Secure Service

While the United States military is fighting a war overseas, citizens at home are on alert to keep their country safe. Though government terror-warning levels shift from yellow to orange and back to yellow again, heightened security measures remain intact in many high-risk facilities.
Building service contractors in charge of cleaning government buildings or other sensitive places where extra security is needed may be forced to take extra steps to prove their company can handle the precautions.
In some instances, clients do not share the details of the precautions with the BSC until the contract is won, so they may not know what they’ve gotten themselves into until they’re already there. Here are some hints at what BSCs can expect when handling a secure area from Jeff DuBois, facilities manager for the the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS) in Columbus.

Precautionary measures
BSCs should not be surprised if their client requires a background check on employees working in sensitive areas. At the ODPS, background checks are a necessity.
“All vendor employees go through a background check to work in the building even if the vendor runs their own [check],” says DuBois.
That’s because a BSC’s check may not be as strict as DuBois’ or the contractor may allow certain past transgressions that ODPS does not. DuBois has disallowed cleaners from working in the building based on the background check.
Approved workers need to sign in when entering the building and sign out when leaving. All outside employees are given a photo identification badge with a red background. The red coloring signifies that they are not regular ODPS employees.
One change in this system came after the latest rise to “Orange Alert.” Prior to the rise, employees were allowed to take their badges home and wear them to work the next day. But after the increase in terrorism threat, the department reviewed the procedure and added an additional security measure. Now all employees need to leave their badges in the building and pick them up when they sign in.

Cleaning as usual
Sensitive areas at the Ohio Department of Public Safety include evidence areas, money checks and leads control. But despite their added security, DuBois doesn’t expect any difference in the level of cleaning.
“Cleaning sensitive areas shouldn’t be any different from regular cleaning,” he says. “I don’t expect anything different in frequency or quality of work.”
What may seem different is the sense of “being watched” when cleaning these areas.
“Typically, areas that are sensitive are cleaned during the day while employees are in the area,” says DuBois.
Since cleaning crews are surrounded by department employees, DuBois believes that security-related problems can be reduced because of the constant eye.
If detailed cleaning needs to be scheduled after hours, DuBois ensures that there will be ODPS workers there to supervise.
Buildings and rooms with security restrictions should not pose a problem to BSCs. Customers want the space cleaned just like any other area in the building, and done just as well. Contractors may have a couple extra hoops to jump through, but meeting the clients’ precautions will lead to better service.