EC J Cleaning - European Cleaning Journal

EC J
Cleaning
E U R O P E A N
J
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U
R
N
A
L
The pan-European magazine f or t he prof essional cleaning sect or
BUSINESS
Cash crisis for
small business
NOVEMBER 2011
TECHNOLOGY
UPDATE
Sweepers
SPECIAL REPORT
Hand hygiene
incorporating the official journal of the
EUROPEAN FEDERATION
OF CLEANING INDUS TRIES
EUROPEAN CLEANING JOURNAL
Contents
ECJ
November 2011• Vol. 19, No.6
Cover story
20 TTS
A new range of products.
Special reports
22 Dutch responsible conduct code
encourages best practice
ECJ takes a look at the contents of the code
recently introduced in the Netherlands.
25 Washing v sanitising
Are hand sanitisers a good substitute for
soap and water, or not?
33 Standardising hand hygiene compliance
A new technology based on image processing
technology helps to improve hand hygiene.
37 Sweeping changes
A look at how sweeping technology has
advanced in recent years.
53 Which trolley goes where?
How do trolley producers adapt their
products to fit specific locations ?
58 Campaigning for cleaners’ respect
A visit to the trades union representing
cleaners in Ireland about a recent campaign.
61
Business
Regular features
50 In need of cash
Hartley Milner examines how the
crisis in money supply is impacting
on small businesses, and what is
being done to help them.
35 Excellence in service delivery
Pedro Chidichimo, president of
customer solutions and innovation at
Diversey, writes the last of his
exclusive series of articles for ECJ.
45 Getting up to speed with
search engines
Amy Munice of Global B2B
Communications starts an exclusive
series for ECJ on maximising your
company’s internet activities, with a
look at search engine optimisation.
61 The pressure on sustainability
High pressure cleaners use water and energy so how sustainable can they be?
Plus
37
EUROPEAN
CLEANING
J
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Michelle Marshall
Features Writer
Ann Laffeaty
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Circulation
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Italy, Spain & Switzerland
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3 News
12 European reports
49 Business news
64 Product review
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ISSN 0968-901X
© Criterion Publishing Ltd 2011
European Cleaning Journal is
published six times a year by
Criterion Publishing Ltd. Although
every effort is made to ensure the
accuracy and reliability of material
published in European Cleaning,
Criterion Publishing Ltd and its
agents can accept no responsibility
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or advertisers. Copyright for all
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Cleaning remains with Criterion
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NEWS
Hand hygiene lacking
in hospital corridors
EMERGENCY PATIENTS
receiving treatment on trolleys or chairs in corridors are
at greater risk of contamination
from the hands of hospital staff,
a new study has shown.
The study re vealed that
healthcare professionals are far
less likely to wash their hands
- an essential element of infection control - when the patient
is not actually in a hospital
treatment room or ward.
T h e U S s t u d y, w h i c h
tracked nearly 6,000 emergency room patients, revealed
a generally high level of hand
hygiene standards among
healthcare professionals.
"However, we found that
receiving care in a hallway bed
was the strongest predictor of
your healthcare providers not
washing their hands," said lead
researcher Dr Arjun Venkatesh.
The study also found a
number of professionals opted
to wear gloves while treating
patients rather than wash their
hands. In terms of infection
control this is acknowledged to
be a poor substitute.
The researchers also discovered healthcare staff whose role
was to move patients between
departments and wards were
less likely to wash their hands.
"With emergency departments ser ving as a frequent
interface between the public
and patients with communicable diseases, we have to build
systems that ensure the highest standards of hand washing and infection control to
ensure the safest care," said Dr
Jeremiah Schuur, director for
quality, safety and performance
improvement at Brigham and
Women's Hospital in Boston.
DIARY DATES
To have your event included in the Diary, contact ECJ on +44 (0)1494
791222 or via email at michelle@europeancleaningjournal.com
January 31-February 2 2012
Hygienalia+Pulire
Valencia, Spain
T +39 02 6744581
afidamp@afidamp.it
October 16-19 2012
ISSA/Interclean North America
Chicago, USA
T +31 20 549 1212
info@issainterclean.com
April 9-12 2012
China Clean Expo
Shanghai, China
T +86 21 64371178 384
sean.song@ubmsinoexpo.com
March 13-15 2013
ISSA/Interclean Latin America
Mexico City, Mexico
T +31 20 549 1212
info@issainterclean.com
May 8-11 2012
ISSA/Interclean
Amsterdam, Netherlands
T +31 20 549 1212
info@issainterclean.com
March 19-21 2013
The Cleaning Show
Birmingham, UK
T +44 1895 454 438
martinscott@quartzltd.com
May 24-25 2012
Clean NZ
Auckland, New Zealand
T +61 2 8586 6115
melanie@intermedia.com.au
April 24-26 2013
ISSA/Interclean CEE
Warsaw, Poland
T +31 20 549 1212
info@issainterclean.com
September 27-29 2012
Pulire Eurasia
Istanbul, Turkey
T +39 02 67 44 58 1
info@pulire-eurasia.com
September 24-27 2013
CMS
Berlin, Germany
T +49 30 3038 2035
cms@messe-berlin.de
October 10-14 2012
WFBSC congress
Curitiba, Brazil
T +44 20 7920 9632
alarge@cleaningassoc.org
SCA to buy
GP's European
tissue business
SCA HAS DELIVERED
a binding offer to acquire
Georgia-Pacific's European
tissue operations in a deal
worth 1.32 billion euros.
Georgia-Pacific's acceptance
of this offer is subject to consultations with works councils
where appropriate.
Georgia-Pacific’s European
tissue operations have EBIT
margins that are on a similar
level as for SCA´s tissue business. The annual synergies are
estimated at 125 million euros,
with full effect in three years
after closing. Related costs are
estimated at 130 million euros.
From year one the transaction
is estimated to contribute to an
increase of earnings per share
and cash flow.
Subject to consultation
Georgia-Pacific markets its
products across Europe under
the Lotus brand, with consumer tissue accounting for 60 per
cent of total sales, and 30 per
cent in the away-from-home
sector. The rest of the company's turnover is in personal
care products.
Its European tissue operations employ around 5,000 people and there are 15 production
sites in seven countries.
The transaction will be subject to customary consultation
with employee representa-
SCA's Jan Johansson
tives and will also be subject to
approval by relevant competition authorities.
“The deal is a strategic fit
and will strengthen our product offering and geographic
reach in Europe. It also leads to
substantial synergies”, says Jan
Johansson, president and ceo
of SCA.
www.sca.com
Keep up to date with this story and other
industry news as it happens. Visit www.
europeancleaningjournal.com for news, analysis,
event information, authoritative research and
suppliers' reference guide
• SCA, le producteur
de papiers-tissus suédois,
va reprendre la division
papiers-tissus de GeorgiaPacific pour 1,32 milliards
d'euros.
• Une nouvelle étude
montre que les patients en
traitement d'urgence dans
les couloirs d'hôpitaux sont
davantage exposés à la
contamination par les mains
du personnel hospitalier.
•Das in Schweden ansässige
Unternehmen SCA erwirbt
den Tissue-Betrieb von
Georgia-Pacific für 1,32
Milliarden Euro.
• Eine neue Studie zeigt,
dass Notfallpatienten, die
im Korridor behandelt
werden, einem größeren
Risiko der Kontamination
durch die Hände von
Krankenhauspersonal
ausgesetzt sind.
• La SCA, produttrice di
prodotti in carta con sede in
Svezia, sta per
acquisire le attività di
prodotti in carta della
Georgia-Pacific con un
accordo di 1,32 miliardi
di euro.
• Un recente studio mostra
che i pazienti che ricevono
delle cure di emergenza
nei corridoi delle strutture
sanitarie sono a rischio più
elevato di essere contaminati
dalle mani del personale
ospedaliero.
October 2011 ECJ
3
NEWS
• La société Bio-Productions, un spécialiste
des produits de nettoyage biologiques, en
partenariat avec le prestataire de services
OCS, a remporté le prix environnemental
Green Apple pour ses travaux à l'aéroport
de Gatwick, au Royaume-Uni.
• À compter du 1er janvier 2012, le
gouvernement hongrois n'aura plus à
obtenir l'accord du patronat et des syndicats
pour fixer le salaire minimum national.
•Der in einer Partnerschaft mit dem
Dienstleister OCS tätige Spezialist für
biologische Reinigungsprodukte BioProductions wurde für seine Arbeit auf
dem britischen Flughafen Gatwick mit
einem Green Apple Environment Award
ausgezeichnet.
• Ab dem 1. Januar 2012 muss die
ungarische Regierung nicht mehr länger
die Zustimmung von Arbeitgebern und
Gewerkschaften bei der Festlegung des
staatlichen Mindestlohns einholen.
• La Bio-Productions, specializzata
in prodotti biologici per la pulizia, in
collaborazione con la fornitrice di servizi
OCS – ha vinto il riconoscimento Green
Apple Environment Award per il suo
lavoro presso l’aeroporto di Gatwick nel
Regno Unito.
• Dal 1° gennaio 2012, il governo
dell’Ungheria non sarà più tenuto a
richiedere l’assenso dei datori di lavoro e
delle organizzazioni sindacali prima di
stabilire il minimo salariale nazionale.
4
ECJ November 2011
Bio-Productions
wins Green Apple
BIOLOGICAL cleaning products specialist Bio-Productions has
won a Green Apple Environment
Award in partnership with cleaning service provider OCS. The two
companies have worked together to reduce the environmental
impact of cleaning at Gatwick
Airport in the UK.
The introduction of BioProductions biological cleaning
products at the airport has resulted in better washroom air quality.
A reduction in chemical use has
led to fewer deliveries and less onsite stock movement, with significant savings in truck miles.
Energy savings
Bio-Productions biological urinal blocks have been introduced
in all the washrooms, bringing an
annual reduction in water usage of
around 100,000 litres per annum
Rights removed
from Hungarian
social partners
WITH EFFECT from January
1 2012 the Hungarian government will no longer have to
seek agreement from
employers and trade unions
before setting the national minimum wage.
No decision making
as well as energy savings on pumping and moving water to the airport's effluent treatment plant.
Adrian Shuker, sustainability director for OCS who provide
cleaning services in the airport's
public areas, commented: "It has
been one of our top priorities to
enhance the passenger experience,
especially in the washroom, and to
add value for the client."
Then the tripartite interest
reconciliation system will be
replaced by a new body - the
National Economic and Social
Council (NGTT). The NGTT
will include representatives
of employers, workers and
chambers of commerce but
will have no decision-making
rights, only the right to draft
proposals to the government.
In effect the government
alone will from now on decide
on wage and employment-related regulations.
NEWS
G4S abandons proposed
acquisition of ISS
GLOBAL SECURITY group
G4S unexpectedly abandoned
an a greement to purcha se
Denmark-based building services giant ISS last month, just
days after announcing the deal
- set to be worth almost six billion euros.
In an official statement Ole
Andersen, chairman of the
board of ISS said: "In July
our owner - FS Invest - was
approached by G4S proposing
to combine our two companies.
There was a strong industrial
and commercial rationale in the
proposal and therefore we pursued the opportunity.
"However it became evident
after the announcement of the
potential combination that
G4S's shareholders would not
support the acquisition, due to
the size and perceived complexity of the deal against the current macro-economic backdrop.
"As a consequence our owner
has agreed with G4S that the
proposed acquisition should not
proceed and we should get back
to running our separate businesses and pursuing our respective goals."
Running separate businesses
G4S chairman Alf DuchPedersen endorsed this: "We
believe that developing our
business towards an enhanced
security and integrated facilities
services model is the way forward in the longer term and we
saw ISS as an excellent opportunity to achieve this aim.
"Howe ver, fol lowing the
announcement of the acquisi-
tion, shareholders have raised
concerns particularly over its
scale and perceived complexity
against the backdrop of current
macro-economic uncertainty,"
he said.
World's largest
The move would have created
the world's largest integrated
security and facilities services
group, with one than one million employees in over 130
countries and combined revenues of 18.3 billion euros.
Group chief financial office
at ISS Jakob Stausholm has
decided to leave the company as
was his plan under the proposed
G4S acquisition. He will be
replaced by Henrik Andersen,
ceo of ISS UK.
www.issworld.com
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• L'acquisition proposée d'ISS, le
prestataire mondial de services de
bâtiment, par le géant de la sécurité G4S,
a été abandonnée de manière inattendue
parce que les actionnaires de G4S n'étaient
pas en faveur de cette reprise.
•Die geplante Akquisition des globalen
Gebäudetechnikunternehmens ISS durch
das Sicherheitsunternehmen G4S wurde
unerwarteterweise aufgegeben, da G4SAktionäre den Deal nicht unterstützten.
• L’acquisizione proposta della impresa
mondiale di servizi ISS da parte
dell’impresa di sicurezza G4S è stata
inaspettatamente abbandonata perchè gli
azionisti della G4S non hanno sostenuto
l’accordo.
November 2011 ECJ
5
NEWS
Haaga
Chidichimo to lead new
acquired Sealed Air business unit
THE PARENT c o m p a n y
of Electrostar, which manufactures Starmix vacuum cleaners
and warm air hand dryers, has
taken over sweeper producer
Haaga. Both companies are based
in Germany.
Haaga now becomes part of
the Algo Company Group, which
comprises nine companies based
in Germany, Austria, Malta and
Russia. It employs 390 staff and
reported a revenue of 46 million
euros in 2010.
Roman Gorovoy, managing
director of Electrostar, feels both
companies can benefit from synergy effects in their manufacturing processes. He added: "We are
expecting other noticeable synergy effects in the area of international sales and marketing."
www.haaga-gmbh.de
• Sealed Air, qui a repris Diversey cette
année, a annoncé les mesures d'intégration
qui seront prises. De nouvelles divisions
commerciales seront établies en 2012
et le directeur général de Diversey, Ed
Lonergan, quittera son poste.
• La société mère d'Electrostar, le fabricant
des aspirateurs et sèche-mains Starmix, a été
reprise par Haaga, le fabricant de balayeuses.
• Les rideaux d'intimité entre lits
d'hôpital sont souvent contaminés par des
bactéries, y compris le SARM, indique une
nouvelle étude.
•Sealed Air hat vor einigen Monaten
Diversey übernommen und hat jetzt
die Pläne zur geschäftlichen Integration
angekündigt. 2012 werden neue
Geschäftsbereiche eingerichtet, und
Diversey-Hauptgeschäftsführer Ed
Lonergan verlässt das Unternehmen.
• Die Dachgesellschaft von Electrostar,
dem Hersteller von Starmix Staubsaugern
und Warmluft-Händetrocknern,
hat Haaga, den Produzenten von
Kehrmaschinen, übernommen.
• Gemäß einer Studie sind die Vorhänge
zum Schutz der Privatsphäre zwischen
Krankenhausbetten und zwischen
Behandlungsbereichen häufig mit Bakterien,
einschließlich MRSA, kontaminiert.
• La Sealed Air, che ha acquisito la
Diversey qualche mese fa, ha annunciato
che le attività verranno ora integrate.
Nuove unità d’affari verranno create nel
2012 e il Ceo Ed Lonergan si dimetterà.
• La società madre di Electrostar, che
produce gli aspirapolveri e gli ascugamani
ad aria calda Starmix, ha rilevato la
produttrice di spazzatrici Haaga.
• Uno studio rivela che le tende per
proteggere la privacy dei pazienti fra
un letto d’ospedale e l’altro e nelle aree
di trattamento, sono frequentemente
contaminate da batteri incluso quello della
MRSA.
6
ECJ November 2011
after Diversey integration
SEALED AIR Corporation
in the USA has announced the
next step in the integration of
the Diversey business, which
it took over in June in a deal
worth US$ 4.3 billion. This
includes the establishment of
new business units in 2012.
"As part of our integration
process, we plan to organise
Sealed Air into three business
units focused on food safety
and security, facility hygiene and
product protection," explained
Wil liam Hickey, president
and chief executive officer of
Sealed Air.
