI. As a business owner, it’s vital to make sure that your office space and facility as a whole are clean, safe, and accessible. Often, this is easier said than done — that’s where KleenMark comes in. We’ve been providing commercial cleaners services to Madison, WI, businesses and other locations across Wisconsin and the Midwest for 60 years.

That experience not only means we bring decades of know-how to the table, but if you have any questions about getting started with KleenMark, our team has the answers.

Here are the most frequently asked questions we get about our commercial cleaners services:

Q: How long have you been in business?

A: We have nearly 60 years of experience in the commercial cleaning industry. We’re proud to bring a top-notch level of expertise to each job and each client.

Q: What commercial cleaning services do you provide?

A: If it involves keeping your office clean and safe, we can do it! We offer:

Traditional and customizable cleaning services – including vacuuming, mopping, waste and recycling collection, and more.
Disinfecting and sanitizing – services like high touchpoint and soft surface sanitization are more important than ever.
Infection control – our teams are trained and certified to deliver infection control services to help you reduce the spread of germs and adhere to the latest medical cleaning protocol.
Construction cleanup – building projects are equal parts exciting and messy. Our cleanup crews are effective and efficient, helping keep your projects on track and on budget.

Q: What kinds of properties do you clean?

A: The industries we work with are as varied as the cleaning services we offer. Our clients include healthcare facilities and hospitals, biotech companies, schools, manufacturing facilities, office spaces, and more. Each space is unique, and we’re able to provide customizable cleaning services with constant attention to detail.

To learn more about the specific services we offer each industry, visit our Industries page!

Q: What do your certifications mean?

A: We’re proud of the certifications we’ve earned in our industry, but for anyone not in the commercial cleaning business, all of these acronyms can sound like a foreign language.

Here are some brief descriptions of KleenMark’s certifications, and how they benefit our customers:

ISSA CIMS-GB Certified with Honors – ISSA is the Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association, and the CIMS-GB certification stands for Cleaning Industry Management Standard-Green Building. To become CIMS-GB certified with honors, an organization has to demonstrate that it meets or exceeds the industry standard in six core areas of business, all while showcasing professionalism and a customer-focused approach that can provide sophisticated, proven green-cleaning programs for its clients.
GBAC-Trained Technicians – The Global Biorisk Advisory Council is a division of the ISSA and certifies that cleaning professionals have the knowledge, planning, and processes needed to respond to a biohazard crisis in the workplace.
Academy of Cleaning Excellence – The objective of all ACE educational courses is to teach safe, healthy, and proactive knowledge to the cleaning staff in order to protect their own health, as well as individuals within the environments they service.

We take great pride in our sparkling reputation and would take the same pride in cleaning your office facility with our commercial cleaners services for Madison, WI and beyond!

If you’d like to learn more about how we can help your organization meet its cleaning goals, or if you have any other questions about the services we offer, contact our team today.

If you’re ready to discover the KleenMark difference, request a quote!

One great way to get your facility ready for summer is to give the floors some TLC after a long winter of slush and salt.

May 16, 2023 BY Sortis_Marketing

IN Construction Cleanup, Facility Management, Services

3 Services to Get Your Facility Ready for Summer

Help your building shine this season.

One great way to get your facility ready for summer is to give the floors some TLC after a long winter of slush and salt. As the temperatures warm up and the sun starts shining, it’s easy to see how the long winter has worn on your workspace — especially when you’re located in the Midwest, like KleenMark is!

Our team recommends going beyond your typical spring cleaning with a few specific services to help prep your facilities for the coming season. Here are the three cleaning services we recommend investing in so your building can sparkle and shine this summer:

Carpet cleaning
Floor maintenance
Construction cleanup

Read on to learn more about these services and how KleenMark can help get your facility ready for summer!

Carpet cleaning

After months of snow and slush, your carpets are undoubtedly in need of some serious TLC. Dirty carpets with lingering stains and odd odors are more than a little off-putting for employees as well as visitors.

