Throughout my 30 years writing for this industry, I’ve believed that we all have a role to play in a cleaner’s enjoyment of the job. A smile, a ‘thank you’, a brief chat, a genuine interest in them, shows we value them and what they do. Then there’s the effort we put into ensuring we’re not making their work more difficult… Leaving the workplace and everywhere else we go clean, tidy and rubbish-free; not leaving hazards for them to negotiate or raiding the cleaning cupboard of their supplies. If out in public areas, we should wipe our feet when entering a building and not drop litter. In the washroom, we should leave the basin and its surroundings clean and turn off taps – even if someone else has left them running. And everyone should leave the toilet cubicle as they’d wish to find it! I’d die of shame if someone entered a cubicle I’d left in the state I sometimes find them in… unflushed contents, soiled seats and toilet tissue, (sometimes used) on the seat and floor. It’s disgusting. I don’t understand how people can think it’s ok to behave like that and force others to clean up the mess. 

 

Making life difficult for cleaners and the environment currently are Extinction Rebellion and its offshoots. Suggesting on their social media boasts that spraying paint over buildings isn’t the best way to attract support and that they should consider the resultant damage to the environment they’re purporting to want to protect, has met with abuse along with musings that the paint was “probably organic and biodegradable and easy to clean up”. None would consider the cleaners, chemicals used (since we can’t take a chance on biodegradability), toll on equipment and energy required to power it, pollution created getting cleaning teams and their tools to site and then back to base, laundering of uniforms, carpet cleaning where paint’s been walked into buildings, the residue entering our waterways and waste of one of the planet’s most valuable resources – water. 

 

While I was talking to them generally, it would add weight to my argument if I could hit them with some rough figures regarding the costs of cleaning up their mess - not just in terms of money but in the types and quantity of chemicals potentially required along with the volume of water involved. Are you able to help with some ballpark facts/figures please, wherever you might be in the world? We might just persuade the decision-makers to tell the foot soldiers to stop damaging the environment and giving our wonderful cleaners unnecessary work to do!