"This market-oriented organisation will help maximise the
opportunities and value creation we expect to generate from
the Diversey acquisition."
The Food and Beverage unit
will combine Sealed Air's Food
Packaging and Food Solutions
businesses with Diversey's Food
and Bevera ge applications.
It's anticipated this sector
will represent around 45 per
cent of Sealed Air revenue and
it will be headed up by Karl
Deil y, who currentl y leads
Sealed Air's global food packaging business.
Institutional and laundry
The majority of the Diversey
business will be incorporated
in the new Institutional &
Laundry business unit - building care, laundry and infection
control. Expected to account
for 30 per cent of Sealed Air
revenue, this unit will be led
by Pedro Chidichimo, who currently heads up Diversey global
customer solutions and innovation and is a regular contributor
to ECJ.
Expected to make up 20 per
cent of Sealed Air's turnover is
the new Protective Packaging
unit - combining Sealed Air's
protective packaging, shrink
packaging and specialty materials businesses. Heading it up
will by Ryan Flanagan, who
has a 20-year background with
Sealed Air.
A Developing Markets Group
will also be formed with direct
responsibility for markets in
Africa, Asia, India, the Middle
East and Turkey. Yagmur Sagnak
of Diversey will lead that part
of the business.
Diversey chief executive Ed
Lonergan has decided to leave
the company but will maintain
a consulting role for the next
six months while the integration is taking place.
•Read Pedro Chidichimo's latest
article for ECJ on page 35.
www.diversey.com
Hospital privacy curtains laiden
with germs, says new study
THE PRIVACY c u r t a i n s
between hospital beds and clinic
treatment areas are frequently
contaminated with bacteria
including MRSA, according to
a study.
And healthcare providers are
being urged to wash their hands
after touching them to avoid contaminating their patients.
The study was carried out at
the University of Iowa Hospitals
in the US where regular
swab cultures were taken from
43 privacy curtains over a threeweek period.
Of the 13 privacy curtains
tested, 12 showed contamination
within a week and virtually all
privacy curtains tested - 41 out
of 43 - were contaminated on at
least one occasion. MRSA was
isolated from one in five curtains and vancomycin-resistant
Enterococci from four in 10.
"There is growing recognition
that the hospital environment
plays an important role in the
transmission of infections in the
healthcare setting," said Michael
Ohl from the University of Iowa.
"It's clear that these privacy curtains are potentially important
sites of contamination because
they are frequently touched by
patients and providers."
Healthcare workers often
touch the privacy curtains after
washing their hands and then
proceed to touch the patient.
Ohi claims that strategies such as
frequently disinfecting the curtains or using microbial resistant
fabrics could work.
"However, the most intuitive,
common sense strategy is for
healthcare workers to wash their
hands after pulling the curtain
and before seeing the patient."
NEWS
EFCI president encourages optimism
THE PRESIDENT of
the European Federation of
Cleaning Industries (EFCI)
urged contract cleaning business leaders to be optimistic
about the sector's future when
he spoke at its general assembly
in Amsterdam recently.
Hans Simons insisted that
the contract cleaning market
"is not in bad shape", achieving
a turnover of 60 billion euros in
the countries that make up the
EFCI's membership. "There are
now 160,000 cleaning companies, and almost four million
people are employed in this
industry," he continued.
"And annual growth in the
sector stands at around 10 per
cent, compared to many other
industries where it is just one or
two per cent."
These figures, Simons
believes, make the cleaning
industry one of the most important sectors in the European
Union. "We do not need to be
too modest, or feel left out of
negotiations on employment
at European level," he said.
"We must take an active part
in government debates at both
national and European level."
Economic uncertainty
In his address to delegates
Simons acknowledged that the
current over-riding sentiment
about the European economy
is uncertainty, however he is
convinced the cleaning sector
has the key strengths that will
enable it to adapt and adjust its
service offering in order to survive economic difficulties and
thrive in the future.
"We must look to broaden
our service portfolio, optimise
opportunities in those sectors
where services are not yet usually contracted out, and build
more professional relationships
with our clients."
He concluded: "Our industr y has many strong points
that give it good standing
to withstand the current economic difficulties."
The general assembly was followed by a seminar dedicated to
looking at cleaning companies’
strategies for surviving the economic crisis of 2008, and how
they have managed the recovery
since 2010.
Speakers from cleaning companies and employers’ associations in the Netherlands,
Austria, Finland, Switzerland,
Sweden and Spain explained
how the economic crisis has
forced the industry to adapt
and focus more on the needs of
its clients.
Clients generally began to
demand even more ways to save
money on their cleaning contract – even to the extent of
taking away services. Painful
though this has been for contractors, they have found it
essential to develop new ways
recalculated – because clients
wanted a reduction in price
so they bought less cleaning
and cleaned less frequently.
“Price competition hardened,
contract prices fell permanently and profitability declined,”
she explained.
Customer-oriented
So ISS has made its organisation more customer-oriented,
and reduced costs through synergies and integration.
As Benno Locker of the
Parity Commission Cleaning
In d u s t r y i n S w i t z e r l a n d
explained, the Swiss economy
was not so dramatically affected
by the 2008 economic crisis as
much as other European economies. However there was a drop
in 2009 and the cleaning industry there has seen continuing
price pressure.
“We must stop the downward
spiral in prices,” said Locker.
“As part of this initiative we
have started a campaign called
Fair Clean, whereby we aim to
supply more information to
clients about increases in the
minimum wage and also possible rises in prices.”
www.efci.eu
Diners suspect bad hygiene
Hans Simons
of delivering services.
As Ulf Wretskog of Coor
S e r v i ce Ma n a g e m e n t i n
Sweden said: “It’s essential for a
contractor to help its clients to
survive. And having done that
we feel our clients now want
to have more long term relationships with us – that’s been a
positive outcome.”
There is a downside, however.
“We are now stuck with this
way of working permanently.
Our clients are always driving
for efficiencies.”
Developed business
For Reiwag in Austria, the
economic situation was an
opportunity, explained managing director Viktor Wagner. “We
developed our business because
of the crisis. Diversification
beyond our borders was key
to our success, particularly in
the Czech Republic.” The company also became involved in
the catering sector, where it has
enjoyed significant growth.
Minna Gauffin, a director at ISS Finland, told how
many of its contracts had been
DINERS ACROSS Europe
are not convinced about the
hygiene standards of staff in restaurants and fast-food chains, a
new survey has revealed.
Many fear chefs regularly
fail to wash their hands before
handling food, while others suspect staff will still serve up food
after it has been dropped on to
the floor.
These were among the results
of the Tork Toilet Barometer,
an annual survey of washroom
trends commissioned by Tork
manufacturer SCA to coincide
with World Toilet Day. A total
of 4,000 people took part from
Germany, the UK, Finland,
Sweden, Poland, Belgium, the
Netherlands and France.
In Poland, 85 per cent of
people have opened the door
to a restaurant and decided
not to go in because it didn't
seem clean. This was followed
by Sweden at 79 per cent;
Germany at 73 per cent; France
•Hans Simons, président de
la Fédération européenne
du nettoyage industriel, a
encouragé les dirigeants
du secteur à faire preuve
d'optimisme face à l'avenir de
leur métier dans son allocution
devant l'assemblée générale de
la Fédération à Amsterdam.
• Il ressort de l'enquête
Baromètre Toilettes Tork,
menée par SCA pour
connaître les tendances en
matière de toilettes publiques,
que les Européens se méfient
des normes d'hygiène
appliquées par les personnels
des restaurants et chaînes de
fast-food.
at 66 per cent; the UK at 65
per cent; Finland at 61 per cent;
Belgium at 58 per cent; and the
Netherlands at 53 per cent.
When asked which hygiene
aspect is most important when
visiting a restaurant, an average
of 59 per cent of survey participants said the premises should
look clean and tidy. This was
followed by the toilets being
cleaned, with an average of just
over 30 per cent; and being able
to see into the kitchens at an
average of 10.5 per cent.
A majority of respondents
suspect that if the toilet is dirty,
the kitchen will be dirty too
- on average just under 85 per
cent. An average of just under
81 per cent believe that kitchen
staff and chefs wash their hands
before cooking, and the majority also think they wash their
hands after using the toilet.
They are not so confident, however, about staff not using food
that has fallen on the floor.
•Im Rahmen seiner Rede
auf der Hauptversammlung
in Amsterdam hielt Hans
Simons, Vorsitzender der
European Federation
of Cleaning Industries
(EFCI), die Leiter von
Vertragsreinigungsfirmen
zu einer optimistischen
Einstellung gegenüber der
Zukunft der Branche an.
• Die Ergebnisse der
Trendumfrage Tork Toilet
Barometer von SCA weisen
darauf hin, dass Europäer
den Hygienestandards von
Mitarbeitern in Restaurants
und Fastfoodketten skeptisch
gegenüberstehen.
• Hans Simons, presidente
della federazione European
Federation of Cleaning
Industries (EFCI), nel
suo discorso all’assemblea
generale del settore tenutasi ad
Amsterdam, ha incoraggiato i
leader del settore del cleaning
professionale ad essere
ottimisti sul futuro del settore.
• I risultati del sondaggio sui
trend delle sale da toilette Tork
Toilet Barometer organizzato
dalla SCA, suggeriscono che
gli europei non hanno fiducia
negli standard di igiene del
personale dei ristoranti e delle
catene di fast-food.
November 2011 ECJ
9
NEWS
The next edition
of ECJ is February/
March 2012. Register
now for your copy by
visiting our website at
europeancleaningjournal.
com. Keep up-to-date
with latest industry news
there every day
• Les organisateurs d’ISSA/
INTERCLEAN, qui se tiendra au mois
de mai prochain à Amsterdam, ont lancé
leur appel d’inscriptions pour le Prix de
l’Innovation 2012.
Die Organisatoren der ISSA/
INTERCLEAN, die im kommenden
Mai in Amsterdam stattfinden wird,
haben jetzt zu Nominierungen für den
Innovation Award 2012 aufgefordert.
• Gli organizzatori di ISSA/
INTERCLEAN, che si terrà ad
Amsterdam il prossimo
maggio, stanno invitando le adesioni per il
premio 2012 Innovation Award.
Enter now for 2012 award at
ISSA/INTERCLEAN Amsterdam
EXHIBITORS AT ISSA/
INTERCLEAN Amsterdam 2012,
which takes place from May 8-11,
are now being invited to submit
their entries for the Innovation
Awards. Presented on the first
day of the show, these prizes have
become the most coveted and
prestigious in the cleaning sector.
An independent international jury evaluates all entries on
the same criteria - originality, impact, practicality, sustainability and profitability. Michelle
Marshall, editor of ECJ, is chairman of the jury.
There are three categories in
which exhibitors can enter their
new products:
Category 1 - machines, accessories and components.
Category 2 - equipment/tools
for cleaning, care and safety;
chemicals, care and disinfection
materials/products; sanitary appli-
ances, accessories and supplies;
integrated cleaning systems.
Independent jury
Category 3 - cleaning services;
management, planning, research
and consultancy; education, training, certification; related products
and services.
From all products entered the
jury selects three finalists per category. One winner is then selected
for each category, and finally there
is one overall winner.
New for this year is the visi-
The category winners from the
2010 Innovations Awards
tors' vote, whereby pre-registered
visitors can vote for one of the
innovations entered into the competition. The winner of that vote
will receive a special prize during
the award ceremony.
Baudoin Wash Systems was
the overall winner of the 2010
Innovation Award for its travelator cleaner. The company's Bart
de Bonth commented: "Winning
the Innovation Award was a
fabulous token of appreciation.
The accompanying publicity
attracted a lot of additional interest and we definitely generated
more sales leads."
Entry opens from December
1 and is only available to exhibitors at ISSA/INTERCLEAN
Amsterdam. Closing date is
January 22 2012.
For detailed information visit
the website from December 1:
www.issainterclean.com
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U P D AT E : G E R M A N Y
Time to read?
German correspondent
Thomas Schulte-Marxloh
explores the links between
the cleaning sector, the
media and literature.
A
t the beginning of
November Germany celebrated the ‘Tag der Putzfrau’
or, even more ambitiously,
the ‘Internationaler Tag der
Putzfrau’ (international cleaning woman day) or ‘Weltputzfrauentag’ (global cleaning
woman day). The ‘Day of the
Cleaning Woman’ was launched
in 2004 by crime story author
Gesine Schulz and supported by
political parties and the media.
Karo Rutkowski - cleaning
woman and private investigator
at the same time – the fictional character of Schulz’ stories
inspired the author to remind
the public of the important
work the (usually unknown)
cleaning woman (and man, of
course) provides to all of us.
However, smart clean 'n'
crime hero Karo is not the only
choice in terms of literature
related to the contract cleaning
business. A well-known online
book shop shows hundreds of
entries when looking for ‘putzen’ (cleaning) and 71 entries for
‘Gebäudereinigung’ (professional/contract cleaning), so we cannot complain about a lack of literature. Considering Christmas
is not far away, we should start
browsing through the huge
range of books in time.
Open minded amateur cleaners will find a number of guidebooks, some of them revealing astonishing truths to the
breathless public: ‘Men can
clean’. Books like ‘Wellness
through cleaning’ create a link
between cleaning and workout. Other authors focus on a
number of interesting aspects of
‘cleaning’, like everyday hygiene,
meditation, feng shui, compulsive hoarding, or simply give
advice to students how to keep
their halls of residence tidy.
How-ever, there is also hope for
Thomas Schulte-Marxloh,
notre correspondant en
Allemagne, fait un recensement
des mentions littéraires de
la propreté et examine les
ouvrages qui sont proposés aux
professionnels du secteur.
12
ECJ November 2011
less talented people – 'Cleaning
for Dummies'.
Books for professionals
and experts might not be as
entertaining as a crime story
or amateur guidebook but can
help to prevent the ‘sudden
death’ of a customer relationship, employment or company
and can help to ‘kill’ competition. Unfortunately, some of
these books for professionals
are not up-to-date and seem to
have more of a historical value.
Others seem to fit perfectly
for the start-up or companies
lacking professional structure
or knowledge. Apart from basic
knowledge, countless books
provide real expert knowledge
regarding laws and govern-mental regulations, hygiene, chemistr y, detergents, materials,
machinery, accounting, marketing, customer relations etc.
Talking about customer relations, the BIV (German contract cleaning association) provides a helpful booklet to its
members as well. The booklet
is a collection of professional
information for the potential
customer which enables him to
compare the various offers of
contract cleaning companies;
the booklet serves as a guideline to define the customer’s
requirements as precisely as
possible. This is helpful for
the contract cleaning company
and the customer as well and,
moreover, excellent advertising
material at the same time.
Internet, Twitter, Facebook,
Google and other modern electronic, virtual media seem to
dominate and to replace classic media fast. They are said to
be the new sources of entertainment and information. But
sometimes it is simply more
convenient to have a printed
reference guide or journal at
hand, and we are happy that
books and papers have not disappeared completely. So hopefully we will not see a clash of
media but a peaceful, complementary coexistence instead.
Der deutsche ECJ-Reporter
Thomas Schulte-Marxloh
ermittelt, wie häufig
Reinigungsarbeiten in der
Literatur erwähnt werden,
und bespricht das Angebot an
Büchern, das den Mitarbeitern
der Reinigungsbranche zur
Verfügung steht.
Il corrispondente tedesco di
ECJ Thomas Schulte-Marxloh
esamina la frequenza con cui il
settore del cleaning viene citato
nella letteratura e inoltre passa
in rassegna la gamma di libri
disponbili per i professiosti
del settore.
U P D AT E : F R A N C E
Industry's hard times
ECJ reporter in France,
Christian Bouzols, looks at
how the economic crisis is
affecting the sector.