At KleenMark, we take great pride in our carpet cleaning and extraction services. We begin by pretreating carpets to loosen surface-level stains, then use the extractor to do the deep cleaning. We typically recommend doing the extraction in the late afternoon/early evening so we don’t have to worry about customers or employees passing through, and the carpets are fully dry by the next morning.

Floor maintenance

Even if your office doesn’t have carpets or is only partially carpeted, you don’t want to forget your hardwood, linoleum, or tile flooring when you get your facility ready for summer! While hard floors are certainly easier to clean than carpets, we make sure to put just as much care and consideration when treating non-carpeting flooring.

Just as with unkempt carpets, dingy floors communicate the wrong message to employees and visitors. Stripping and waxing your floors is a straightforward way to quickly enhance the look and feel of your entire facility while also saving money in the long run. We have a finely honed five-step method that will keep your floors looking like new for months to come!

Construction cleanup

If you’ve done any construction or renovations on your office space over the winter, the work isn’t finished until the space is cleared of debris and your facility is back in working order. KleenMark specializes in helping businesses and construction firms alike with that final step!

Our crews are ready to handle cleanup projects of all sizes. With a team of more than 800 cleaners around the Midwest, we’re here to make quick work of the toughest jobs. Some of the services we offer with construction cleanup include high-surface cleaning, debris removal, vacuuming, dusting, and more. We also have a dedicated project manager who is familiar with the process and contractor needs.

The options don’t stop here — we have a variety of cleaning services to best suit your organization’s needs and help get your facility ready for summer. Existing customers can contact their account manager today to request more information and schedule one of these services.

If you’re not a KleenMark customer yet, we’d love to work with you! Fill out the request a quote form on our website so we can learn a little bit more about your business and come up with a plan to make sure your facilities stay clean and look great year-round.

December 22, 2022 BY KleenMark

IN Disinfection, Education, Facility Management

5 Ways to Defend Your Facility from Cold & Flu this Winter

If there’s anything we’ve all learned the past couple years, it’s that taking smart, pragmatic and scientifically backed cleaning can help reduce the spread of viruses in your facility.

While we can’t prevent people from coming inside when they’re not feeling well, we do have some essential tips that can keep your facility as safe as possible.

Sanitize and Disinfect on the Daily

Viruses live everywhere, and they’re especially prevalent on highly touched surfaces such as door handles, counters and desks. Ensure these areas are disinfected at least daily using an approved chemical from the Environmental Protection Agency’s N List.

Also, make sure you understand how to apply the sanitizer and disinfectant you use. This includes having a clear idea of how long the disinfectant needs to stay on the surface before being wiped off. We refer to that as “dwell time” and it ranges based on what chemical you use.

“This is one of the simplest ways to keep germs at bay in a facility,” said Mike Staver, KleenMark’s Chief Operating Officer, who oversees all of KleenMark’s cleaning teams. “Having a plan and schedule for disinfecting in place will pay dividends when it comes to wellness.”

Promote Personal Hygiene

After a pandemic, you may assume everyone is staying on top of handwashing. But, that’s not always the case.

Add signage throughout your building, especially in restrooms. Stickers on mirrors are particularly effective.

We offer all our clients a toolkit that has basic signage they can use to remind people to take these basic steps. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also is a great resource for free posters.

Keep the Air Clean

While surfaces are a priority, airborne germs are a top culprit during cold/flu season.

Consider adding portable air cleaners and purifiers to rooms, especially common areas where larger groups of people come together. This ensures air is circulating regularly and being filtered to remove airborne pathogens.

Even if your building regularly exchanges inside air through ventilation, having portable purifiers expedites air cleaning and provides peace of mind for staff and visitors. Many cleaners also have air monitors that let you know when particle levels are too high and need attention.

Add a Day Porter to Your Cleaning Program

Day porters are on hand to handle everything from disinfection of frequently touched surfaces to mid-day messes that inevitably occur. Having a day porter, or two, is particularly effective in large facilities where constant sanitizing and disinfection is needed.

