Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 14th July 2022 Issue no. 1025
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 International News
Products
 New AI app helps track cleaning competence
RAS partners with Ascendo Academy on a restroom inspection course
UMF names Lisa Gross National Hygiene Specialist Excellence Award recipient
Susanne Jorgensen to succeed ISS Americas CEO Dan Ryan, effective 1 July 2022
Ecoserv Group introduces monitored waste management
Polygiene strengthens management with top recruitment
Why you have to pick up a calculator to dry your hands in a public washroom
Juan Yuste works as a facilities manager in a large shopping centre in Madrid and as such is responsible for managing all the infrastructures and services of this macro-complex, with the aim of optimising all its resources. |
Welcome to the Cleanzine
A discussion with John Austen this morning about whether he should put this week’s story ‘Strike averted as cleaners win inflation-busting pay rise’ into the side column as he felt it was “a bit militant” reminded me of a discussion I had with the British Institute of Cleaning Science’s Stan Atkins at the Cleaning & Support Services Association’s Annual Luncheon last month. Stan showed me an advert he’d seen in that morning’s newspaper, placed by a well-known, award-winning cleaning contractor. The work? Cleaning operatives required for 10hr shift the following weekend in central London – all training provided. The pay? £20.19 an hour – and it wasn’t even overnight. It was a day shift!
Yes John was right about the story sounding a bit militant. However, our discussions made me ponder on the difference between professional contractors who do our industry proud and look after their employees and those who’ve damaged our industry by employing folk who aren’t supposed to be working in the UK, making them work under the most awful conditions and paying them way under the statutory rate.
Most of the professional contractors I speak to value their staff and want to ensure they have a decent standard of living, (impossible on £9.50/hr unless others in the household are earning well) and they’re doing all they can to meet Living Wage Foundation standards. Also these days, contractors are having to pay above what the statutory rate demands anyway because otherwise, they can’t get the staff - and while the staff they do have, can often cover for missing colleagues for a period, working double or triple shifts just isn’t sustainable. Something needs to be done – and fast – to rectify the difficult situation in which our industry finds itself.
And let’s not forget the heat! Local councils across much of the UK are warning us that our street cleaners and refuse collectors will have to work more slowly in this heatwave and that our bins may not be emptied on the correct day. News outlets have been telling us how to stay safe in the heat and many of us who can work from home, are doing so. Looking at the weather reports from across the Continent I can see that this type of message is likely to have been echoed all over. It highlights once again just how indispensable our cleaners are, for while many of us are able to adapt to the problems the heat brings, the cleaners really just have to carry on, don’t they?
Yours,
    This Week's News
Vectair Systems appoints Chelsey Schwartz as vice president of marketing
Founded over 30 years ago, Vectair Systems now delivers sanitary and scent solutions to more than 100 countries. Vectair's well-known brands such as Airoma, P-Screen, Wee-Screen and V-Air Solid are featured in facilities around the globe. Fire destroys Idrobase Group warehouse
Cleaning industry body angered by lack of response to its letters to Cabinet Secretary
The industry body representing the cleaning & hygiene sector - which is one of the 10 biggest in the UK and worth nearly £59bn - has twice asked to meet Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to discuss concerns over the lack of respect and poor treatment of cleaning staff identified by the report into parties at Number 10. BICSc Awards: shortlist of finalists revealed
The shortlist of finalists for the British Institute of Cleaning Science Awards 2022, which celebrate the exceptional efforts of leading lights from the professional cleaning industry, has been announced. The organisation was inundated with entries for these popular annual Awards TV presenter and former England international rugby player Martin Bayfield is the celebrity host for the Awards – an event renowned as one of the largest and most influential in the cleaning industry's calendar.  Strike averted as cleaners win inflation-busting pay rise
Latin American cleaners from Ecuador and Bolivia who work at Riverside Quarter, a large luxury residence in Wandsworth, London, have won a 16% pay rise bringing them up to £11.05 an hour from their previous rate of £9.50, the national minimum wage.
This pay rise comes after the cleaners, who are United Voices of the World members, voted to take strike action, with 100% of the UVW cleaners balloted, voting to strike.  Networked devices 'increase cyber-attack risk for building systems'
The company highlights how a sharp rise in the number of connected devices across building systems mean that the operational technology (OT) used to run facilities creates a growing risk of cyber-attack. Connected OT networks are converging with their IT counterparts, blurring traditional lines of responsibility for cyber security just as ageing building systems require replacement, and the number of attacks rises.
Our first picture shows Matrix sales director Mike Osiadacz presenting the Award for Top Distributor to Ian Hodkinson of B&G Cleaning Systems. Ian deserves our congratulations as this is the third year running, that his company has won this award! Manufacturing, supplying, servicing and repairing the full range of commercial and industrial cleaning machines, Tips on using citric acid cleaning solutions
However, to take advantage of the benefits of citric acid cleaning solutions, sanitisers and disinfectants, cleaning professionals should be aware of the following do's and don'ts. The Cleanzine Archive Search We keep an extensive archive of news stories and product information that have featured in past issues of The Cleanzine. If you would like to run a search of the The Cleanzine web site using the search tool below please just go ahead by entering in the name of the person, product or company or any other key words that you are looking for. How to contact us at The Cleanzine:
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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
Mitie appointed supplier to new Government FM and workplace services framework
Jangro enhances health & safety training module
London's Pride: biggest clean-up operation to date
Sodexo becomes official Supporter of the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter
SOAPBOX: Back to normal? No thank you!
“Following two years of upheaval, we constantly hear the desire to return to normality, but do we really want that? At the outbreak of the pandemic, it has to be said the cleaning industry was underprepared; cleaning processes were inadequate for the new challenges, and cleaning companies did not hold the necessary equipment to enable the creation of a safe environment. The cleaning industry quickly took stock, and rose to the task, but several problems remained. Cleanology goes national in major new expansion drive
Sustainably reducing, reusing & recycling electrical equipment
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