T
he 19,000 cleaning company chiefs in France are
str ug gling not to shed too
many jobs. During the past
seven years, they have created 100,000 new jobs, none
of them can't be outsourced
abroad and nearly 80 per cent
of them under open-ended contracts. This growth has been
maintained since 1995. But now
the economic situation and its
impact on cleaning company
turnovers has begun to affect
the industr y's recr uitment
prospects. During each of the
2006/7 and 2007/8 fiscal years,
cleaning companies saw their
turnovers increase by 10 per
cent, but this figure dropped to
0.9 per cent in 2009/10.
The drop in the number of
cleaning companies was even
more worrying as two per cent
of them closed down in 2009
while during the previous two
years, there had been a 16 per
cent increase in the number of
cleaning businesses. The workforce still remains high since
the sector is one of manual
labour, but even on that score,
the past year saw a fall of 1.1 per
cent, compared with the regular
annual rises of over 3 per cent
recorded since 2005.
To ensure its growth during those difficult times, the
cleaning sector has resorted to
various measures such as more
training, partnerships, improvements in working conditions,
better pay, new emphasis on
sustainable development, and
various recruitment and career
development initiatives.
The cleaning sector has also
depended on several job protection measures by the government. Some of these are now
under threat and this could have
a bad impact on jobs, and thus
on the more vulnerable people
Dans son reportage de la
France, Christian Bouzols
évoque les conséquences d'une
conjoncture économique
difficile pour le secteur de la
propreté, marqué par le gel
de salaires et une concurrence
intense sur les prix.
in the industry.
One such measure was the
relief on employer social security contributions. This relief
was instituted during the 90s to
protect jobs and it helped the
cleaning sector to keep several
thousand jobs going. It is estimated that about 15 per cent of
the total payroll could be compromised were this measure to
disappear. At this time, the minimum wage in the cleaning sector is 2.5 per cent higher than
the official minimum wage.
The cleaning industry operates on small profit margins and
the crisis has intensified competition on prices. The worst
hit are those companies that
haven't diversified. Those that
have managed to trim down
or develop activities of higher
added value seem to be better
equipped to face the crisis.
But this penalises many workers whose wages have been frozen and whose bonuses have
been cancelled, or who have
had their overtime reduced. All
this involves knock-on effects
on the standards of living of
people who are already vulnerable. One consequence of this
is an increase in the black economy, where cleaners often work
informally to make ends meet.
Financial constraints have
made life more difficult for
companies generally, and particularly for those clients who
have sought to streamline their
expenditure. This has led to a
restructuring of cleaning services which has often resulted
in a reduction. Another consideration is the national failure
rate of companies. Over 7.5 per
cent of all existing companies in
France folded during the years
from 2007 to 2009 and the rate
of new business creation has
been falling, with the exception of sole traders. The fall in
business numbers translates into a fall in numbers of
potential customers for
cleaning contractors.
Christian Bouzols berichtet
aus Frankreich, welche
Auswirkungen die schwierige
Wirtschaftslage auf die
Reinigungsbranche hat – dazu
gehören auch Lohnstopps und
heftiger Preiswettbewerb.
Dalla Francia, il
corrispondente Christian
Bouzols ci informa sulle
conseguenze che ha la difficile
situazione economica sul
settore del cleaning e che
includono il blocco dei salari e
la forte concorrenza dei prezzi.
U P D AT E : S C A N D I N AV I A
Final thoughts
ECJ's Scandinavian
reporter Tom Crockford
writes his final column.
T
his is my final column as this ma gazine’s
Scandinavian Correspondent.
After over 12 years of commenting on the professional cleaning scene in this part
of Europe, I have decided to
retire. I do hope a replacement
can be found soon. Scandinavia
has long been a pioneer of new
methods and innovative cleaning products, and it is important
there is someone to regularly
report on the region’s activities for this fine publication.
If you, or someone you know,
might be interested in assuming this role, please contact
Michelle Marshall (michelle@
europeancleaningjournal.com).
In my first article for the
June/July 1998 issue of ECJ,
I commented on the rapid
expansion of daytime commercial cleaning in Sweden.
The concept was motivated
by cost factors and made possible by advances in the cleaning machinery, most notably in
the rather significant reduction
in noise levels. Today, daytime
cleaning is an accepted and well
established fact.
Another part of that first
article was devoted to the trend
for contracting companies to
expand into other ser vice
areas than just cleaning. This
too has become an established
part of the business strategy of
the larger contractors, and it
is now quite typical for them
to be offering security, catering, estate management and
many other services. So what
can we expect to happen during the next 12-plus years?
Well, my crystal ball cannot be
relied on to give any sure-fire
answers but I would guess that
not too much will change. The
economic situation throughout
Europe is likely to remain difficult over the next few years and
Tom Crockford, notre
correspondant en Scandinavie,
consacre sa dernière colonne
pour ECJ par un coup d'oeil
sur l'évolution du secteur de la
propriété de la région au cours
des 12 dernières années.
14
ECJ November 2011
this will, of course, have some
effect. Corporate contracts for
office cleaning may be tightened – meaning smaller margins
as competition for fewer contracts increases. On the other
hand, I envisage the public sector cleaning to do less in-house
cleaning and increasingly outsource this work.
Which reminds me of an
interesting scene I witnessed
recently in Riga, Latvia. Visiting
a school there, I noticed at the
end of the school day a number
of the more senior students
carr ying mops, brooms and
other assorted cleaning accessories. When I enquired what
was going on, I was told that
students, who were being disciplined for being late or for
whatever reason, now had to
stay after school and clean
the building. It struck me as a
truly innovative idea – school
cleaning costs were obviously
reduced, and it was a highly
productive means of disciplining the youngsters. Far more
so than having them write ‘I
must not be late for school’ 100
times, or whatever the alternative punishment might be.
Maybe the idea will catch on!
Before I close this column
for the last time, I would like to
express my gratitude to all those
people within the Scandinavian
professional cleaning community that have been so helpful
to me in this work. There are
really too many to name, but
I must mention Bengt Jödahl
who has been very active in
SSEF, the Swedish Association
of Cleaning Contractors and
who was always ready to pass on
advice and information. Also,
my good friends at NilfiskAdvance in Denmark, who kept
me up-to-date with the latest
trends in equipment development. Finally to Michelle and
her editorial staff, a big thank
you; it has been very easy and a
real pleasure to work with you.
Good luck to you all.
Unser SkandinavienKorrespondent Tom Crockford
schreibt seine letzte Kolumne
für das ECJ und bietet darin
einen Rückblick über die
wichtigsten Entwicklungen,
die in der Reinigungsbranche
der Region in den letzten 12
Jahren stattfanden.
Il corrispondente scandinavo
Tom Crockford scrive il suo
ultimo articolo per ECJ
ricordando gli sviluppi
più importanti del settore
del cleaning nella regione
avvenuti negli ultimi 12
anni.
U P D AT E : N E T H E R L A N D S
Trained to clean
Recently started secondary
schools in cleaning are
slowly becoming successful,
explains Dutch reporter
Anton Duisterwinkel.
C
hildren often have a clear
idea of what they want
to do for a living: fire fighter,
school teacher or vet, for
instance. For teenagers, life is
much less clear-cut and they
often have a hard time selecting one of the many trades
for which they can be trained
at secondary school. In The
Netherlands, these traditionally
included trades such as painter,
car mechanic, hairdresser and
nurse, but not floor maintenance or window cleaner.
Until a few years ago, there
were no schools offering courses on cleaning, in particular not
at the lowest educational levels.
At high school, ‘facility management’ is given, but this does not
prepare the pupil for a handson job in cleaning.
A few years ago, this situation
changed. Savantis, a knowledge
centre that is responsible for
setting up courses in 18 trades,
such as painter, carpenter and
graphic designer, was asked by
the ministry of education to
do this also for ‘cleaning’ and
‘window cleaning’. Limited
funding being available, it was
decided to start at just six secondary schools.
Students can follow two
routes to becoming a trained
cleaner. In the first route,
they work four days a week
at a cleaning company and
go to school on the fifth day.
Students are paid for their work
and are coached on the job by
the cleaning company that hires
them. This is already a successful route, as it allows students
to start their education without
previous training and pays them
a small salary. For cleaning companies, it is an efficient way of
finding new, motivated staff.
The second route is a formal
Aux Pays-Bas, différents
établissements scolaires du
secondaire ont inauguré des
cours de propreté. Notre
correspondant Anton
Duisterwinkel rapporte
qu'ils sont très fréquentés.
and full time education at secondary school. Although this
also includes apprenticeships
at large cleaning companies,
in total one-third of the education, it is less popular with
students – and even with secondary schools. But with help
of Savantis and cleaning companies, several schools have
recently yielded dozens of
trained cleaners.
Four training levels
In both cases, four levels of
training exist. Level 1 is called
‘cleaning assistant’, and is a general training where topics like
work attitude get a lot of attention. Level 2 brings the students
to the level of ‘educated cleaner’, specialising in either general cleaning/floor maintenance;
window and façade cleaning;
cleaning after disasters or cleaning in the food industry. Level 3
goes deeper into the theory of
these specialisms and prepares
for managing small groups of
cleaning staff and level 4 trains
student to become ‘object manager’, who is responsible for the
staff cleaning a large building
(or ‘object’). Students that finish this level should be able to
proceed at high school towards
facility management, but no
experience exists on that level.
The first few dozen students
have now finished level 2 and
most of them have found a job
– and that is what it is all about.
Given that the sector employs
about 200,000 staff of which
20 per cent leave the trade each
year, these well educated youngsters receive a warm welcome.
Looking for more info on
important topics? Search
back issues of ECJ online
at www.europeancleaning
In den Niederlanden führen
einige weiterführende
Schulen erfolgreich Kurse
zum Thema Reinigung
durch, berichtet unser
Korrespondent Anton
Duisterwinkel.
journal.com
Nei Paesi Bassi, un certo
numero di scuole superiori
stanno organizzando dei
corsi di cleaning di grande
successo, come riferisce
il corrispondente Anton
Duisterwinkel.
U P D AT E : I TA LY
Successful services meet
Italian correspondent Anna
Garbagna reports from a
cleaning services meeting
in Rome recently.
L
ast month FISE’s (the contract cleaning association)
office in Rome hosted the seminar 'Cleaning and integrated
services – the sector’s prospects
in light of the new work contract CCNL and the new public
contracts regulation'.
The seminar, initiated by SNS,
the National School of Services
– of which FISE and Legacoop
Ser vizi are members – and
developed in cooperation with
ANIP (National Association
of Cleaning Industries and
Integrated Services), was organAnna Garbagna rend compte
d'un séminaire qui s'est tenu le
mois dernier en Italie sous les
auspirces de l'association de la
propreté FISE pour discuter
d'une nouvelle législation sur la
passation de marchés publics.
16
ECJ November 2011
ised to discuss the new National
Collective Work Contract and
the prospects for the sector,
starting from an analysis of the
contract papers and the mutual
notification presented to the
Ministry of Employment.
The seminar also discussed
the situation regarding recent
legislative reforms on the matter of contracts and initiatives
which are underway related to
the quality and scientific development of the sector.
T h e p r o g r a m m e s t a r te d
with a report from Donatello
Miccoli, who is responsible for
industrial relations at ANIP,
on the national collective work
agreement of May this year, and
the new procedures for negotia-
Anna Garbagna berichtet
aus Italien über ein Seminar,
dass letzten Monat vom
Vertragsreinigungsverband
FISE zur neuen Gesetzgebung
bei der Vergabe von öffentlichen
Aufträgen veranstaltet wurde.
Anna Garbagna dall’Italia
ci informa su un seminario
che si è tenuto il mese scorso
organizzato dall’associazione
del cleaning FISE sulla nuova
legislazione in materia di
appalti pubblici.
tion. Following that was a presentation on second level negotiation and the mutual notification - presented to the Ministry
of Employment by Gianfranco
Piseri, in charge of the delegation Legacoop Servizi.
Lorenza Ponzone, manager of
Public Contracts Surveillance
Authority, tackled the subject
of reforms in public contracts
– encompassing public bid
announcements, labour costs
and an economically more profitable situation for the sector .
Then Gianni De Togni of
SNS explained the technical
specification for contracts in
environmental sanification services in the health sector .
The seminar was also an
opportunity to introduce the
next Forum Pulire, planned for
March 21-22 2012 in Milan. Toni
D’Andrea, director general of
Afidamp Servizi gave a preview.
The moderator of the
whole meeting was Giuseppe
Gherardelli, general secretary
of ANIP.
The Rome event was fully
booked: over 70 people took
Don't miss this
edition's special report
on hand hygiene starts page 25
part in the seminar on the new
national work agreement for
the cleaning sector and multiservices sector.
The seminar was also the
opportunity to launch the next
National School of Ser vices
course on this topic which
will take place in Bologna next
October. During this event
there will be the opportunity to
analyse the economic news and
the new norms introduced by
the renewal of the contract - to
go into more depth the aspects
of the second contractual level
and the bonuses for productivity by analysing different experiences and the behaviour of
the social partners; to define
contractual models of second
level which meet real productivity objectives; and to analyse tax
and contribution laws as incentives for productivity.
U P D AT E : P O L A N D
Safeguarding the sector
Poland reporter Marek
Kowalski asks how the
cleaning sector can survive
the economic crisis.
T
he whole of Europe is
struggling with a crisis.
Politicians meet at another summit wondering how to rescue
the European economy and the
common currency. Bankruptcy
is looming over a number of
European economies.
How about the cleaning
industry? Although it is the rule
that crisis triggers the growth
of interest in outsourcing services, it is also true that margins reduce rapidly. So with
increased turnover, profits go
down. The biggest problem for
the cleaning services market
in Poland is public tender law
where the only criterion taken
into account is price. If we add
to that the real drop in contract value we have got a full
insight in the current state of
the business. Underpaid, dissatisfied employees, working at
50 per cent of their potential.
Entrepreneurs fighting for tenders and winning them at the
brink of profitability hoping for
the better days which are not
bound to happen anytime soon.
What is waiting ahead? I
am afraid current service price
levels will stay with us for the
years to come whether the EU
recovers or not.
The Polish Cleaning Industry
Chamber has adopted a
four-year preventive programme
w h i c h a i m s a t s af e c r i s i s
recovery. It is based on the following assumptions:
•Educational activities aimed
at the service recipients – the
goal is to persuade cleaning services clients that ‘more
expensive’ in terms of facility management means, in fact,
cheaper. The programme carried out together with Train
Station Department of Polish
Railways made us convinced
that it is possible.
•Powerful lobbying for the
amendments in the public tender laws.
•Supporting our own candidates for the elections to the
national and the EU parliament. We aim to elicit a group
of candidates from the cleaning industry in order to run in
the elections in 2014 to the EU
parliament and in 2015 to the
national assembly.
I know the programme is
very ambitious but the experience gained from lobbying and
cooperating with the government gives us a real chance of
success. A quantitative study
has shown we could win three
to five representatives in both
the EU and the national parliaments. Assuming they start
working in the right commitMarek Kowalski,
correspondant d'ECJ en
Pologne, contemple l'impact de
la crise économique à travers
l'eurozone et s'interroge sur
les moyens dont le secteur de la
propreté dispose pour se protéger.
tees, they can be a real power
influencing the most important
laws relevant to our industry
such as taxes, services, labour
laws, public tenders, jobs for
the disabled, EU funds.
Many readers may think the
ideas here are too far fetched
or impossible to achieve for
business associations. It is hard
for me to express the voice of
the EU community but as our
Polish experience shows, the
risk is worth taking. Our industry is so optimistic about success that most of the companies
in the Polish Cleaning Industry
Chamber have invested in it.
If all of the ideas mentioned
here are successful, it may
become the recipe not only
for surviving the crisis, which
is bound to hit us all anyway,
but also a way of strengthening
the industry.
Marek Kowalski, ECJKorrespondent in Polen,
untersucht die Auswirkungen
der Wirtschaftskrise in der
Eurozone und fragt, wie
sich die Reinigungsindustrie
schützen kann.
