I have observed very industrious workers applying dirt to a floor while claiming they were “cleaning” the floor. What do I mean? Let’s observe an untrained (or improperly trained) worker go to the janitor closet, pull out a mop bucket that has water/solution in from the last shift and start to work. Their claim may that the mop has been “soaking” to clean it. There may or may not be any detergency left in the bucket and the 24-30 ounce mop (probably cotton with no band stitching) is showing signs of age but someone in management has determined that only one mop is allowed per month (or quarter) for this assignment. Note the same mop is used for the front entrance, hallways, restrooms, break rooms, stairwells and other areas again in the name of saving money.

Unknown to supervision, the worker has found a way of taking a longer break by cutting out sweeping the hard floors first. Their reasoning is that the mop can pick up the soil in one step rather than going through sweeping first. Although this concept may work in a low traffic, relatively clean area, it usually fails in a high traffic area such as an entrance.

As the worker starts his/her task of “cleaning” the floor, they proceed to wring out the mop and using a figure-eight pattern start at one end and work their way down the hall aggressively swinging back and forth causing baseboards and doors to get splattered. When this dries, these areas will need to be cleaned since they will probably fail inspections by both the customer and the company Quality Control inspector. As they come to a restroom or break room, they go in and continue their work with the additional task of damp mopping the baseboards and corners with the soiled solution. We will not linger on the impact of mopping under the urinals (without rinsing out the mop) before continuing to the ladies restroom.

It is all about the process. Your comments and questions are important. I hope to hear from you soon. Until then, keep it clean...

Mickey Crowe has been involved in the industry for over 35 years. He is a trainer, speaker and consultant. You can reach Mickey at 678-314-2171 or CTCG50@comcast.net


posted on 6/1/2016