Standardizing Services

Restrooms can be the most important area of a building to maintain, and proper care requires quality cleaning done promptly by well-trained, well-supervised employees. Adopting a systematic cleaning procedure is fundamental in this process. Though, housekeeping managers must be patient when trying to implement restroom cleaning standards, since training employees to adopt organized procedures can be extremely difficult, as Karl Stetler, manager of housing and custodial services at Indiana University-South Bend, recently discovered.

A few years ago, Stetler came to custodial services after 21 years of working for the university’s security department. His new position required him to organize 30 employees who averaged 10 years of cleaning experience. And because the employees were never taught systematic cleaning procedures, each had his or her own idiosyncratic routine.

“When I first tried to institute an organized cleaning system, I met a lot of resistance at first from employees who were used to doing things their own way,” Stetler admits. “The problem was that their level of cleanliness didn’t match mine.”

Promote quality cleaning
A systematic restroom cleaning procedure promotes effective cleaning. With employees who don’t understand proper cleaning techniques and organization, you run the risk of cleaning in a haphazard way, which often results in tenant complaints, says Laura Dellutri, an industry consultant and president of America’s Cleaning Connection, an Omaha, Nebraska-based janitorial firm.

Systematic restroom procedures also help ensure that employees do not overlook crucial (but easily forgotten) cleaning tasks, such as refilling soap dispensers and emptying trash receptacles.

“Employees may not be putting 100 percent concentration into their jobs while they’re cleaning,” says James Cahill, director of training for Janitronics, an Albany, New York-based building services company. "But if you train them to work in a systematic way, they can be effective in their jobs without missing any cleaning steps.”

Improve efficiency
Another advantage of an organized cleaning routine is improved efficiency. Industry experts agree employees should be able to clean and restock a restroom at a rate of approximately 2.5 minutes, times the number of fixtures the restroom contains (toilets, dispensers, sinks, etc.). Unorganized cleaning often takes up to twice that time.

Stetler’s experience confirms that — since he has trained his employees to clean restrooms systematically, their average cleaning time has been cut almost in half.

To reduce cleaning times, Irene Bol, director of environmental services at Chicago’s Shriners Hospital for Children, relies on organizational strategies of her own. She makes sure that her employees are equipped with the proper cleaning tools so they don’t waste time switching equipment. She also assigns employees to clean a distinct section of the facility so they don’t have to travel from floor to floor or across the building.

“In order to be efficient, people and equipment need to stay together, and people need to stick to their areas,” Bol says.

Necessary supervision
Training employees in systematic cleaning procedures also requires regular oversight to monitor quality.

“We give employees a seven-point checklist to compete before they leave their cleaning area at the end of the shift,” Bol reports. “This makes them take a last look around to make sure they haven’t missed anything.”

Asking employees to rate their own work also improves morale, Bol says. “If employees are asked to inspect what they’ve done, it helps them take pride in their work.”

Bol also has her supervisors regularly inspect employees’ work. If there are discrepancies between supervisor and employee inspections, the supervisor consults with the employee in a follow-up session. Stetler’s supervisors also conduct random inspections using a standardized checklist, and provide written feedback to their employees.

Cleaning step-by-step
Bol says her restroom cleaning routine proceeds from cleanest to dirtiest. By this, she means her employees work “top-down,” starting with dusting ceilings and walls (the cleanest areas) and finish by scrubbing toilets and floors (the dirtiest areas).

After closing restrooms to general use, an organized cleaning routine consists of the following steps:

Step 1: Spray chemicals. All surfaces and fixtures are sprayed with disinfectants, which need a dwell time of approximately 2-5 minutes to kill germs and bacteria.

Step 2: Restock. While the disinfectant is working, employees have time to restock items such as hand soap, toilet tissues, trash liners, paper towels, facial tissues, urinal blocks and sanitary napkins.

“Restocking is something that’s easy to forget if it’s not done in the beginning,” Dellutri explains.

Step 3: Dry cleaning. Starting with the ceiling and working down, the employee uses a dust cloth or wand to clean areas that can’t be reached by hand, including the tops of partitions, ceiling vents and ledges.

Step 4: Cleaning fixtures. Stetler’s staff start in the area immediately to the right of the doorway and work to the right, until the end point – the left side of the door – is reached. All fixtures and contact surfaces are cleaned, including mirrors, sinks, doorknobs, light switches, faucets, the outside of toilets and urinals, partitions, walls and doors.

Step 5: Cleaning toilets and urinals. All toilets and urinals are scrubbed systematically, and water rings are eliminated by scrubbing above and below the water line.

Step 6: Cleaning floors. Rest-room floors typically are swept and then wet mopped. The mop should be wrung out completely and used to mop the floor until dry to prevent streaking or slippery spots.

Lynne Knobloch is a industry writer based in Mishiwaka, Ind.