Marek Kowalski, il
corrispondente polacco di ECJ,
prende in esame l’impatto della
crisi economica su tutta la
eurozona e pone l’interrogativo
su come il settore del cleaning
possa proteggersi.
November 2011 ECJ
17
U P D AT E : U K
Well placed to win
ECJ's UK correspondent
asks how the industry can
weather the recession.
L
ooks like the recession is
really here. Reality in the
form of lost jobs and falling
incomes. The cleaning industry is better placed than most
to weather the storm. We are
labour intensive on the contract
side so maintaining workforce
levels should not be a problem
provided the service given is
beyond what the client might
expect or hope for. Hard price
bargaining will be the norm.
Gr e a te r e f f i c i e n c y d o e s
reduce staff numbers but this
is an incentive to ensure that
those who drive the business
forward are properly trained
and that the client understands
the importance of having pro-
fessionals doing the cleaning.
Low-price quotations do not in
the long run benefit either the
company offering the quote or
the one receiving the service.
No-one should doubt there
is much to be done to take us
back to a situation where people did 'a good day’s work for
a good days pay'. Some companies are achieving this but
they are the exception not the
rule and it is not the worker
who is responsible for this but
the management. It is their
task to build companies which
have the highest standards
and a real pride in the results
achieved at every level in the
company. Happily, here too
there are some good examples
to be found.
Moving into winter we are
accompanied by sirens from the
media and political commentators offering views of a failing country for which they are
partly responsible and a vision
of apocalypse to come.
The other game which is not
a media exercise and should
concern us all is the Shame
Game. There are many people
who should be ashamed of their
behaviour in a time when all
should be pulling together and
in which the cleaning industry, unsung and unheralded, is
a shining example with one or
two exceptions.
Let us give you some examples: the Royal College of
Nursing concentrating on salaries and status and pressing for
nursing education which produces so-called nurses who are
'too posh to wash'.
Trades union leaders cloaked
in their handsome salaries and
pensions spread alarm, threaten
pointless strike action, cost millions in wasted time and have
never produced a single positive
idea to help the economy.
Meanwhile day in and day out
at 5am the cleaning begins. A
pity that many of the workers
are not British and some may
well be illegal. To the 'shamed'
list we can add those contractors who use illegal foreign
workers. The Cleaning and
Support Services Association
(CSSA) might well examine how
many immigrants are employed
and the reasons they are
engaged. We suspect the answer
might cause British workers to
join the 'shamed' list.
We can win but it requires
many more to adopt a 'can do'
attitude than at present.
Etudiant la situation britannique, le
correspondant ECJ analyse les moyens dont le
secteur de la propriété dispose pour affronter la
récession qui affecte tous les secteurs de l'économie.
Der britische ECJ-Korrespondent analysiert die
Lage der Reinigungsindustrie und in welcher
Position sie sich befindet, um den Sturm der
Rezession, der solch enorme Auswirkungen auf
alle Branchen hat, zu überstehen.
Dal Regno Unito il corrispondente di ECJ
analizza in che posizione si trova il settore del
cleaning nel superare la crisi della recessione che
sta avendo un così forte impatto su tutti i settori.
18
ECJ November 2011
U P D AT E : R U S S I A
Optimistic for the future
Oleg Popov from Cristanval
cleaning company in Russia
is confident about the
sector's growth prospects.
P
rior to the stalled financial
situation of 2009, the cleaning industry in Russia enjoyed
strong growth of 30-40 per cent
per annum. For the most part,
growth was due to services at
newly constructed facilities
which had been commissioned:
shopping centres, business
establishments, medical facilities and airports.
During the crisis Russian
cleaning enterprises not only
managed to survive, but successfully expanded sales growth,
mainly on account of services
provided at facilities where
long term contracts had been
secured. A good example would
be Cristanval itself, which had
a growth in gross revenue of 30
per cent during 2009 compared
to the previous year of a rela-
tively 'non-crisis' environment.
The Department of
Economical Development of
the Russian Federation developmental predictions can
be explained as follows: since
attempts to restore a business
in crisis will most likely exhaust
resources for growth potential,
such a revival of a failing business boils down to the clever
use of investment structuring. Hence, beginning in 2011,
i n v e s t m e n t s i n to p r o j e c t s
related to infrastructure spiked
noticeably. Currently, in preparation for the Olympics, many
magnificent Olympic venues are
being built in Sochi and nearly
every one of them requires an
infrastructure to accommodate
its needs.
A second large construction
site on Russian soil is the location of the APEC Russia 2012
Summit in Vladivostok, where
leaders from member economies will meet on Russky Island,
off the coast of the Russian
mainland. This will be the first
time Russia plays host to a summit for the leaders of AsianPacific countries.
Kazan is hosting the World
University Games. Sixty-four
venues will be used for events,
and the largest ones are under
construction now. And the 2018
FIFA World Cup is scheduled
to be held in Russia, across 13
host cities.
The main news of 2011 is
about the capital city - a plan
to expand the administrative
borders of Moscow. It will grow
through adding large territories
which are currently attached to
the western and southwestern
borders. Some governmental
administrative departments will
relocate to new buildings erected in new territories, which will
eventually also become residenOleg Popov, de l'entreprise
de propreté Cristanval et
correspondant ECJ en Russie,
explique pourquoi il est certain
que le secteur de la propreté
de son pays fera florès dans les
années à venir.
tial districts filled with business centres, shopping plazas,
schools, etc.
Taking into consideration
all these factors, the growth of
the cleaning industry is inevitable. My expectation is that
minimal growth will be in the
range of 30-40 per cent per year
for between five to seven years.
However, companies capable of
offering professional cleaning
services for a building with a
complex set-up are limited in
number. In essence, that means
the most professional and efficient companies will win a solid
competitive edge, and will use
this advantage to lay a foundation which should last for
10 years or so. The leaders in
the sector will reinforce their
positions, and the gap between
them and mid-sized companies
will become even more evident.
Unser RusslandKorrespondent, der bei der
Reinigungsfirma Cristanval
tätige Oleg Popov, erläutert,
warum er überzeugt ist, dass
die Reinigungsbranche des
Landes in den kommenden
Jahren aufblühen wird.
Oleg Popov dell’impresa
di pulizie Cristanval,
corrispondente russo di ECJ,
spiega il motivo della sua
certezza che il settore del
cleaning russo prospererà nei
prossimi anni.
November 2011 ECJ
19
collection
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NEWS: DUTCH CODE OF CONDUCT
Dutch responsible conduct
code encourages best practice
Earlier this year, the Dutch contract cleaning association
OSB introduced a Code of Responsible Market
Conduct for the cleaning and window cleaning sectors.
This came about as a result of strike action by the
country's cleaning staff early in 2010 and was drawn
up by various industry organisations.
T
he Code of Responsible
Market Conduct for the
cleaning and window cleaning sectors in the Netherlands
was introduced by the contract
cleaning association OSB earlier this year. It's the result of a
partnership between a industry
organisations representing clients, employers, employees and
consultants, and is an invitation
to the industry as a whole to
improve its conduct in the context of social responsibility - it
is not compulsory.
The Code appeals to all parties concerned to be aware of
corporate social responsibility, with the overall aim being
to achieve more professional
market competition, improvement of working conditions and
enhancing the quality of production and work.
The cleaning and window cleaning sectors in the
Netherlands employ 150,000
people and achieve a turnover
of 4.3 billion euros. The mar-
ket has seen healthy growth in
recent years but problems have
arisen because of the increasing
focus on cost reduction, to the
detriment of quality of work
and working conditions.
Strike action by cleaners
These conditions led to wellpublicised strike action by
cleaning staff in the first quarter of 2010 - the main focal
points of the disputes were
airport, OSB contract cleaning
association, VMS foundation
for cleaning industry consultants, FMN Facility Management
Netherland, FNV and CNV
trades unions, ROC de Friesche
Poort regional training centre, Erasmus MC University
Medical Centre Rotterdam and
the government.
The first part of the Code
covers good client practice,
whereby those clients inviting
tenders are jointly responsible for the quality of work and
the conditions under which it
is carried out. This requires
them to use the concept of the
most economically favourable
tender as a basis for awarding
contracts, rather than lowest
Realistic tenders
L'Association néerlandaise de la
propreté, OSB, a rédigé du Code de
conduite responsable sur le marché
visant à promouvoir de hautes normes de
professionnalisme, de qualité et d'étiquette
dans le secteur.
Der niederländische
Vertragsreinigungsverband OSB hat
einen Kodex für verantwortungsvolles
Marktverhalten erstellt, um hohe
Standards bei Professionalität,
Qualität und Geschäftsetikette in der
Reinigungsbranche zu fördern.
L’associazione di pulizie in appalto
olandese OSB ha redatto un codice
di condotta per il mercato (Code of
Responsible Market Conduct) nel
tentativo di promuovere alti standard di
professionalità, qualità e di protocollo nel
settore delle pulizie professionali.
22
ECJ November 2011
access must be provided to representatives from recognised
trades unions.
The Code then addresses
contract cleaning companies
in their role as contractor and
employer and covers points
relating to their clients and
staff. Those signing it must
obser ve the greatest possible care when undertaking all
aspects of their work, while
adhering to all applicable legislation. Communication with
clients and employees must be
clear and open. Social aspects
are also covered, in that there
must be no employee dis crimination; staff training and
development should be
encouraged; and there must be
an active health and safety policy in place.
workload, quality of work and
treatment of employees by their
superiors. There was also concern about deterioration of
market relations due to reduced
cleaning budgets, tough
price competition and shortterm contracts.
Committee approach
So a committee was formed
with a view to improving the
overall market situation. This
comprised representatives from
NS (Dutch railways), Schiphol
price. They must also stipulate
to potential contractors compliance with the collective labour
agreement, and with legislation
and regulations - then monitor
that compliance.
Clients also bear some
responsibility for ensuring provision of comfortable working
conditions for the contractor's
staff. There should be regular
dialogue with staff representatives from the service provider
in order to evaluate workload
and working conditions. And
Contractors are also required
to base all tenders on realistic figures and in a way which
allows them to fulfil their obligations in a responsible and
professional way.
Employees are expected to
make their own commitments
under the Code, in that they
must demonstrate dedication
to their work and represent the
sector in a positive way. They
should be willing to undertake
training, observe all relevant
regulations and work in accordance with the client's codes
of conduct.
As far as consultants are
concerned, they are expected
to be objective, transparent
and independent in their conduct, while exercising care in
all procedures.
Associations and other industry organisations are expected
to encourage their members
to subscribe to the Code and
it can be featured in training
courses if relevant. All parties
that have been involved in compiling the Code are expected to
be responsible for enforcing it
and ensuring compliance.
For more details, visit the
website: www.osb.nl
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HAND HYGIENE
S
uddenly, hand sanitisers are being
offered everywhere as a quick and
easy substitute for soap and water.
Following the recent swine flu and
E.coli scares, the presence of hand sanitisers
in hospitals, shopping centres and offices
serves to remind us all of the need for good
hand hygiene. This is obviously a positive
step, but there is a risk that people might
begin to regard them as a 'quick fix' and an
alternative to hand washing. But would this
be such a bad thing?
Global advice on the use of hand sanitisers versus hand washing can be somewhat
vague. The UK’s Health Protection Agency
claims that sanitising gels may be of benefit
when used after a hand wash, but adds they
should not be regarded as a substitute for
soap and water since they may fail to remove
all contamination from the hands.
The Center for Disease Control in the US
also claims clean, running water plus soap
should be used where available, but that a
hand sanitiser containing an alcohol content
of at least 60 per cent may be used instead
where there is no convenient water supply.
However, a recent study in the US indicated that alcohol-based hand sanitisers
may actually increase the risk of Norovirus in
healthcare settings. Staff in long-term care
facilities where Norovirus has been reported
were found to be six times more likely to use
hand sanitisers either to the same degree or
more frequently than they would use soap
and water.
Washing v
sanitising
Some more effective
According to Hagleitner’s washroom
hygiene product manager Nicole Wolfbeisz,
the reason for these findings could lie in
the fact that some hand sanitisers are more
effective than others. “Untrained personnel
may not be aware of which hand sanitisers
are effective against noroviruses and which
aren’t,” she said. “If only partially-virucidal
products are used, staff might think they are
safe from contamination - but may then go
on to spread the virus.”
Hagleitner offers sept LIQUID PLUS, an
alcoholic solution claimed to be effective
against MRSA and Noroviruses, plus a range
of soaps including septFOAMSOAP which is
aimed at hygiene-sensitive areas such as kindergartens and kitchens.
According to Wolfbeisz, sanitisers have
become increasingly important following
recent health scares – and she believes they
can help to prevent mass infection. “A recent
study carried out at the Ernst Moritz Arndt
university in Germany found that administrative employees who sanitised their hands
several times a day reported fewer common
illnesses than their colleagues who did not
use the sanitisers.”
She adds that hand sanitisers provide an
effective, convenient and simple alternative
to hand washing –while also offering economic advantages. “Hand sanitisers avoid
the need for a sink, mountings, water supply,
disposable towels, soap and waste paper,”
she said, “They only need a dispenser which
means that the everyday costs of hand disinfection are lower.”
Wolfbeisz concedes that soap and water
are necessary for cleaning visible dirt from
the hands. “But if hands are already clean it
is better to sanitise than wash since frequent
hand washing can lead to dry hands, especially in the nursing sector,” she said.
However despite all the benefits offered
Hand sanitisers are becoming
increasingly widely used as the
public’s fear of becoming ill
grows higher with each new
health scare. However, a recent
study has linked the use of
hand sanitisers to an increased
risk of Norovirus. So are
sanitisers a good substitute for
soap and water, or aren’t they?
Continued page 26
November 2011 ECJ
25
HAND HYGIENE
by hand sanitisers, Wolfbeisz admits that
they cannot take the place of old-fashioned soap and water. “The Food and Drug
Administration says hand sanitisers may be
used as a supplement - but not as a substitute for hand washing,” she says.
SCA’s product manager hand hygiene
and care Peter Bergman feels that washing the hands with water and a mild soap
and then drying them with a paper towel
is the best choice from a hygiene point of
view. “Washing is the best policy since this
will remove soiling as well as many bacteria
and viruses,” he said. “However, an alcoholbased sanitiser can be a very good substitute
provided your hands are not actually dirty.“
He agrees hand sanitisers offer a number
of advantages: for instance, they can be gentler on the hands than soap and water in
professions where frequent washing is necessary. They also provide a rapid and convenient hand hygiene solution – and one that
can be carried around in the pocket.
depending on the frequency with which hand
hygiene practices are required and the availability of soap, water and towels.”
He says hand sanitisers offer a suitable
alternative for hand washing in certain circumstances. “Wider knowledge and understanding by the public is required to ensure
that sanitisers are seen as a complementary
solution to keeping hands clean,” he said. “I
feel sometimes people believe sanitisers to
be the new replacement for washing and drying. They are more convenient - however they
cannot replace hand washing completely.”
He says sanitisers are a good option in
crowded environments such as on public
transport, in busy offices and airports. “Here
Difficult to kill
“Hand sanitisers can also be very effective
against many bacteria,” he said. “However,
there are some types of viruses – such as the
Norovirus - that are difficult to kill with a
sanitiser so for most situations hand washing
is preferred.“
SCA’s new Tork Antimicrobial Foam
Cleanser is a two-in-one soap and hand sanitiser claimed to destroy bacteria, viruses
and fungi. The company also offers a Tork
Premium alcohol gel hand sanitiser said to
leave the hands 99.9 per cent bacteria free.
Senior segment marketing manager at
Kimberly-Clark Professional Richard Millard
claims that both hand sanitisers and hand
washing have a valid place in a good daily
hand hygiene routine.
“There are occasions where hand washing followed by sanitising is needed, especially in hygiene-critical areas,” he said.
