What safety means to us...

There are so many different areas in commercial cleaning where safety is a concern. It's not always the obvious, either. Sure, chemical safety, job site safety is at the top of the list, but there are several other factors we train our employees to recognize.

Trespassers top the list of of safety concerns for a janitorial specialist. People looking for an opportunity to gain entry to a building after hours and targeting the cleaner as an easy way in. We train our employees and request from our clients, more than one way to enter the suite/building. We change the cleaning schedules weekly, so that would be trespassers would have a more difficult time predicting when the cleaner will arrive. We train our employees to exit and secure from the outside a building and call 911. Await an officer and only re-enter the building after the threat has been cleared.

Extreme weather can cause extensive cleaning for a building, however, extreme weather (snow, rain, hurricane, tornado, heat) can put the janitorial specialist in a compromised position. Loss of power while traveling through the elevator or passcards/keycards while in a secured area could cause the cleaner to be trapped without food/water for several hours, possibly even days.

We try to reduce this possibility by requesting emergency up keys for all doors and having the cleaner / manager keep them. We develop emergency plans for each building. We prepare an evacuation plan and review it in the training process. We post the plan in each janitorial closet and encourage bi-annual test runs.

These are 2 examples of how we at SECC go above and beyond to protect our employees and our clients' interests.

For more information visit: www.squeakecleancommercial.com

Check it out!

Click on TALK TO THE CLEANING SPECIALISTS! and check out our new Facebook Landing page! What do you think?

Special Services Summer!

This spring and summer has seen a surge of what we call "Special Services". Special services include quarterly or yearly services. Strip/wax floors, carpet cleaning, window washing, ultrasonic blind cleaning, touchpoint cleaning and deep office cleanings are examples of these services. Deep office cleanings have been especially successful! These cleanings can be a mixture of the some or all of the services above, along with wall scrubbing, vent/air return cleaning, baseboard cleaning, soffit and light fixture cleaning, removing stains from the exterior and interior of almost anything. This process is extremely labor intensive, taking 2.5 days to complete (usually over the weekend). We only use green chemicals and green techniques to minimize any exposure to allergens. Having this service done in your office results in a clean, sanitized, disinfected space. This service is an investment in your business and shows your customers and your employees. It demonstrates that you care about their health and wellness, not to mention an aesthetically pleasing building! For more information on this and all of our services visit us here. Follow SECC on Facebook and on Twitter.

Servicing The Community

Squeak E Clean has inked a contract with a non-profit community organization in St. Paul! Great! Now the HARD work begins. Often times we walk through a building that has not been properly maintained and put together a customized plan based on this obvious need. More often than not, the tenants/owners of these buildings do not have the cash flow to support the services they need. So they cut our specs and us being Squeak E Clean, we over perform and are underpaid. However, this most recent walk through, we developed a plan to maintain this building and increase services as the cash flow increases. We've established a real partnership with this non-profit, a vested interest and a game plan. As we over-perform, they'll succeed and we'll revisit and increase service. That's what you get when you work with SECC, quality service, fair prices and a team of people who are committed to your business' success! You invest in us and we'll do the same!

Cleaning for Health vs. Cleaning for Appearance

For many years people judged the cleanliness of a space based on a visual assessment. But just because something looks clean doesn't mean it is clean, which is why the green cleaning movement has revolutionized the cleaning industry. Touch points like door handles, elevator buttons, fax machine buttons and telephone handsets normally cleaned at most once per week, are now getting disinfected daily in order to protect building occupants from germs and bacteria. Many cleaning companies used to use a simple all-purpose cleaner with a fresh scent to clean restrooms years ago. The restrooms might have "looked" clean, but we all know now, that in order to clean for health we should sanitize or disinfect surfaces to prevent the spread of germs. Although no disinfectant is totally "environmentally friendly", there are more choices being made available that are less harmful to the environment. If it smells clean it must be clean. This is a misconception many of our clients have. It is our job as building service contractors to educate our clients on the fact that environmentally safe products do not have a scent. Cross contamination is now being taken seriously in all areas of cleaning. Cleaners who used to use one cleaning rag to clean the restroom are now using color-coded microfiber cloths, so as not to cross-contaminate surfaces. It is your job to help your clients understand the importance of cleaning for health vs cleaning for appearance. Inform them of the benefits to the building occupants - a healthier workplace leads to less absenteeism and more productive employees. And a cleaning company that uses less harmful chemicals will not cause problems for building employees with chemical sensitivities. And finally, in order to implement your "cleaning for health" program, employees must understand its importance to the health of the clients and also to their own health. Implement a "best practices" approach to training, so they understand the methods required to protect themselves and building occupants. Copyright (c) The Janitorial Store. All Rights Reserved

SEASONS CHANGE, CLEANING NEEDS CHANGE...

The last 24 hours here in Minnesota have been a weather person's dream! High winds, rain, dropping temps and culminating with some snow. As I awoke this morning, to see the flurries furiously falling (bet you can't say that 3 times, ha! I thought immediately of the recent training we did with our staff regarding seasonal change and how it affects our tasks.

Changing seasons, changes and often times expands our task lists. As the leaves fall and temperature drops, Squeak E Clean, switches to our customized winter months task list. One service we offer during the cold weather months is touch point cleaning. Touch point cleaning is a very detailed cleaning which involves disinfectant cleaning of door knobs, light switches, keyboards, phones and all other surfaces frequented by multiple people. This cleaning reduces employee exposure to illness. When we prepare a proposal, we also prepare a winter addendum. We talk to our customers about what we foresee their winter needs will be. We talk about the amount of salt on the ground, their previous experiences and how we can maintain the same appearance all year round. Winter months are filled with carpet cleanings, floor scrubbing, air return and vent cleaning. This time of the year can be trying on your office space, unless you're working with US! Preparation is key!

IS CUSTOMER SERVICE DEAD? PART II

Over the past weekend, SECC completed an intense deep cleaning of a well-known dental practice in the Twin Cities. We'd completed another back in January and it was a resounding success. The practice manager sang our praises, told every one who listened how thorough we had been. We were off! We approached this next opportunity with the same vigor. This practice was older, had had little maintenance over the years and we knew it would be a challenge to gain their appreciation. After walking through with the specs and double checking every inch, I was satisfied that we had reached our goal. I left the keys inside and walked away proud of my team. But Monday morning rolled around and I received an email from the practice manager. She was unhappy, there were things she wanted done, that were not contained in the specs, that she "assumed" were included. I was initially deflated, you see, 30+ hours of work had went into refreshing this space, and it was visibly better, but the things that mattered to them, weren't done. And that is all that matters. After asking for specifics changes, I scheduled this weekend to go back in and get it right. At the end of the day, SECC is in the business of customer service. "Always be humble enough to receive criticism, always be hungry enough to want to be the best!" ~Sparkle Wimberly