Check out “What’s a day porter and do I need one?” to learn more and see if a day porter would help keep your facility consistently clean when workers and visitors are in the building. During cold/flu season, this is a particularly effective way to reduce the spread of germs.

Go Touchless

It’s wild, but we still see a lot of facilities that use manual towel dispensers.

Touchless dispensers prevent the spread of germs and are one of the simplest ways to increase the cleanliness of your facility while protecting your employees. At the most basic level, we recommend always using touchless towel and soap dispensers in all your restrooms.

To learn more about what we recommend, check out “4 touch-free options to prevent the spread of germs.”

“The technology in touchless dispensers is so much better than it used to be,” Staver said. “This is a cost-effective way to control germs and also helps reduce towel and soap waste.”

November 1, 2022 BY KleenMark

IN Facility Management, Manufacturing, Staffing

Facility Managers: Keep Cleaning from Becoming a Headache

A cleaner calls in sick. You constantly have to check in on the janitorial team. The list of issues you can face when managing a manufacturing facility is long – but those related to cleaning don’t have to be on your list.

And frankly, those types of issues shouldn’t be on your list if you work with a commercial cleaning company. Instead, you should be able to focus on keeping machinery going, updating equipment and overseeing larger daily issues that arise.

We caught up with Brian Regnart, a KleenMark branch manager, to learn more about how our specially trained manufacturing teams stay on top of the toughest jobs, while freeing up a facility manager’s time and energy.

Question: One big issue we hear about is facility managers not having a backup plan for when cleaners call in sick. How does KleenMark address that?

Answer: We have a couple different approaches. First, we have technicians who can float between different accounts and facilities. They’re trained for an array of jobs and can quickly jump in if another cleaner calls in sick.

But there’s more. On top of that, our supervisors are all trained as cleaners and can easily jump in and help. We also staff with some redundancy to ensure there are enough people on hand to cover for anyone who is ill.

Q: How can facility managers stay on top of cleaning without micromanaging and wasting loads of time?

A: We’re able to provide weekly inspection reports via a digital dashboard. This allows facility managers to have clear insight into what’s been cleaned and when. Any needs or issues also are included.

Q: How does KleenMark keep unexpected janitorial needs – such as spill cleanup – from becoming an issue for facility managers?

A: We have a dedicated account manager for each of our clients. They’re readily available via phone, text, email, carrier pigeon or even the bat signal. For a facility manager, an unexpected cleaning need should never become a significant issue or problem for them.

Q: How can a facility manager at a factory feel confident they don’t need to constantly be checking in on a cleaning team?

A: Well, for us, all our cleaners receive training specific to the manufacturing facility they’ll work in. With a dedicated Health, Safety & Training Manager, we’re well versed in OSHA regulations and more.

On top of that, we spend additional time training on chemicals, cleaning frequency, which equipment to use and areas of focus. For instance, in factories restrooms and breakrooms can take a beating, so our crews clearly understand they will need to clean them more frequently than in an office, for instance.

Q: Why not just have production staff clean the manufacturing plant?

A: We’ve seen several instances where manufacturers pull people from their regular job, whether that’s on the line, running a forklift or something else, to clean. First, they aren’t properly trained, so it’s likely they’re less efficient and less effective. Second, when you pull someone from the line, you’re impacting productivity – and that’s just one more headache for a facility manager.

October 25, 2022 BY KleenMark

IN Cleaner’s Corner, Education, Facility Management, Services

Cleaner’s Corner: When it comes to cleaning schools, how is it different than, say, office buildings?

Brian Regnart, KleenMark’s Madison-area Branch Manager:

Overseeing an array of cleaning teams across various industries (and having children myself) one thing is certain: Kids can make a new mess before the old one’s even cleaned up.

Knowing that, every school gets a top-to-bottom cleaning each night. From disinfecting surfaces to scrubbing hallway floors, it’s critical to clean everything each day. That’s far different than a commercial office space.