“We believe that good hand washing with
hygienic soap followed by good hand drying
with single use towels is the most effective
method of removing both visible and invisible contamination from the hands. However
it is not always the most practical method,
L'emploi de désinfectants pour les
mains se répand de plus en plus devant
notre crainte de contracter une infection
ou d'être atteints par un virus. Les
désinfectants pour les mains sont
considérés comme se substituant bien
à l'eau et au savon lorsque ceux-ci ne
sont pas disponibles. Néanmoins, il
ressort d'une récente étude que l'emploi
des désinfectants pour les mains peut
entraîner un risque accru de contracter
le Norovirus. Nous examinons le rôle
des désinfectants pour les mains dans
l'application de régimes optimaux
d'hygiène des mains.
26
ECJ November 2011
there is huge potential for hand-to-hand and
surface-to-hand germ transmission and it is
more about what is practical to use,” he said.
Of the recent Norovirus study he said:
“The actual study highlighted in a number of
cases, outbreaks of norovirus occurred more
often at healthcare locations where more
emphasis had been placed on hand sanitising
and less often at locations where hand washing had the greater emphasis.
“As the CDC states in its comments regarding the study, far more work would be needed to prove whether there was an actual link
between the outbreaks and heavier reliance
Händedesinfektionsmittel finden
zunehmend weitere Verbreitung,
da unsere Angst vor Infektionen
und Viren weiter wächst.
Desinfektionsmittel wurden als guter
Ersatz für Seife und Wasser an Orten
anerkannt, wo keine entsprechenden
Einrichtungen nicht verfügbar sind.
Eine vor kurzem durchgeführte
Studie hat jedoch die Verwendung von
Händedesinfektionsmitteln mit einem
erhöhten Risiko einer Ansteckung
mit dem Norovirus in Verbindung
gebracht. Wir untersuchen die Rolle
von Händedesinfektionsmitteln
in den gegenwärtigen optimalen
Handhygieneregimen.
I sanitizzanti per le mani stanno
diventando sempre più comuni perchè
le nostre paure di contrarre un’infezione
o un virus aumentano sempre di più.
I sanitizzanti sono stati riconosciuti
come un buon sostituto per sapone
e acqua dove questi mezzi non sono
disponibili. Ad ogni modo, uno studio
recente ha collegato l’uso di sanitizzanti
per mani a un aumento del rischio
di contrarre il Norovirus. In questo
articolo vediamo il ruolo che hanno
oggi i sanitizzanti nei regimi ottimali
di igiene delle mani.
on sanitisers. It also comments on the efficacy levels of the sanitisers as there are a variety of different types with different effects
on the Norovirus.“
Kimberly-Clark Professional has recently
launched an Alcohol Gel Hand Sanitiser under
the KLEENEX brand claimed to be effective
against the Norovirus.
Vectair’s marketing manager Matthew
Wonnacott claims that both hand washing and hand sanitisers have their place in
a good hand hygiene regime. “If you are
walking around in an open environment and
touch something dirty - such as a park bench
- it would be seen as hygienic to sanitise your
hands with a small dose of hand sanitiser,”
he said. “However, the individual would still
be advised to wash their hands with soap and
water at the first opportunity, especially if
their hands were visibly dirty.”
Vectair offers hand sanitisers and soaps
including the Sanitex Instant Hand Sanitizer
which is claimed to be quick-drying and soft
on the skin.
According to Wonnacott, hand washing
offers several advantages over sanitising.
“Washing hands with soap after using the
toilet and before handling food can reduce
rates of diarrhoea by nearly 50 per cent and
rates of respiratory infection by about 25
per cent,” he said. “Using soap breaks down
the grease and dirt that carry most germs
by facilitating the rubbing and friction that
dislodges them.
“Hand washing with soap, however, does
take a considerable amount more time than
sanitising with gel products, which is why
hand sanitisers are preferred in certain areas
such as outside a hospital ward where people
need a quick ‘fix’.“
Level of protection
Metsä Tissue sales director UK and Ireland
Mark Dewick agrees that sanitisers provide
a good level of protection where access to
soap, water and hand towels are limited. “In
healthcare environments where hygiene is
a minute-by-minute necessity and there is
constant exposure to new hand contamination it is simply not practical to wash and dry
your hands every few minutes,” he said.
“However, a slovenly use of sanitisers can
give a false sense of comfort. Proper methodologies to reach every part of the hand
still need to be followed – a quick drop in the
palm and a token rubbing of the hands is not
good hand hygiene since the sanitiser will
not work if it does not touch all areas.”
He adds that washing the hands according
to proven methodologies and drying them
with a paper towel is still recognised as the
most effective way to reduce bacteria spread.
“Studies prove it time and time again,” he
said. “While sanitisers have a role to play,
going back to basics is still the best solution
wherever possible.”
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PRODUCT S: HAND HYGIENE
For every need
Fr o m Ken ned y Hygiene
Products comes a line of hand
washing dispensers and consumables - from the 350 ml
Alphamouss dispenser with
a three-in-one gel tailored for
hotels, gyms and spas to the 2.5
litre Savona Wopa range available with apricot hand cleaner
soap for industrial applications.
At the heart of the line is
the Savona unit, which can dispense liquid or foam soap and
comes with electronic no-touch
technology as an option. This
model can dispense regular soap,
foam soap lotion, cosmetic hand
lotion, after-work skin conditioner, anti-bacterial soap lotion
and hand sanitising gel.
Tel: sales@kennedy-hygiene.
com. Email: + 44 1825 768143.
Fully virucidal
Disinfection products specialist Aseptix says the virucidal efficacy of ManuGuard, its
line of hand disinfectants for
critical environments, has been
extended. The line of gels and
liquids, available in fragranced
and unfra granced versions,
now carries the full virucidal
claim according to European
Norm EN 14476.
This means they are effective against all enveloped and
non-enveloped viruses includi n g No r o - , H I V- , H B V- ,
S A R S - , In f l u e n z a - , Po l i o and Adenovirus.
Along with broad spectrum
efficacy, the ManuGuard range
of hand disinfectants also
boasts maximum skin friendliness. The ethanol based formulations contain advanced skin
moisturisers which makes them
feel like a cream. They have
been designed specifically to
meet the needs of heavy users
of hand disinfectants.
Tel: +31 294 230 113. Email:
info@aseptix.com
Dry soap
The Sapor concept of hand
hygiene is based on the use of
dry soap. Used in conjunction
with a dispenser, the soap is
grinded into powder according to dosa ge so
each portion is dispensed individually
and hygienically.
The Sapor system
works independent of temperature,
e ven in extreme
heat or cold. Soap in this form
is also said to be extremely
durable and the company says
dry soap is highly skin-friendly.
The dispensers are available
as the plastic Nova model or as
the Standard metal unit.
Tel: +49 201 27989225. Email:
info@sapor.de
• La solution d'hygiène des mains de
Kennedy Hygiene comprend le distributeur
Alphamouss utilisant un gel à trois
composants.
• Aseptix a accru l'efficacité de sa gamme
de désinfectants des mains ManuGuard, à
usage dans des environnements critiques.
• Le principe Sapor repose sur l'emploi
d'un savon sec en poudre avec un appareil
distributeur.
• Zu den Handhygienelösungen von
Kennedy Hygiene gehört der Spender
Alphamouss mit einem Dreifach-Gel.
• Aseptix hat die viruzide Wirkungskraft
von ManuGuard, der Produktreihe mit
Händedesinfektionsmitteln für kritische
Umgebungen, erweitert.
• Das Sapor-Prinzip basiert auf dem
Einsatz von puderförmiger Trockenseife in
Verbindung mit einem Spender.
• Le soluzioni per l’igiene della mani della
Kennedy Hygiene includono il dispenser
Alphamouss che eroga gel tre-in-uno.
• La Aseptix ha potenziato l’efficacia
virucida della sua linea di disinfettanti
per le mani per ambienti a rischio
ManuGuard.
• Il principio della Sapor si basa sull’uso di
sapone secco in polvere in congiunzione con
un dispenser.
November 2011 ECJ
29
PRODUCT S: HAND HYGIENE
• D'après de Symposium européen du
papier-tissu, les serviettes en papier
contribuent à chasser les bactéries quand
on se les frotte sur les mains.
• Les armoires à serviettes Vendor’s IQ
de Vendor International utilisent une
technologie brevetée permettant de faire
l'appoint de serviettes à tout moment.
• Pour améliorer l'hygiène des mains sur le
lieu de travail, Metsä Tissue a introduit le
service de conseil Katrin Hygiene.
• Laut dem European Tissue Symposium
hilft das Trockenreiben der Hände mit
Papierhandtüchern beim Entfernen von
Bakterien.
• Zur Verbesserung der Handhygiene am
Arbeitsplatz und Senkung von Fehlzeiten
hat Metsä Tissue ein neues Servicemodell
mit dem Namen Katrin Hygiene Beratung
eingeführt.
• La European Tissue Symposium afferma
che gli asciugamani in carta aiutano a
rimuovere i batteri grazie allo sfregamento
contro le mani.
• L’unità di asciugamani a distribuzione
continua IQ della Vendor utilizza una
tecnologia brevettata che permette di
rabboccare gli asciugamani in carta in
qualsiasi momento.
• Per migliorare l’igiene delle mani nei
posti di lavoro e per ridurre le assenze per
malattia, la Metsä Tissue ha introdotto il
servizio Katrin Hygiene Consultancy.
30
ECJ November 2011
Dry to prevent bacteria
Ac c o r d i n g t o E T S , t h e
European Tissue Paper Industry
Association, paper hand towels
have physical properties that
allow the removal of bacteria
along with moisture when they
are rubbed against the hands.
Good hand hygiene depends
on both effective hand washing and hand drying, as studies show residual moisture left
on the hands after washing
provides an interface that actually facilitates the transmission
of bacteria.
Te l : + 3 9 0 1 1 8 1 2 8 8 1 0 .
Email: roberto.berardi@
europeantissue.com
Continuous towel
Vendor's IQ continuous towel
cabinet uses patented technology to guaranteed continuous
availability of scrim reinforced
paper towel.
Like a traditional roller towel
dispenser the IQ produces a
‘loop’ of paper towel and uses
a portion control mechanism.
But instead of a
single roll which
needs to be
replaced when
used up, the
towel in the IQ
cabinet can be
topped up with
a new ‘cassette’
of folded paper.
Used towel is rolled up in
the towel cabinet, completely
separated from the new towel
to ensure hygiene is maintained.
There are three models - the
Classic, the Automatic and the
Sensomatic, which provides
a clean towel when a hand is
waved in front of the cabinet.
Tel: +31 13 578 6690. Email:
info@vendorinternational.com
offering a report which is
f o c u s e d a r o u n d s u g g e s te d
changes and improvements.
The company then helps
customers to monitor improvements as suggestions are implemented. When making recommendations the company takes
cost-in-use and environmental
issues into account.
Consulting on hygiene
Metsä also has a new hygiene
education centre - the Katrin
Academy - to train customers
and their employees in hygiene
best practice. Training can also
be delivered on customer sites
if necessary.
Email: katrin_hygiene@
metsätissue.com
The latest initiative f rom
Metsä Tissue is the Katrin
Hygiene Consultancy ser vice - a ser vice model for
inspecting customer facilities,
reviewing current solutions,
rating hygiene levels and
PRODUCT S: HAND HYGIENE
Promoting hygiene
With the launch of its new foam
soap range, Tork manufacturer
SCA says it is making good
hand hygiene practices easier to
carry out.
The range comprises Tork
Antimicrobial Foam Cleanser
- a soap and disinfectant in
one – plus two eco-labelled
foam soaps.
All three products are housed
in a dispenser that has been purpose-designed to allow children
and people with reduced hand
strength to access the soap.
Tork Antimicrobial Foam
Cleanser contains 40 per cent
ethanol to destroy bacteria,
viruses and fungi. It also con-
tains emollient ingredients such
as glycerine and betaine which
means it can be used frequently
on the hands without causing
chapping or soreness.
Tork Extra Mild Foam Soap
is fragrance-free and contains
no sulphates that could irritate
the eyes. Tork Mild Foam Soap
contains natural skin lipids to
prevent dryness.
Tel: +44 1582 677400. Email:
charlotte.branwhite@sca.com
Classic or Green
Stoko Refresh is a line of small,
handy dispensers from Stoko
Skin Care for hand hygiene,
skin cleansing and skin care
products - and also for toilet
seat cleaning products.
One dispenser can handle
lotion, gel, spray or foam - there
is no need to change dispenser
if product requirements change.
Two sizes are available, for
500 ml and 1000 ml bottles.
The company also has a range
of skin cleansers that are certified with the EU Ecolabel:
Stoko Refresh Green Line.
Tel: +49 215 138 1272. Email:
stoko-refresh@evonik.com
Cleans and conditions
The newest addition to the
Dreumex One2clean range is
Wash & Care hand cleanser and
conditioner that eliminates the
need for moisturising creams.
The heavy-duty
paste combines
natural walnut
shell scrubbers
with penetrating moisturisers.
It is effective
for the removal
of tar, grea se,
lubricants, diesel, brake fluid,
cement, etc. The skin care
ingredients it contains include
lanolin, aloe vera, jojoba,
wheat germ extract and vitamins A, C and E.
Available as a three-litre cartridge for use in the One2clean
dispensing system.
Tel: +31 412 406 506. Email:
mail@dreumex.com
• La nouvelle gamme de savons Tork
proposée par SCA comprend un nettoyant
antimicrobien à mousse et deux savons à
label écologique.
• La gamme Stoko Refresh réunit les petits
appareils distributeurs les plus récentes de
Stoko Skin Care.
• Le nettoyant et soin des mains proposé
par Dreumex est destiné aux usages sévères
et comprend aussi un conditionneur.
• Die neue Tork-Produktreihe mit
Schaumseifen von SCA umfasst einen
antimikrobiellen Schaumreiniger
und zwei als umweltfreundlich
gekennzeichnete Seifen.
• Bei Stoko Refresh handelt es sich um
die neueste Produktreihe mit kleinen
Spendern von Stoko Skin Care.
• Der Wash & Care Handreiniger von
Dreumex ist auch für hartnäckigen
Schmutz geeignet und enthält
Feuchtigkeitscreme.
• La nuova gamma di saponi in schiuma
Tork prodotti dalla SCA include
Antimicrobial Foam Cleanser e due saponi
con il marchio eco-label.
• La gamma Stoko Refresh è la linea più
nuova di piccoli dispenser prodotti dalla
Stoko Skin Care.
• Wash & Care Hand Cleanser della
Dreumex è destinato agli usi industriali e
incorpora un ammorbidente per le mani.
November 2011 ECJ
31
HAND HYGIENE
Standardising hand
hygiene compliance
T
he numerous studies that have
taken place worldwide can now
leave us in no doubt about the key
role hand hygiene has to play in
safeguarding us from infection and crosscontamination - whatever the setting. Any
shortfalls in hand hygiene practice are most
acutely highlighted in the healthcare industry of course, where the consequences have
resulted in high instances of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).
So now everyone is convinced about hand
hygiene - how do we ensure healthcare professionals all know how to wash their hands
properly, and wash them to a standard that
adheres with guidelines set out by the World
Health Organisation (WHO)? And equally
important, how to monitor hand washing
practices and maintain those high standards
of compliance?
Glanta, a spin-out company from Trinity
College in Dublin formed just one year ago,
has developed a system based on image
processing technology that actually measures hand hygiene - called Surewash. It was
invented by Professor Gerry Lacey, a senior lecturer at the college. Founder and ceo
Sean Bay explained the thinking behind it.
"Surewash focuses on the technique of hand
washing, and is based on the WHO's standard which involves a number of very definite
steps. Research has proved bacteria count is
at least 50 per cent lower when people wash
their hands properly. What we are offering is
a sustainable training programme with the
aim of a culture change in hand hygiene."
