In weighing the merit of this month’s cover story — early in the planning stages — I kept wondering if I would labor over any attempt to make a case for housekeeping-friendly design. I never wavered regarding the merits of factoring “cleanability” and maintenance into any facility design equation.

I wasn’t real confident, though, that I would find a lot written about the topic or that I would discover a lot of people chomping at the bit to talk about the issue. Or, for that matter, would I even run into a gaggle of housekeepers that felt you could, or should, be an advocate for sensible design, re: housekeeping?

It seems that any discussion in the pages of this publication about any salient facility issue and its relevance to housekeeping always comes back to issues of communication, credibility and the housekeeper’s niche within the facility decision-making circle.

Housekeeping-friendly design was no different.

It is important. The importance can be quantified. It can save the organization time and money.

As usual, the even bigger-picture questions come to the surface. Does housekeeping management realize they have a worthy cause? Can they articulate it? Is anyone listening?




POSTED ON: 3/1/2004