In schools, specifically, we’re working to keep kids safe – from germs but also from contact with any cleaning chemicals that could irritate them. We primarily use neutral cleaners, along with vinegar, because both are harmless but also effective.

Attention to detail also is critical in schools. Our teams following a mapped out process each night, ensuring every desk is wiped down and sanitized.

Of course, there’s always gum, clay, paint, glue – you name it – stuck on just about every surface imaginable. Our crews have the training and the appropriate commercial cleaning supplies to make sure we’re able to remove those trickier (and stickier) messes and stains without damaging a surface or furniture.

With schools, our customers aren’t just the facility managers but parents, teachers, kids and staff. We take that seriously, which is why we develop custom plans and training for our technicians working in schools.

March 14, 2022 BY KleenMark

IN Contract Cleaning, Facility Management, Services

High-ceiling Cleaning: How and Why to Tackle Those Hard-to-reach Areas

There’s an old adage in the cleaning game: Don’t forget to look up. But when it comes to high-ceiling cleaning, it’s admittedly easy to brush aside, given the delicate nature of the work.

But it’s incredibly important tackle the job if you’re going to keep your facility looking good and free of grime and dust – both of which can hinder air quality.

We talked with Brian Regnart, a KleenMark operations manager, to break down some of the most frequently asked questions we get about high-ceiling cleaning.

Question: What type of ceilings require regular cleaning?

Generally, exposed ceilings like those found in manufacturing and industrial facilities are what need cleaned on a regular basis. They often have exposed pipes, ductwork and other nooks and crannies that have a tendency to capture dirt and dust. However, more offices are being built in an industrial style with exposed ceilings, so it’s important to ensure your cleaning crews are monitoring high ceilings for dust buildup. Along with air quality, dirty ceilings and fixtures give the perception to employees and visitors that you don’t take cleaning seriously.

Q: How often should I clean high ceilings in my facility?

We usually recommend every other year for most buildings. In some manufacturing facilities, where particulates such as saw dust are floating through the air, we may recommend doing it annually.

Q: Are you only cleaning the ceiling or are you also cleaning light fixtures and duct work?

When we say “high-ceiling” we’re generally referring to everything that’s on or near the ceiling. That includes ductwork, HVAC systems, boiler pipes, light fixtures and so on. Depending on the facility, the needs will change.

Q: Does it disrupt regular operations?

No. When our crews take on a high-ceiling cleaning project, we prefer to work at night or during the slowest shift. If plants have a non-production day, we’ll also likely schedule our work during that time.

Q: Does high-ceiling cleaning require special equipment?

It does. For ceilings up to 15-feet high, we use what is called a SpaceVac. Basically, it’s a fancy Shop-Vac that allows us to reach further without needing a ladder. And the vacuum has special technology that prevents it from losing suction at such a distance.

For higher ceilings, we have scissor lifts that allow our cleaners to reach tough areas safely and effectively.

Q: How much time does it take?

Of course, this varies. But for large manufacturing facilities this often can be a multi-day job. The reason: We have to navigate lifts through narrow, often crowded spaces and ensure everyone is safe. Variables, including the need to clean individual light fixtures, can impact the time required. Still, it rarely takes more than3-4 eight-hour days.

Q: Is it messy?

No. We use vacuums to reduce the amount of dust and grime that falls to the floor. Additionally, we cover all machinery and floors when necessary to protect them from debris. We then thoroughly clean the floors and remove any dust that fell.

Q: Does it improve air quality?

Any time you’re removing particulates from a surface where people work, you’re contributing to better air quality. If your HVAC system is older, it may not work as effectively as it should when it comes to keeping your building dust-free. A high-ceiling cleaning can help alleviate that dust issue.

If you want to learn more about how we approach high-ceiling cleaning jobs, send us a note any time.

December 9, 2021 BY KleenMark

IN Coronavirus, COVID-19, Disinfection, Facility Management, Health Care, Manufacturing, Office Cleaning, Services

Force of Infection: What is it, does it matter for disinfection?