The Surewash training module comes in the
form of a cart on wheels that can be moved
around a hospital from ward to ward. On the
cart is a video screen, where staff stand and
perform the hand washing poses laid down in
the guidelines. The technology in the system
understands the poses the hands are making and is looking for prescribed movements
as laid down in the system's templates. It
also looks for the right kind of motions
being made by the hands, and it can differentiate if there are slight variations on the
correct technique.
The training element takes just five minutes to complete, and when each pose is carried out correctly the user sees a large green
tick on the screen so can move on to the next
one. Sean Bay called on expertise from the
gaming industry when developing the user
interface: "We found that breaking the process down into component parts engages people much more effectively. And giving them
visual feedback when they do it correctly is
motivational - it makes them want to move
on to the next pose."
Surewash also features an assessment
module, which takes just 30 seconds and
can be carried out at regular intervals as
staff pass by the unit. Real-time feedback is
given on hand washing technique and it's
this regularity which Bay feels is another
key element. "Good hand hygiene practice
cannot be delivered with one presentation.
It needs to be consistent and training must
be sustained. Surewash can be used literally
all day, every day. It's an effective source of
quick, repetitive training. And because it can
be placed in the ward, it keeps staff in their
workplace and its speed means they are back
at work as quickly as possible."
Monitoring and reporting
The technology behind Surewash also
means varying degrees of reporting are possible. For example, it can highlight the pose
most staff are having trouble in mastering.
Comparative data is also available, for example between teams of staff, different wards,
etc. Software is available in many languages
and can be updated as necessary with customised/varying messages, explained Bay.
"This keeps staff members engaged and they
can be updated on new messages the hospital management wants to deliver to them
– while also checking, of course, that their
hand hygiene technique is still spot-on."
There are plans in early 2012 to introduce
Surewash Audit, a system whereby small
screens are placed above sinks in hospitals
and hand washing data is analysed far more
closely. "Reporting and data can be customised according to needs and this will offer
hospitals the ability to monitor hand hygiene
ECJ rend compte d'une nouvelle
technologie de dernière technique
pour améliorer la conformité et la
standardisation en matière d'hygiène
des mains, notamment dans des
applications médicales. Il s'agit de la
technologie Surewash, de l'entreprise
Glanta.
ECJ reports on a state-ofthe-art technology aimed
at improving hand hygiene
compliance and standardising
technique in applications
such as healthcare.
practice much more closely, analyse trends
as they emerge and take action on issues of
concern before they become too serious,"
explained Bay.
Having trialled at a number of hospitals
in Ireland and the UK, Glanta is now taking
Surewash to market and is keen to establish
relationships with key players in the hand
hygiene sector - hand soap and paper towel
manufacturers for example. "Surewash is
highly complementary to those products,"
Bay says.
The company is also seeking distribution
for the system across Europe and beyond.
Bay concludes: " We aim to be supportive in helping hygiene professionals achieve
100 per cent in hand hygiene compliance.
Surewash offers the opportunity to have a
single standard hand hygiene protocol."
Contact Sean Bay by email: sean.bay@
surewash.com. Or visit the website: www.
surewash.com
Das ECJ berichtet über SureWash von
Glanta: eine hochmoderne Technologie,
mit der in Anwendungsbereichen wie
dem Gesundheitswesen die Einhaltung
der Handhygiene verbessert und die
Methode standardisiert werden soll.
ECJ fa un relazione su Surewash, una
nuova tecnologia sviluppata da Glanta
molto all’avanguardia e finalizzata a
migliorare le tecniche di conformità e
di standardizzazione dell’igiene delle
mani in applicazioni tipo il settore
sanitario.
November 2011 ECJ
33
PEDRO CHIDICHIMO
A
mong the many burning platforms
of our cleaning and sanitation
industry are operational ef f iciency, people management and
sustainability. Throughout the year, I have
shared with European Cleaning Journal my
experience on these areas, and in this last
edition of the year I would like to focus on
the most critical burning platform for facility
management companies: service quality.
Though marketers of tangible products
define and measure quality with increasing
discipline and precision, their peers in the
service industry still have difficulty in measuring and controlling quality. In my regular
meetings with customers in this industry, I
am often surprised to see some senior executives fail to understand that quality is the
customer’s perception of a delivered service.
The deployment of services – especially
those with heavy reliance on labour – often
differs among employees and customers,
and from day- to-day. In most services in our
industry, quality is defined during delivery of
a service, when there is interaction between
the two human beings: customers and our
personnel. For this reason service quality
is highly dependent on the performance of
employees, an organisational resource that
cannot be managed in the same way the quality of tangible goods is determined.
Profit benefits
My research and personal experience
reveal that delivering high service quality
produces measurable benefits in profit, cost
savings, and market share. Therefore, an
understanding of the nature of service quality and how it is achieved in organisations
is among my top priorities. One important
lesson I have learned is the importance of
developing a service quality model for our
companies, based on five principles:
1. Process consistency - Quality in service delivery must be consistent over time.
Streamlining the cleaning process and teaching it to the service delivery teams through
training on a regular basis ensures quality
results. You need very motivated and capable
people to succeed in service delivery. My
philosophy for cleaning excellence training is
very straightforward: keep it simple, make it
visual, and give a value to it.
2. Standard Tools and methods - I enjoy
working with my iPad as much as any five
year-old. The same principle applies to an
individual in a service-oriented task. Service
delivery teams need three levels of enablers:
first, a harmonised, standard range of work
tools that are best in class, simple and efficient, productive, environmentally friendly
and safe. Second, they require a cleaning
method that is simple and intuitive. Third,
they need the support of key specialists and
training leaders to address specific cases
or issues. The higher price of quality tools,
Excellence in
service delivery
In the last of his exclusive
series of articles for ECJ,
Pedro Chidichimo of
Diversey writes about the
importance of service quality
and customer satisfaction as
components of measurable
profit for a company. He
advocates the development
of a service quality model for
facility management/service
contractor companies, based
on five simple principles.
methods and a supporting structure always
delivers higher quality service deployment.
3. Measurement – Quality in services is
not designed at the manufacturing plant
and then delivered intact to the consumer.
Most services cannot be counted, measured,
inventoried, tested, and verified in advance
of sale to ensure quality delivery. But be
assured that customers are constantly measuring the cost of a company’s service and
the value they get for it. In times of budget constraints, spending control is often
tightly enforced. There is a clear need to
have value reporting mechanisms in place to
prove that not only are personnel checking
the box in the spreadsheet attached to the
toilet door, but are also adding value. This
is achieved through a more complex equation that encompasses a mix of satisfaction/
perception surveys, consistency checks, cost
of service, frequency and independent certifications of quality.
4. Feedback – Communication breakdowns
are always the root cause for misunderstandings. Constant communication between the
leadership at the customer site and the site
Dans le dernier de sa série d'articles
pour ECJ, Pedro Chidichkimo, de
la société Diversey, souligne toute
l'imporance d'une qualité régulière dans
les prestations de services. Il ajoute que
des dispositions de communications
constantes doivent être en place au
sein de la direction, appuyées par un
mécanisme de rapportage efficace.
managers is imperative. Use mechanisms to
collect feedback such as questionnaires and
regular face-to-face meetings. Act upon the
findings immediately, share them with the
customer and with other operations for best
practice cross-fertilisation.
5. Corporate Support – Strong procurement and site-to-site logistics management
from the headquarters is essential. The right
products and tools need to be ready and in
good condition when the service needs to be
delivered. Whether using distributors or outsource fleet management to third parties,
make sure the basics are not overlooked.
Secondly, innovation and sustainability support can enhance customer loyalty when
introduced spontaneously.
Let me close this article and this year by
saying all of our industry’s burning platforms
are there to remind us that customer satisfaction is the most important thing we need
to focus in business. All of my previous articles on sustainability, innovation and people
management were written with a heartfelt
intention to help our industry succeed with
customers. I hope I have achieved that goal.
In seinem abschließenden Artikel für
das ECJ betont Pedro Chidichkimo
(Diversey) die Bedeutung von drei
Aspekten: qualitative Beständigkeit bei
der Serviceerbringung, kontinuierliche
Kommunikation der leitenden
Mitarbeiter und die Erfordernis von
wirksamen Meldemechanismen.
Nel suo ultimo articolo per ECJ,
Pedro Chidichimo della Diversey
enfatizza l’importanza di essere
costanti e consistenti nella qualità dei
servizi e delle comunicazioni costanti
fra i dirigenti, e inoltre l’importanza
della necessità di mettere in atto dei
meccanismi di informazione efficaci.
November 2011 ECJ
35
SWEEPERS
Sweeping changes
In recent years, indoor and
outdoor sweeper technology
has advanced considerably,
making it easier for the
customers to find the right
solution for their sweeping
requirements. Once the
need for sweeping has been
established, the choice for the
most suitable equipment is
driven by a number of criteria
that relate to air quality, safety,
cost of operation, versatility
and sustainability. Latest trends
and developments have created
new applications and benefits explains Tennant in this article
written exclusively for ECJ.
M
echanical sweeping was the
first technology chosen for
large area cleaning. Later
there was migration to scrubbing as hygiene standards increased. There
are still numerous applications where water
can’t be used for hard surface cleaning, eg,
in cement factories or when high-voltage is
used in the production process (aluminium
production), sweeping is generally used to
clean premises. It is also commonly used in
warehouses, parking areas and a variety of
applications where the material or waste of
the production process is dry and not compacted on the floor.
Why choose sweeping for indoor hard
floor cleaning? Or alternatively, why choose
dry sweeping before scrubbing – which is
actually wet sweeping? Depending on the
amount of debris, there are three alternative technologies that can be used to remove
debris: a cylindrical scrubber dryer, a scrubber dryer with a pre-sweep option or a dedicated sweeper can be used. Where the type
of soil requires scrubbing (eg, oily soil), the
sweeping operation removes the debris off
the floor before scrubbing. If the debris were
left on the floor it would get caught in the
squeegee and the result might not be up to
standard, leaving streaked or unsafe floors.
So, sweeping either prepares the floor for
another type of maintenance or delivers the
required finished result. Indeed, depending on the industry segment, sweeping can
result in an acceptable level of clean that
will not require any scrubbing afterwards,
especially when the debris being removed is
similar to ordinary dust, sawdust, sand and
other dry debris.
In certain industries, such as the food
production or handling sector, healthcare
and retail, cleaning standards are being
raised and certain levels of hygiene have to
be attained. In those cases, sweeping alone
will not be enough.
Sweeping – removing debris from the
floor - is typically done with walk-behind or
ride-on sweepers with optional side brushes.
These have long bristles that extend outside
of the machine frame and allow for excellent edge and corner cleaning. The rotating side brush moves the debris in front of
the machine and by its forward motion the
debris comes into contact with the main
broom that rotates against the travel direction. This main brush acts as hundreds of
brooms that throw the debris directly into
the hopper, either by direct throw (for the
larger sweepers) or by overthrow (smaller
sweepers). Once the debris is in the hopper,
the dust has to be contained in the machine.
All sweeper manufacturers use some sort of
filtration system. The latest development
however, is a cyclonic dust control system on
indoor sweepers. This three-stage filtration
system uses a first-stage filter for removing
large debris, a cyclonic pre-filter for smaller
particulates and finally removes the remaining dust (as small as 0.5 micron) from the
airflow in the third stage of the filtration.
Although some manufacturers use water on
the side brooms for indoor sweeping, that
might cause concern for slip-and-fall accidents. On outdoor sweepers (mechanical or
air sweepers) however, this is less of a worry.
There, the latest innovation offers improved
dust containment through atomisation of
water, reducing the amount of water used
and the number of refills per working shift.
When a customer is faced with the decision
to select a dedicated sweeper, the choice
is obviously determined by the particular
sweeping needs and largely influenced by
different aspects that matter to the customer’s specific situation:
Air quality
Indoor air quality can be largely improved
by the sweeping operation. Based on cusContinued page 38
November 2011 ECJ
37
SWEEPERS
With tight budgets for municipalities
there is pressure on cost in use and service.
With the latest electric street sweeper they
purchase the ‘fuel’ upfront (ie, the battery)
knowing that the machine is easily accessible and requires much less maintenance.
There is also considerably less maintenance
on electric utility vehicles - similar to electric
cars - since there is no need for oil change,
engine filter change, etc.
Versatility
tomer requirements, manufacturers today
spend a lot of R&D effort on the development of dust filtration technologies that
maximise dust control while sweeping. The
latest development in this area as described
above is a three-stage filtration system that
provides a longer, more effective air filtration, assisting in containing dust that would
otherwise get into the environment.
In the outdoor or street sweepers segment, we see a similar focus on air filtration
and dust containment. Of course the element
of air quality is important in city centres as
well. In this respect, another development
in street sweepers is the move towards electrical vehicles. The use of battery-driven
machines that can run for a full shift without recharging is important as it enables
municipalities to comply with the ever more
stringent standards for carbon emissions
they are faced with. It helps to make the city
a healthier place to live, work and play in.
Safety
The safety aspect is largely related to the
operator comfort. Here, several innovations
and developments have increased safety
of the sweeping operation. Noise levels of
sweepers have become lower in recent years,
thus reducing the impact not only on the
operator’s well-being but also on the working environment, allowing for sweeping 24/7
and even when people are present. Optional
cabins can also protect the operator from
noise and dust, or falling objects from the
Quelles sont les évolutions les plus
importantes à avoir marqué la
technologie des balayeuses ces dernières
années? Ce rapport ECJ spécial
examine des domaines tels que les
innovations pour la contention de
poussières en intérieur et en éxtérieur
; la réduction du bruit ; la réduction
du coût total de l'exploitation et de
la propriété de ces machines ; et leur
contribution à un environnement
durable. Nous explorons la polyvalence
accrue de ces équipements, marquée par
l'adjonction d'accessoires d'hiver pour
machines de plein air, et d’agencements
supplémentaires pour machines
d'intérieur.
38
ECJ November 2011
environment. These cabins nowadays come
with climate control, air filtration, tilted
steering and adjustable seats that improve
the operator experience considerably.
In terms of handling, the trend is towards
replacing mechanical controls with electronic ones and even one-button operation for
ease of use and productivity.
Developments in outdoor sweepers show a
similar focus on ease of use, noise reduction
and easy maintenance. Electric street sweepers combine these with zero exhaust emissions for unobtrusive use in city centres.
Total cost of ownership
There are several ways in which recent
developments in sweeper technologies assist
customers in reducing the total cost of ownership of their sweeping solution. In itself,
sweeping is less expensive than scrubbing:
there are no water refill cycles that take
time, there is no introduction of a cleaning
medium (water, detergent) and there is no
need to dispose of potentially harmful waste
water, since there is only dry waste.
With easy-access maintenance points and
no-tool brush changes, sweepers are increasingly easier to service, resulting in higher
productivity. Less downtime is also achieved
by the optional bumpers and protection
guards that withstand the most demanding
environments for long machine life. A multiphase filtration system captures more dust
before it reaches the final-stage canister
filter, lowering the need for replacement.
Was sind die wichtigsten
Entwicklungen der letzten
Jahre auf dem Gebiet der
Kehrmaschinentechnologie? Dieser
ECJ-Sonderbericht untersucht
Aspekte wie Innovationen
bei der Stauberfassung in
Innenräumen und Außenbereichen,
Geräuschverminderung, Verminderung
der Gesamtbetriebskosten und
Nachhaltigkeit. Außerdem
betrachten wir die zunehmende
Vielseitigkeit von Geräten, wie z.
B. zusätzliche Winterausrüstungen
für Außenbereichsmodelle
und Zusatzausrüstungen für
Innenraummaschinen.
Quali sono i più importanti sviluppi
nella tecnologia delle spazzatrici che
sono stati ottenuti negli ultimi anni?
Questo rapporto speciale di ECJ prende
in esame aree quali le innovazioni nel
contenenimento della polvere nei luoghi
chiusi e all’aperto; riduzione delle
emissioni di rumore; costo totale della
riduzione del costo di proprietà delle
macchine e sostenibilità. Esploriamo
inoltre la maggiore versatilità delle
attrezzature, per esempio gli accessori
extra per l’inverno per i modelli da
esterno e gli extra per le macchine da
interni.
