ISSA: Updates from the Leading Association for the Cleaning Industry Worldwide

Education: How Long Should Cleaning Take?

How long should it take to perform a specific cleaning task? Find the answer in The Official ISSA 447 Cleaning Times. The guide’s answers are based on experience.

For more than four decades, ISSA has been estimating cleaning times for the professional cleaning industry. In 1963, ISSA developed its first Area Cleaning Time Calculator, a slide rule that contained cleaning times for 50 separate cleaning tasks.

Over the years, ISSA has updated and expanded the Cleaning Times to make it more relevant and easier to use. And recently, ISSA published The Official ISSA 447 Cleaning Times, the latest edition of this immensely popular time-estimating tool.

The Official ISSA 447 Cleaning Times is a valuable resource for cleaning industry professionals, especially as it incorporates many enhancements missing from its predecessors, including more than 80 new cleaning times. It also comes in a kit, which includes a CD-ROM version as well as the book.

Another useful enhancement is the addition of theoretical times and practical times for single-pass cleaning machines. Theoretical times are cleaning times without variables. Practical times include obstructions that slow down cleaning tasks, such as cleaning around obstacles, overlap and refilling and emptying tanks. To calculate the practical time for your situation, simply take the theoretical time and subtract the applicable variables from it. The result is more accurate cleaning times for specific situations.

The Industry Standard
“Since its introduction, the ISSA Cleaning Times has been a popular reference for estimating cleaning times,” says ISSA Director of Membership & Education Anthony Trombetta. “The Cleaning Times product had been ISSA’s best selling educational product in our history. It has gone through more than eight printings and is available in four different languages.”

According to Trombetta, the information in the 447 Cleaning Times is the result of a collaboration with the entire cleaning industry. New additions were based on suggestions from various sources, such as building service contractors, government facilities, schools and universities, in-house service providers, distributors, manufacturers and other groups and organizations with real-world experience relative to the cleaning industry.

For more information, please contact the ISSA Customer Service Department at 800-225-4772.

ISSA is pleased to announce it has signed a formal alliance agreement with the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) to promote the safety and health of workers in the cleaning industry.

The new ISSA/OSHA alliance, signed August 5, will focus on hazard communication issues, including the use of labels, material safety data sheets, and employee training to convey hazard information to workers; it also will cover floor safety. While the major focus will be on these two topics, the alliance will also allow ISSA to provide industry-specific information and guidance on a vast number of other occupational safety and health issues.

“ISSA has been working toward the alliance for some time, and the association is extremely excited to have the opportunity to work more closely with OSHA to help protect the safety and health of the cleaning industry’s most valuable asset — its workforce,” says ISSA Vice President/ President Elect Bobby Cohen, who will assume office as ISSA president during the upcoming ISSA/INTERCLEAN^® Las Vegas 2005, which takes place October 18 to 21 in Las Vegas. “As the leading association representing all sectors within our industry, ISSA is ideally situated to improve workplace safety and health across the spectrum of the cleaning industry.

“Ultimately, working side by side with OSHA will help ISSA provide crucial information to employers in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.”

ISSA and OSHA expect to fulfill the alliance’s education goals through the development and distribution of industry-specific health and safety resources, including improved training materials and a Web site dedicated to workplace safety and health in the cleaning industry. Further, ISSA and OSHA expect to conduct complimentary workshops and seminars on various occupational safety and health topics, including possible seminars to be held in conjunction with ISSA’s annual ISSA/INTERCLEAN trade show.

“The alliance with OSHA illustrates ISSA’s continued commitment to workplace safety and health,” says Cohen. “Hazard communication and floor safety are crucial issues that both suppliers and users of cleaning products must deal with every day. It is ISSA’s responsibility to assist employers in maintaining a well-educated, prepared workforce.”

In addition to education, ISSA and OSHA will work together to promote workplace health and safety on a national level.

For more information on the ISSA/OSHA alliance, please contact Dan Wagner or Bill Balek of ISSA, at 800-225-4772 (North America) or 847-982-0800.