Since the pandemic hit, you’ve probably learned a lot of new germ-related terms. But one you may not be that familiar with is force of infection, an important thing to consider as you determine the future of your facility’s disinfection program.

Force of infection, or FOI, is the rate at which individuals in a population acquire an infectious disease over a period of time. In layman’s terms, FOI shows how many people are getting sick and how quickly it’s happening.

So, why does this matter to you? Because as you consider what your long-term disinfection protocol will look like, you need to know that FOI has the potential to be impacted by germ-covered sources, making it important to continue disinfecting surfaces.

Why You Need to Understand Force of Infection

This year, the journal NPJ Vaccines published the article “Force of infection: a determinant of vaccine efficacy?” The journal, which is part of Nature Magazine is a scientific publication dedicated to highlighting the most important advances in vaccine research and development.

The focus of the article was to examine whether a lower FOI impacts the effectiveness of vaccines. In the study, they looked at two groups of people: One that had received a rotavirus (diarrhea) vaccine and another that was given a malaria vaccine. In both instances, a lower FOI led to higher vaccine efficacy (VE).

The question then becomes: Do non-pharmaceutical interventions (this is a fancy term for bucketing things like disinfectants and proper PPE usage into one group) help lower force of infection?

In the NPJ Vaccines article, the author argues that, yes, proper disinfection efforts could reduce FOI and “therefore enhance or sustain VE”. Therefore, in the context of a pandemic, continuing to use non-pharmaceutical interventions to manage disease spread “seems prudent and … quite urgent.”

As the number of new COVID-19 cases ebbs and flows, and as new variants continue to pop up, we felt that it’s important to highlight the ongoing role proper disinfection can play in reducing the presence of germs that could impact force of infection, and subsequently the health of your employees and visitors.

Develop a Disinfection Program That Works

To ensure your facility is on top of its disinfection game, you need to incorporate several elements into your cleaning program.

Day Porter Disinfection

Yes, most deep cleaning happens when your facility is empty. But with people coming and going, it’s important you maintain a high level of cleanliness. This not only improves the health of your facility but it also gives people the peace of mind that you’re taking intentional steps to reduce the amount of germs in your building. Adding an extra day porter – or reassigning your existing day-cleaning staff – will allow you to focus on keeping high-traffic areas clean and disinfected. With more people using more soap, hand sanitizer and towels, they’ll also focus on keeping those products stocked. This day-cleaning checklist is a good place to start.

High-touchpoint Disinfection

You’ve probably heard us talk about this before, but that’s only because of its importance. You need to disinfect frequently touched surfaces multiple times each day using approved chemicals from the Environmental Protection Agency’s List N. Each chemical on this list is proven to kill COVID-19. To learn how to properly disinfect, watch this quick video.

Confirmed case? Time to spray.

While proactive electrostatic spraying still has benefits, we always recommend using it after a confirmed COVID-19 exposure in your facility. Electrostatic sprayers have technology that ensures disinfectant “sticks” to every surface and kills germs. Because it is sprayed as a mist, it’s easy to blanket all hard surfaces.

To learn more about the benefits of electrostatic spraying and how it works, read Do I Need an Electrostatic Sprayer for Disinfection?

November 2, 2021 BY KleenMark

IN Cleaner’s Corner, Contract Cleaning, Facility Management, Health Care, Services

Cleaner’s Corner: Why your janitorial company needs to understand JCAHO

Question: Is it important that a cleaning company understands healthcare rules and regulations, specifically those from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)?

Tenzin Kunga, Medical Operations Assistant Manager:

One. Hundred. Percent. Having worked on both sides of the fence, if you will, I’ve seen the benefits for a healthcare facility when its cleaning partner has a clear understanding of what’s expected from the JCAHO.

Any of us who work in the space are aware of JCAHO’s role, but as a refresher it’s a 70-year-old nonprofit organization that accredits more than 22,000 health care organizations in the U.S. That includes hospitals, clinics, labs and more.