These days, most sweepers can be tailored
to meet the customer requirements. They can
get exactly what they need for their particular application. Machines can be equipped
with an optional side brush for a wider
sweeping path or with an extra suction wand
for reaching hard to sweep places. Indoors,
they can be used on hard floors, but also
on carpets. Compact sweepers can be used
in a wide variety of places and even move
through doorways and narrow aisles.
Picking up small to big debr is make
sweepers suited for varying environments
and applications.
Lastly, the cabin prepares sweepers for use
in any type of weather conditions, for example when cleaning car parks.
On outdoor sweepers we see an increase
in use of add-on equipment such as a snow
plough or separate scrub option to reach
under benches, as well as other tools to
expand the use of the machine.
Sustainability
The sustainability aspect plays an increasing role in today’s cleaning operation.
Battery-operated sweepers – both indoor
and outdoor - do away with exhaust fumes.
By pre-sweeping or using dust containment
techniques, less water is used in the cleaning
process. In a facility where the soil doesn’t
require scrubbing with water, sweeping will
only result in dry waste. A medium scrubber dryer will easily require the disposal of
around 100 litres of waste water after a shift.
In general, every increase in hygiene
requirements will result in more waste.
If some of the cleaning can be done by
sweeping, at least the disposal cost will be
reduced considerably.
Obviously, recently introduced electric street sweepers can be the sustainable
choice for urban and other outdoor hygiene
as they generate zero exhaust emissions and
use less water for dust control.
All in all, the sweeper segment remains an
important one in the cleaning industry. There
are benefits to be gained from choosing a
sweeper depending on the application, the
floor type and the volume and type of debris.
Many manufacturers continue to focus on
innovating technologies that maximise productivity, increase safety and reduce costs,
all with the sustainability aspect in mind.
professional people
Ultra 100 BS-GS/120 B-G
Ultra 100 BS-GS/120 B-G:
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the convenience and manoeuvrability of small size machines with the performances
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The applied innovative technical solutions and the functional design contribute to
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machine able to meet hard cleaning needs of large areas, being at the same
time extremely user friendly.
For further information visit our web-site www.comac.it
An ISO 9001:2008 Organisation certified by Q.C.B. Italy
PRODUCT S: SWEEPERS
Robust for industry
The KM 130/300 R and KM
150/500 R vacuum sweepers have been developed by
Kärcher for use in the building materials and metal processing industries, foundries and
other applications that generate
a large volume of dirt.
The sweepers can run on diesel, liquefied petroleum gas or
batteries - both models have a
robust steel chassis and hydraulic transmission. The main roller brush mounting is infinitely
variable to enable optimum
cleaning performance while
minimising wear and tear.
Basic operating functions
(drive, sweep, sweep with sidebrush) are selected on a single
rotary switch - the EASY operation concept.
The basic KM 130/300 R has
a sweeping width of 1,300 mm
with one side brush and up to
1,550 mm with two, while the
corresponding figures for the
KM 150/500 R are 1,500 mm
and 1,800 mm.
The KM 150/500 R comes
with an optional third side
brush that is attached on the
right-hand side to an arm that
swivels in all directions for
sweeping in lateral spaces and
on top of steps and ledges. An
optional water spraying system
prevents dust from swirling up
around the side brushes. Finedust covers can be fitted if no
moisture is required.
Tel: +49 7195 14 0. Email:
info@karcher.com
Next edition of ECJ February/March 2012
For Astro turf
A new accessory for sweeping
artificial grass and turf surfaces on sports grounds has
been added by Eureka to its
Compact 1150 sweeper.
This is a dir t container
equipped with a sieve-type bottom, which retains all debris
on sand-filled synthetic grass,
without retaining the sand. The
sand is decompacted and lifted
by the main broom, as well as
all foreign debris, broken-down
fibres, etc. The sand is then
evenly distributed back into
the surface.
Tel: +39 049 9481800. Email:
info@eurekasweepers.com
• Pour les aires dégageant un volume de
saletés important, Kärcher a lancé les
balayeuses aspiratrices KM 130/300 R et
KM 150/500 R.
• Eureka a développé une solution
spécifiquement conçue pour le nettoyage de
gazon artificiel sur sa balayeuse Compact
1150.
• Für Bereiche mit einem hohen
Schmutzaufkommen hat Kärcher die
Kehrsaugmaschinen KM 130/300 R und
KM 150/500 R auf den Markt gebracht.
• Eureka hat eine Lösung speziell zur
Reinigung von Teppichrasen mit der
Kehrmaschine Compact 1150 entwickelt.
• La Kärcher ha lanciato le spazzatrici a
estrazione KM 130/300 R e KM 150/500
R per aree che generano grandi volumi di
sporcizia.
• La Eureka ha sviluppato una soluzione
specifica per la pulizia dell’ Astro turf per
la sua spazzatrice Compact 1150.
40
ECJ November 2011
PRODUCT S: SWEEPERS
Two sweepers in one
The CS140 Twin Action sweeping machine - aimed at urban
and industrial areas - has been
designed by Comac to effect iv e l y o f f e r t wo sweep in g
machines in one.
At t h e h e a r t o f t h e
sweeper is the patented
Tw i n Ac t i o n S y s te m , w h i c h
combines a strong mechanical
action to collect large pieces of
waste with efficient suction for
pick-up of finer dust. This, the
manufacturer claims, reduces
water consumption significantly
while also making it
suitable for use in the most
challenging conditions.
Particular focus was given to
environment and safety in the
machine's development. Water
consumption is low because it
is used in a nebulised state only
to control dust without wetting
the ground. Fuel consumption
and atmospheric emissions have
also been reduced thanks to
the hydraulic system and the
Perkins industrial engine.
Tel: +39 045 877 4222. Email:
com@comac.it
offers area performance of up
to 3,525 square metres per hour.
This high area performance,
says Hako, is possible thanks
to the large 50.5 cm wide main
broom with a diameter of
25 cm. The side brush ensures
thorough cleaning along walls.
There is a choice of quiet
industrial petrol engine or a
maintenance-free battery drive.
The E version of the Hamster
650 comes complete with an onboard charging system and integrated charging cable - meaning
batteries can be recharged at
any time and at any plug socket.
Tel: +49 4531 8060. Email:
info@hako.com
Space and comfort
According to ISAL, its PB 111
sweeper offers modern look
and comfort, despite its small
dimensions. Sweeping width is
1,200 mm, with two side brushes, and performance is up to
8,000 square metres per hour.
The machine is suitable for
indoor cleaning but it has also
been designed to sweep in outdoor areas such as car parks
thanks to its big wheels. Battery
and petrol versions are available and the sweeper can be
equipped with a vacuum cleaner
with flexible hose and lance to
reach inaccessible areas.
Tel: +39 0522 69 4718. Email:
isal@isalsrl.it
Industrial compact
For the cleaning of smaller
and medium-sized areas Hako
has expanded its range of vacuum sweepers with the Hako
Hamster 650. With dimensions
of 68.5 cm wide, this model
• Pour le nettoyage de rues et de zones
industrielles, Comac a introduit le CS140
Twin Action, qui combine l'aspiration et
l'action mécanique.
• La gamme de balayeuses Hako a été étendue
pour inclure la Hamster 650 pour des
superficies petites à moyennes.
• La balayeuse PB 111 de la société Isal traite
jusqu'à 8000 mètres carrés à l'heure et se vend
en deux versions.
• Zur Reinigung von Straßen und
Industrieflächen hat Comac die CS140 Twin
Action vorgestellt, die mechanische Wirkung
mit Saugwirkung verbindet.
• Hako hat das Angebot an Kehrmaschinen
um die Hamster 650 erweitert, die für den
Einsatz auf kleinen und mittelgroßen Flächen
gedacht ist.
• Die in zwei Ausführungen erhältliche
Kehrmaschine PB 111 von Isal kann bis zu
8000 qm pro Stunde kehren.
• Per la pulizia delle strade e delle aree
industriali, la Comac ha introdotto la
macchina CS140 Twin Action, che combina
l’azione meccanica con l’azione aspirante.
• La gamma di spazzatrici della Hako è
stata ampliata con l’aggiunta della macchina
Hamster 650 adatta per la pulizia di aree di
piccole e medie dimensioni.
• La spazzatrice PB 111 della Isal spazza fino
a 8.000 metri quadrati all’ora ed è disponibile
in due versioni.
November 2011 ECJ
41
PRODUCT S: SWEEPERS
• La maîtrise des poussières a été au centre
des préoccupations de Nilfisk dans le
développement de ses dernières balayeuses,
les SR1601/1900/2000.
• Johnston Sweepers a introduits des
ensembles interchangeables d'hiver pour
ses balayeuses de taille moyenne C400 et
compactes CN101.
• La nouvelle balayeuse TR de Factory
Cat est proposée avec l'equipement Turf
Grooming qui convient pour le nettoyage
de gazon artificiel.
• Staubkontrolle spielte für Nilfisk eine
wichtige Rolle bei der Entwicklung
der neuesten Kehrmaschine, der
SR1601/1900/2000.
• Johnston Sweepers hat zwei
austauschbare Winterausrüstungen für die
mittelgroßen C400 und die kleinen CN101
Straßenreinigungsfahrzeuge eingeführt.
• Die neue Kehrmaschine TR von Factory
Cat ist mit einem Turf Grooming-Paket
erhältlich, mit dem sie zur Reinigung von
Teppichrasen umgerüstet werden kann.
• Il contenimento della polvere è stata
la priorità assoluta per la Nilfisk nello
sviluppo delle sue nuove spazzatrici, i
modelli SR1601/1900/2000.
• La Johnston Sweepers ha introdotto
degli accessori invernali intercambiabili
per le sue spazzatrici stradali: C400 di
media grandezza e CN101 compatta.
• La nuova spazzatrice TR della Factory Cat
è disponibile con il kit Turf Grooming che
rende possibile usare la pulizia dell’ Astro turf.
42
ECJ November 2011
Tackling dust control
debris being swept.
Tel: +45 4323 8100. Email:
mail.com@nilfisk-advance.com
Interchangeable packs
Addressing the issue of dust
control on its newest industrial
sweepers, SR1601/1900/2000, is
Nilfisk-Advance with its Five
Stages Dust Control System.
Those stages are: patented
DustGuard at the side brooms;
vacuumised main broom chamber; airflow labyrinth; nanofibre
technology dust filter; and airflow restoration system.
DustGuard tackles dust at
its main sources, which are the
side brooms, though a fine 'fog'
or mist that is applied to suppress dust.
Dust control can be addressed
before dust gets to the filter through an airflow labyrinth,
dust is forced to make three
abrupt directional changes so
that the heavier particles settle
in the hopper with the other
As winter fast approaches,
Johnston Sweepers is aiming
to solve the costly problem of
clearing snow and ice with its
demountable winter packs for
the C400 midsize and CN101
sub compact sweepers.
The interchangeable functions mean machines can double-up as sweepers or snow
clearing vehicles without the
extra expense and storage issues
of holding two separate units.
The packs include a snow
plough for the C400 and a
snow blade and spreader for the
CN101, which Johnston says can
be fitted in around 20 minutes
at the first sign of snow, and
removed just as quickly when
n o r m a l
sweeping
duties are
resumed.
T h e
C400 is
available with a 3,500 mm snow
plough to clear snow from narrow streets and pedestrian
areas where access is limited.
The CN101 pack features a
1,500 mm snow plough at the
front and a grit spreader unit at
the rear, which can be fitted in
10 minutes.
The ne w compact packs
can also be retro-fitted to
both machines.
Tel: +44 1306 884722. Email:
dorking@johnstonsweepers.com
Sweeps sports fields
The new TR sweeper from
Factory Cat is available with
a turf grooming package for the
maintenance of artificial turf.
The TR features increased
airflow and special brooms for
improved performance, and
oversized tyres to work on the
softer surface. Because it is battery powered there is no risk of
damage from hydraulic fluid or
petrol fuel spills.
Tel: +1 262 681 5747. Email:
sean.goff@factorycat.com
Mats
Colour Symphony™
Logomats beyond your
imagination.
For further information contact
matsinfoeurope@milliken.dk or
visit www.millikenwom.com.
WEB MARKETING
Y
ou own or manage a business
devoted to cleaning or cleaning
supplies. Your task list to manage the business is already miles
long. Do you really need to think about web
marketing? After all, it’s not your area of
expertise and your business success has been
largely based in hiring reliable staff and/or
outside consultants who do know what they
are doing. Why wouldn’t web marketing be in
the same category?
Don’t kill the messenger, but the sad news
I have to deliver is that web marketing is in a
different category for two main reasons.
•Businesses - all businesses - now will
live and die in large part by how well they
tame the internet to their business needs.
In the old days, poor decisions on where
you placed advertising would impact your
bottom line, but rarely did they deal a death
knell. In contrast, web advertising done
the wrong way can quickly bankrupt your
company. Similarly, search engine optimisation and website development pursued
blindly or worse can be an enormous drain on
time resources - above and beyond the financial toll.
•Sourcing web marketing talent has
become more difficult because there is a
lot of hot air posing as know-how. And if
you choose to go down the route of building in-house web marketing staff you need
to know that the universe of information
and best practices they need to remain current in is constantly growing and changing.
This usually means that it is only the largest
companies that can afford to keep such an
in-house team of web 'experts' up-to-date
as required.
Actually this brings up what could be
called the third 'reason' on why you need to
know a bit about the web so you can hire and
manage talent wisely. First and foremost you
need to know enough about the web and how
it works today to also know what it cannot do
for your type of business—a subject that web
marketing experts rarely bring to the table.
Source up-to-date talent
For the lion’s share of companies in the
cleaning industry, the answer is to invest
in bringing the internet knowledge base of
those sourcing talent up-to-date so they can
not only source intelligently but manage the
team they have enlisted with the modicum of
web knowledge required.
Without doubt, the single largest problem
when it comes to search engine optimisation
is that out of date search engine optimisation
(SEO) practices are widespread and accepted
as conventional wisdom.
Let’s take the example of the subject line
of most of what I call 'SEO spam'. Because
I am on the other side of the pond where
online marketing had become a major factor
a bit earlier and because I sign up for web
marketing courses, etc to keep in the loop,
I probably receive more of such SEO email
spam than you or most. But perhaps you too
have received an email with a subject line
(and usually the body of the email itself)
that promises you, as it does me, 'top search
engine rankings'.
Continued page 46
In the first article of a new
series written exclusively for
ECJ, Amy Munice of Global
B2B Communications in
the USA offers advice for
businesses on making the most
of their internet activity. Here,
she focuses on marketing and
search engine optimisation.
Getting up to speed
with search engines
November 2011 ECJ
45
WEB MARKETING
“What’s wrong with that?” you say. “That’s
exactly what we want, isn’t it?”
The problem is that 'top search engine
ranking' is more or less fiction. The way
today’s internet works (to use the geeky
terms - 'personalised search algorithms',
'local search algorithms', weight of social
media rankings, etc) means that the search
results your universe of prospects will see
when they 'Google' (or whatever search
engine they use) will vary. What one prospect’s search page number one returns to
them will predictably vary from what another
prospect’s results will return.
Let’s call that example red flag number
one of out-of-date search engine knowledge.
Then I ask: what’s with the laundry lists of
unrelated keyword metatags - all the same
on every web page - with few of them having
anything to do or being mentioned once in
the body of the web page? You find words
like 'sale' or 'service' or 'reliable'. These are
tell-tale signs that understanding is lacking even pre-2009 - on what keywords were and
are. Did somebody really think that a person
would go to his or her search bar and type in
'service' to find their company’s offerings?
That is what a 'keyword' is - the word or
phrase you expect someone to type into their
search bar to find you.
The bigger problem - and a topic to be
elaborated on in great detail in a later article
rightfully so, that keywords and key phrases
are very important? Then they politely ask
you what your keywords are without suggesting that they will do keyword research to
augment and strategise your site’s keywords
throughout the site.
