Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 6th November 2014 Issue no. 648
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Welcome to the
Cleanzine - the original Cleaning & Hygiene industry e-news Read by industry professionals in 163 countries worldwide! I’ve said it before and no doubt I’ll say it many times more: Cleaning is not the best, the easiest or the most glamorous job in the world but it is one of the most crucial. Really good cleaners are hard to come by but few of them earn anything like what they are worth. Why should a TV presenter, for example, live a charmed and glamorous life while earning enough each month to buy a small house in some parts of the UK, while the all-important cleaner has to struggle to survive? After all, the cleaner actually has more responsibility… As you can no doubt imagine, I’m a supporter of The Living Wage in the UK, which this week was increased to £7.85 per hour (21% higher than the National Minimum Wage of £6.50) and £9.15 in London. Whereas the National Minimum Wage is mandatory, paying the Living Wage is a matter of choice. Some people I ask complain that paying more will damage their businesses – they say they can’t afford it – but others are finding it’s improving the calibre of cleaners they employ while promoting loyalty and cutting training and recruitment costs thanks to the resulting reduction in staff turnover. Next week, we’re running an article on how Living Wage accreditation is impacting on Julius Rutherfoord’s cleaning business – and if you’re an employer toying with the idea of becoming accredited, it will have some useful information for you. Finally (and this has nothing to do with cleaning but…) I travelled to London by train to attend a press launch yesterday, embarking at St Pancras Station, before walking across and through St Pancras International and along the shopping mall. Nowhere did I see a poppy for sale and nor have I seen any in my home town of Epsom. I wear a poppy to show my respect of ALL those who’ve lost their lives fighting what I consider to be unnecessary battles throughout the world and am flummoxed as to why – on the 100th anniversary of the start of World War 1, I’m unable to do so this year. Looking at people’s lapels I’m not alone! Where have all the poppies gone? Please get in touch either by emailing me or posting a comment on our Facebook page. www.facebook.com/Cleanzine
Yours,
       This Week's News
New 2015 Living Wage rates announced
The London Living Wage rate has been set at £9.15. BSI launches first global risk management standard for supply chains British Standards Institution, the global business standards company, has this week launched PAS 7000, a universally applicable supply chain information standard for suppliers and buyers at organisations of all sizes around the globe. It will bring transparency and cost savings to the procurement of supply chains. NISSCO awards 2014 Sustainability honours to Americo Manufacturing
NISSCO President, Mark Bozich, made the presentation to Americo Senior Executives with many NISSCO Distributors on hand for the event.
SpaceVac beat its two competitors Omnipole and Skyvac in practical tests on an Essex office block by a national window and gutter cleaning company.
Traditionally a 3-brush rollover system would be ideal for a fleet of maybe 75 - 150 vehicles; this would be a significant investment for the smaller operator (at least £50K). Likewise, a traditional pressure washer may well be comparatively inexpensive to purchase, but for a reasonable fleet size it's also labour-intensive and can require much more water and harsher detergents than the SideRunner requires. The US Janitorial Services Industry: a new report and forecast A new report into the US janitorial services industry, from the Bharat Book Bureau, examines the huge and mature $52 billion US commercial janitorial services market that employs nearly 1 million people.
The report recognises that the business is very competitive, comprised of 765,000 mainly small operators, including 44,000 franchised outlets. Just how much do you know about cleaning with bleach? Rafael Cobos AMIMarEST, of FutureClean Systems, writes... Recent work with a number of different (and unconnected) clients has revealed problems caused by a similar source - Bleach; Sodium Hypochlorite to be more exact. In one example, bleach was used to disinfect a large tank of water, initially through super chlorination and then to maintain clean water. Another example, which is more worrying, is the use of bleach for routine janitorial cleaning. These are just a couple of many examples we've seen, particularly in cleaning applications which is also a recurring theme amongst smaller cleaning operations. Warning: article contains graphic image
With washroom maintenance likely to be a topic discussed at the ISSA/Intercleain conference in Orlando (the show ends tomorrow afternoon), Clorox Professional Products partnered with ISSA, to uncover the 'secrets from the stalls' and get the dirt about cleaning industry professionals' challenges and tough jobs in the washroom. FM company MAR Services launches website to showcase range of services
Ahead of the company’s 30th birthday next year, Facilities Management company MAR Services has undergone a marketing overhaul, with the launch of six new websites showcasing all its services, a blog and a reinvented social media presence. General manager Christa Brazier says: “Our website relaunch is taking MAR Services into a new era. We are utilising new technology and media to enhance the way we do business and we are very excited about what the future has to hold.” Kaldewei: "Any grout joint is one too many"
VDI sells hygiene businesses to concentrate on its Batteries Division On 2nd October, VDI Group announced that it had signed an agreement to divest part of its Health & Safety activity with the sale of all of its operations under the brand Direct Hygiene Industry. This amounted to about half of VDI's Health & Safety business and is part of the company's development strategy in the medium term, which is designed to enable it to focus on the batteries side of the business.
VDI confirmed this week that it sold its subsidiaries last Friday as follows: the Distribution of Hygiene (Metropolitan France), the French Health Industry - based in Reunion Island and part of the business VDI Belgium, society TINI and the holding control group Etienne BBA Packaging. Grosvenor Services shines with five wins at contract cleaning awards
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Our weekly updated Hospital Hygiene features current developments and product solutions cleaning and hygiene industry manufacturers are coming up with. Read More. Recent UK News
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