JCAHO is focused on assuring patient safety and quality of care – a mission we all can agree is important. As part of that mission, JCAHO measures more than 250 standards organizations must meet to maintain their accreditations.

And, yep, you guessed it: Infection control is a big part of JCAHO’s standards. That means your cleaning company needs to fully understand those standards, given the fact JCAHO will randomly audit a facility with no advance warning.

At KleenMark, we’re one of few cleaning companies that has a dedicated health and safety officer. His focus is on staying up-to-date on the latest health & safety regulations, best practices and standards. He then provides regular training to our healthcare teams.

Additionally, our healthcare leadership team has worked exclusively in clinics, hospitals and labs for the past 20-plus years. We know what matters most for patient safety, your infection control team and, of course, JCAHO. From waste streams to how to properly change gloves, we get it.

So, yes, it’s incredibly important your cleaning team understands JCAHO standards. Not only will they keep your facility clean and safe, but they’ll also understand the nuanced needs without any additional training needed from your internal team. And they’ll have tracked and recorded the cleaning process, so you’re ready for an impromptu audit.

If you want to learn more about how we train our healthcare cleaning teams, or our process in general, send us a note any time.

October 11, 2021 BY Mike Staver

IN Disinfection, Facility Management, Green Cleaning, Services

What’s CIMS-GB and why should you care?

We’re not those people who like to shout about our accolades, but in this instance it’s important. As the world prioritizes cleaning and disinfection, you need to understand what CIMS-GB is and why it matters that your cleaning company has the certification.

The reason? Because the world’s full of misleading messages, plenty of snake oil and tons of hype – particularly when it comes to cleaning, thanks to the pandemic stirring up opportunists. So, for that reason we’re going to break down the value of a CIMS-GB certification and what it means when your janitorial partner has it on their resumé.

For starters, what is CIMS-GB?

CIMS-GB stands for Cleaning Industry Management Standard-Green Building. It’s a certification issued by ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association that’s responsible for setting and upholding professional standards among its members.

To become CIMS-GB certified with honors, an organization has to demonstrate that it meets or exceeds the industry standard in the core areas of business, all while showcasing professionalism and a customer-focused approach that can provide sophisticated, proven green-cleaning programs for its clients.

Those areas of focus are:

Quality systems
Service delivery
Human resources
Health, safety and environmental stewardship
Management commitment

Only a handful of organizations have earned CIMS-GB with honors, but you may still ask: So what? Fair question, so let’s dig in.

A Commitment to Quality + Service

These are easy words to throw around, but to earn CIMS-GB you have to prove it. And that’s what we’ve done at KleenMark for years.

For starters, our teams undergo some of the most extensive training in the industry. Along with proven processes that ensure facilities are adequately cleaned and disinfected to meet your needs, we invest in our people.

To give you an example, we recently sent a large team to Diversey’s headquarters for a multi-day training program. Working with the leading chemical company, our team underwent a masterclass in chemical handling, application and the latest processes needed to handle increasingly demanding disinfection needs.

Additionally, we were one of the first organizations to use third-party trainers to teach our team how to safely and thoroughly disinfect against COVID-19. And we’re not talking about corporate reps. We worked with infectious control experts who provided medical-grade processes and approaches.

Of course, those are only two examples. But to earn CIMS-GB, it requires rigorous, ongoing training. And it’s something our leadership team committed to long before certifications existed.

“KleenMark is in the top one-quarter of one percent of all cleaning services providers,” said Bruce Stark, a certified CIMS assessor. It’s also important to point out that CIMS started in 2007 and KleenMark became certified in 2008, one of the first 40 companies to do so.”

Health and safety. Turned up to 10.

We clean a lot of medical facilities – and we did so prior to COVID-19. Health and safety processes have been engrained in our model for years. But it goes beyond how to disinfect properly.

Our teams understand what chemicals to use and when. They know what’s safe to use around your employees, how to handle biohazards – and everything in between.

On top of that, we’re one of very few commercial janitorial companies that employees a full-time health and safety manager. This allows us to ensure our teams are always up-to-date on best practices, ranging from OSHA standards to disinfection dwell times.

“The pandemic has caused clients to seek CIMS-certified cleaning services providers because they all have pandemic plans, processes, chemicals, and trained staff to help reduce the risk of COVID to their clients and the clients customers,” Stark said.

Going Green Matters

While the pandemic led many organizations to focus heavily on “disinfection at all costs”, having a thoughtful cleaning program that’s good for the environment, your employees and your customers is critical.

Being CIMS-GB certified means many things, but ultimately it means we’re trained to help you achieve your environmental goals. By working with an organization like KleenMark, the facilities we clean are, by default, also CIMS-GB certified.

We meet a number of other standards as well, ranging from having established processes that minimalize our impact on the environment to prioritizing chemicals and energy-efficient equipment that’s better for the world.

To learn more about our green-cleaning practices, click here.

Want to talk more about what CIMS-GB means to you? Get in touch any time.

September 28, 2021 BY Tenzin Kunga

IN Facility Management, Health Care

Waste Stream Management: Keeping Cleaners from Making Costly Mistakes

For health care facilities, it’s not only the infection control teams that need to understand waste stream management – it’s as important that your cleaning crews have a firm grasp on how to properly dispose of an array of items.

Why? Well, health and safety are the obvious reasons. Gallons of blood doesn’t belong in the dumpster, nor do you want needles floating around the recycling bin. But, a well-trained team can also protect you from potentially costly fines that can sneak up on you if crews aren’t well versed in waste management – even if the mistake is an honest one.

Color coding. So we’re on the same page.

If you’re reading this it’s highly likely you’re aware of the color-coding system healthcare systems have adopted. While it can vary, it generally looks like this:

Yellow – Chemotherapy drugs and associated medical supplies
Red – Biohazards such as bodily fluids, sharps, etc.
Black – Non-biohazardous pharmaceutical waste
White – Medical recyclables

Nuanced Training Matters

All of our healthcare cleaning crews undergo extensive training, ranging from on-site procedures to in-depth practice with our healthcare leadership team and health & safety officer.

We’re regimented in our teaching, so understanding the color-coded system is a must. For us, that’s table stakes.

But, it goes beyond that. It’s critical our cleaning crews understand the specifics to help you prevent potential fines being issued against your organization. What do I mean?

Well, for instance, if “recyclables” are dry, they can be recycled in a white container. But, if they contain more than 2% liquid they have to go into a black container. The same goes for blood. If, less than 2% of the item contains blood, then it can go in a black container. Otherwise, it needs go into a red one.

Plenty of other examples exist, but I imagine you’re aware of them. The point is, it’s critical to ensure your cleaners – on staff and part of your commercial cleaning company – clearly understand how to handle each and every item.

If they don’t understand, as mentioned earlier, it can be costly. Like six-figure costly.

What a Mistake Can Cost

We’ll leave you with this quick story …

This is a true instance that led to a steep fine for a healthcare organization. An employee, who worked as part of the janitorial team, was trying to be efficient. To save time, he put all the trash bags he had gathered into the dumpster.

Now, he wasn’t trying to do anything wrong. Had no ill intentions. He was simply not well trained. So, along with those bags, he also threw a 3-gallon sharps container into the dumpster to shave a few seconds. That mistake ended up costing the company over $100,000 in fines.

I share this as a sobering reminder that it pays to be diligent with the details, and it’s a must for cleaning crews operating in healthcare facilities. Our teams are among the most extensively trained folks in the business because we realize what one mistake can lead to.

If you’re curious about how we train our teams and approach cleaning in health care facilities, send us a note any time.

About the Author

Tenzin Kunga is KleenMark’s Medical Operations Assistant Manager. With decades of experience, Tenzin oversees some of the most sophisticated medical cleaning programs for healthcare facilities throughout Wisconsin.

Category: Facility Management