To me it means that they have absolutely
no idea that choosing the best keywords
today depends on having the best mathsbased search engine optimisation tools
at your disposal that will identify these
best keywords.
A variant of this problem is that your SEO
expert presents you with a list of keywords
culled from free Google data. Why is that a
problem? Where is the competitive advantage in using data freely available to you and
all your competitors?
Fresh content critical
Red flag number two of out-of-date SEO
is probably 'keyword metatags'. Take a look
at the page source of your company web site
and that of all your top-of-mind competitors.
Email me: info@globalb2bcommunications.com if you want to know how - it is easy
to do in seconds and available to everyone.)
Whenever I do sampling, at least at the
time of this writing, my sampling shows me
again and again that more than half go to
great pains to list 'keyword metatags'.
"What’s wrong with that?" you ask, as I
was recently by a highly paid SEO advisor.
Firstly, Google’s official spokesperson, Matt
Cutts, tells you not to use keyword metatags.
He did so in 2009 - and those who watch
Google closely will tell you that when such
announcements are made the changes have
been in existence for quite some time.
Dans le premier d'une nouvelle série
d'articles exclusifs pour ECJ, Amy
Munice, de la société Global B2B
Communications, offre des conseils
sur la valorisation par les entreprises
de leur activité sur Internet. Dans le
présent numéro, elle se concentre sur le
marketing et l'optimisation de moteurs
de recherche.
46
ECJ November 2011
- is that these listings of keyword metatags,
while at best doing nothing for your search
engine optimisation efforts, are like a poker
player showing their hand to all opponents
at the table. While keyword metatags do
not 'count' in helping your site be found on
search engines they do tell a savvy competitor a lot about what your business is up to.
Doing anything that aids your competitors’
abilities in web competitive analysis are the
absolute last things you want to do because
web competitive analysis is the main thing
that does matter on today’s web.
Some other tell-tale giveaways of out-ofdate knowledge on search engine optimisation to be heeded by those sourcing SEO
help…
•Continuing with keywords. What does it
mean when your SEO consultant tells you,
Im ersten Artikel einer neuen,
exklusiv für das ECJ verfassten
Serie, bietet Amy Munice von
Global B2B Communications
Unternehmen Ratschläge zur besten
Ausnutzung ihrer Internetpräsenz.
Hierbei konzentriert sie sich auf das
Marketing und die Optimierung von
Suchmaschinen.
Nel primo articolo di una nuova
rubrica curata in esclusiva per ECJ,
Amy Munice della Global B2B
Communications offre consigli per
aiutare le imprese a sfruttare al meglio
le loro attività in internet. Questo
articolo si concentra principalmente
sull’ottimizzazione del marketing e dei
motori di ricerca.
Call it out of date, call it clueless - it will
not help your business get ahead.
Red flag number three - your web designer
presents you with a turnkey site that he or
she has created and declared as 'optimised
for search engines'. Then they give you no
means to add to or change the site.
It is true now and has been true for quite
some time that adding fresh content and
having the means to do so is critical to any
search engine optimisation strategy. Giving
you a static non-expandable website is delivering to you a product that is obsolete upon
the day of delivery.
Red flag number four - when you ask
your SEO consultant what their support
will include, they show you the free Google
reports that are readily available, perhaps
packaged with their SEO company’s logo.
Then, they put a high price tag on what are
essentially one-click reports.
You can pay them to do so, but why? As a
business person, do you think it is a sign of
integrity to take advantage of someone’s
ignorance by giving them an item freely
available and charging them a small fortune
for it? This is obviously a rhetorical question
but I believe it's a very necessary one.
Red flag number five - when you ask, the
SEO consultant cannot tell you how the local
search algorithm, personalised search, social
media, or mobile devices should figure into
your website design or verbiage, and they
more or less avoid the question. And in fact,
the usual way to avoid this question is to
give blanket assurances that they will get
you 'ranked number one'.
There are many more red flags of out-of
-date SEO knowledge. Knowing what not to
purchase does not tell you what to look for.
That will be the subject of the next article in
this series.
•Amy Munice is the founder of Global B2B
Communications and ALM Communications.
Contact her at: info@globalb2bcommunications.com. Tel: +1 +872 222 7361.
Household, Industrial &
Institutional Ingredients
Exhibition & Conference
Household, institutional and industrial cleaning products have to
fulfil many different requirements depending on the application.
More recently, escalating raw material costs have added further
pressures in the search for effective ingredients.
Selection of appropriate ingredients and skillful formulation are a
prerequisite for the development of more innovative, cost-effective
products. Growing regulatory requirements and health, safety and
environmental drivers can restrict the choice of ingredients
available to formulators, providing a major challenge to innovate
and maintain product performance.
H3i will address many of these issues and more in an exhibition,
supplier product profiles presented by selected exhibitors and the
BACS H3i Seminars, a range of technical presentations on highly
topical issues.
For all enquiries visit www.h3iformulate.co.uk
The Formulators’ Event
29 February – 1 March 2012
NMM Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, UK
In association with the British Association
for Chemical Specialities (BACS)
Babyminder® tables have
been tested to and exceed
these safety standards:
EN12221, EN12221-1:2008,
EN1729-2 (2006), EN15372
(2008)
®
It’s time for a change
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In a league of its’ ozone...
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BUSINESS: NEWS
German ELENA
database closes
T H E G E R M A N Fe d e r a l
Economics Ministr y and
the Ministr y of Labour has
announced it is to close the
controversial Electronic Wage
Verification System (ELENA).
This database is operated by
the state pensions agency and
requires employers to submit
data about pay, work absence,
reasons for dismissal and disciplinary action. It was created
to streamline the approval and
administration of state welfare
benefits such as unemployment compensation, education
support and child allowances,
and reduce the overall level
of paper work demanded
from employers.
But the system became the
target for privacy rights groups
and its development costs escalated. Since ELENA went live
employers have also submitted
over 500 million reports and
clocked up more time in maintaining the system than under
the former manual procedures.
Looking for more info on
important topics? Search
back issues of ECJ online
at www.europeancleaning
journal.com
Late payment
implementation
EU MEMBER states are to
be asked to pursue early transposition into national law of
the late payments directive,
scheduled initially for 2013.
European Commission vicepresident Antonio Tajani made
the announcement recently.
Delays in payments have long
been an issue of concern for
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially since
disruption to cash flow can
mean the difference between
solvency and bankruptcy. This
challenge of late payments is
b e co m i n g e v e n g r e a te r i n
the current economic climate
as payment delays grow and
other sources of finance are
drying up.
Europeans overwhelmingly
against immigration
A N I N T E R N AT I O N A L
survey of 23 countries by Ipsos
has found opposition to immigration in numerous countries
across the world, with majorities often considering its effects
to be negative and its scale
excessive. European nations
were typical of this trend.
Majorities in countries as
diverse as Germany, South
Africa, Russia, Turkey and the
United States were found to
consider immigration to have a
"very or fairly negative impact".
Anti-immigration sentiment was particularly strong in
Europe, with over 65 per cent of
Spaniards, Italians and British
polled strongly or partly agreeing that "there are too many
immigrants in our country".
Sweden and Poland were the
only European countries surveyed that did not have majorities who considered immigration to have a negative impact.
In no country did a majority
consider immigration to have
been beneficial.
Ma j o r i t i e s i n m o s t E U
countries sur veyed a greed
that immigration had made it
more difficult for citizens to
find employment and "placed
too much pressure on public
services," such as health care
and education.
Anti-immigrant sentiment has
put significant strain on freedom of movement within the
EU. In August, the European
Commission approved Spain's
measures to exclude Romanian
workers from its labour market.
The Spanish unemployment
rate is by far the highest in the
EU at 21 per cent.
Controls criticised
The Dutch and Danish governments, whose parliamentary
majorities are dependent on the
support of far-right anti-immigrant parties, have pushed particularly hard to limit immigration. In the case of Denmark,
the unilateral imposition of
new border controls was harshly criticised by the European
Commission and Germany.
While anti-immigration sentiment, according to the poll, is
broadly shared across Europe,
there are significant national
differences. The number of foreigners in some countries, particularly Belgium, France and
Germany, has grown relatively
slowly over the past decade or
has even declined.
Other countries, often traditionally lands of emigration,
have seen spectacular increases
in foreign residents. According
to Eurostat, between 1999 and
The future is small business,
says influential think tank
POLICYMAKERS should
prepare for a future in which
big manufacturing business
no longer exists and has been
replaced by a string of ‘micromultinational' SMEs, according
to a policy brief from an influential European think tank.
The brief by the Lisbon
Council claims the 20th century logic that required large
foreign talent pools to achieve a
global reach has been "stood
on its head" and larger companies are now bogged
down in bureaucracy and overstaffing, with slow decision-
making processes.
"The result is that large companies are under pressure to
deliver more with less - a fact
which may well account for the
jobless economic recovery we
have seen in 2010 and 2011," the
brief says, claiming such large
companies will be incapable of
delivering the jobs that politicians hope for.
By contrast, it claims SMEs
that use the inter net and
new business platforms can
enter the global markets with
a minimum of bureaucracy
and overheads.
2010 their numbers increased
from 1.2 million to 4.2 million
in Italy, from less than 120,000
to 420,000 in Ireland, and from
650,000 to 5.7 million in Spain.
• Un sondage effectué dans 23 pays a
montré que l'immigration suscite des
oppositions dans de nombreux pays du
monde.
• D'après un groupe de réflexion européen,
les décideurs politiques ont à se préparer
à un avenir où il n'y aura plus de grandes
entreprises manufacturières car elles
seront remplacées par des "PME micromultinationale".
• ELENA, une base de données qui a
suscité de vives polémiques en Allemagne
parce qu'elle faisait obligation à des
employeurs dans ce pays de soumettre
diverses données sur leurs salariés, sera
mise hors service.
• Les Etats membres de l'UE sont invités à
avancer la transposition en droit national
de la directive relative aux paiements en
retard. A l'origine, ce texte devait passer
dans les législations nationales en 2013.
•Eine internationale, in 23 Ländern
durchgeführte Umfrage ergab, dass die
Immigration in zahlreichen Ländern der
Welt auf Ablehnung stößt.
• Laut einer europäischen
Expertenkommission sollten sich
politische Entscheidungsträger auf
eine Zukunft vorbereiten, in der große
Fertigungsbetriebe durch eine Vielzahl
von „mikro-multinationalen“ KMUs
ersetzten wurden.
• In Deutschland wird das äußerst
umstrittene ELENA-Verfahren, wonach
Arbeitgeber verschiedene Daten über
Mitarbeiter an die Zentrale Speicherstelle
melden müssen, eingestellt.
• Die EU-Mitgliedstaaten wurden
angewiesen, eine frühzeitige Umsetzung
der Richtlinie gegen Zahlungsverzug in
nationales Recht anzustreben. Sie war
ursprünglich für 2013 geplant.
• Un sondaggio internazionale effettuato
in 23 nazioni ha rivelato opposizione nei
confronti dell’emigrazione in numerose
nazioni di tutto il mondo.
• I decisionisti dovrebbero prepararsi
per un futuro nel quale non esisteranno
più grandi imprese di produzione ma
che verranno rimpiazzate da una
serie di medie e piccole imprese ‘micromultinazionali ’ (in inglese SME) come
dichiara un gruppo di esperti europei.
• In Germania, il tanto controverso
database ELENA, che richiedeva ai
datori di lavoro di inserire numerosi dati
relativi al personale, sta per chiudere.
• Gli stati membri dell’EU sono stati
avvisati to pursue early transposition
of the late payments directive in legge
nazionale – iniziamente programmata
per il 2013.
November 2011 ECJ
49
BUSINESS: FINANCE
In need
of cash
The banks stand accused
of starving SMEs of the
finance they need for their
own futures and to help get
Europe back on its feet.
Hartley Milner explores
how the money-supply crisis
is impacting on smaller
businesses and what is being
done to help them.
E
urope is looking to rally its vast
army of small to medium size
enterprises in the fight back from
the deepest and most destructive
financial crisis since the 1930s. In return,
businesses are calling on politicians to better equip them for the fray with tax cuts, less
restrictive regulation and red tape, help with
training, job creation and finding new markets, and measures to promote innovation
and entrepreneurship.
But by far their loudest shout is for
improved access to finance. Credit streams
are fast drying up as the banks are battered
by sovereign debt worries and the rising cost
of servicing their own borrowing. Any money
they do release tends to favour larger firms,
which are seen as a safer bet.
Figures from the European Commission
show the proportion of unsuccessful loan
applications rose between 2007 and 2010 in
19 of the 20 member states for which data is
available. With the banks’ woes deepening
across the continent, indicators only point to
the lending crisis deepening.
So it comes as no surprise that surveys
show growing pessimism among Europe’s
SMEs, which make up more than 99 per cent
of the region’s business community. They
accuse the banks of stifling their growth,
bringing on cash flow headaches and costing
jobs, as well as holding back the recovery.
One small company that went to its bank
but was shown the door is HC&MS, which
Les PME et les entrepreneurs qui les
dirigent sont soucieux de jouer leur rôle
dans le reprise économique de l'Europe,
mais en sont retenus par un manque de
financements. Hartley Milner, rédacteur
d'ECJ, examine leurs difficultés et les
interventions en cours pour les aider.
50
ECJ November 2011
employs 12 people servicing 16 regular
cleaning contracts in south-east England.
Operations director Darren Grace said times
were “tight”, but the company was in control
of its cash flow and solvent, though it has
had to lose one employee. It faces familiar
challenges in our industry – having to find
cash for cleaning products, fuel, advertising,
accountancy, etc, with less work coming in.
In August, the firm applied to Lloyds TSB
for a loan of almost 12,000 euros to finance
an advertising campaign and equipment
upgrade. “The bank said they were not prepared to lend to us because we had been
with them for under a year, even although
our accounts showed that we were a profitmaking company,” Grace explained. “I asked
to apply again in two months when we would
have been with them for a year, but they said
we couldn’t re-apply for six months. I think
they were just placing hurdles in front of us.
“As a small business we do want to grow,
but it is frustrating when we are held back.
We don’t have the means to finance expansion and that’s why we look to the banks. But
the banks have gone from one extreme to the
other. They lent large sums of money to people who had no way of paying it back and now
they’re depriving decent, hard working small
businessmen of the means to expand."
Bank pledges
Lloyds TSB told the ECJ that small businesses were at the core of its activities. Emile
Abu-Shakra of its commercial division said:
“We are absolutely confident that we are
lending to businesses, though there are good
reasons why we are not able to provide the
original type of funding requested from time
to time. Even then, we may be able to look at
alternative forms of finance.”
The bank pledges to help 100,000 startups every year with funding and other support in line with its small business charter.
In the year to June, it had actually backed
167,000 new ventures.
But more help is urgently needed, according to Andrea Benassi, secretary general
of the European Association of Craft, Small
and Medium-sized Enterprises. “SMEs across
Europe are very heterogeneous, ranging
from very traditional, family-run businesses
to high-tech and fast growing enterprises and start-ups. To address their specific
financing needs, there is no ‘one size fits all’
answer,” he said. “Therefore, a broad range
of tailored financial programmes and instruments is needed to provide targeted support
to Europe’s SMEs and help to improve their
access to finance.”
KMUs und die sie leitenden
Unternehmer möchten ihren Anteil zum
wirtschaftlichen Aufschwung Europas
beitragen, fühlen sich jedoch durch einen
Mangel an Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten
behindert. ECJ-Korrespondent Hartley
Milner untersucht ihre Misere und was zu
ihrer Hilfe unternommen wird.
Le piccole e medie imprese (SME) e gli
imprenditori che le gestiscono desiderano
ardentemente fare la loro parte nella ripresa
dell’economia in Europa, ma vengono frenati
dalla mancanza di opzioni finaziarie. Il
corrispondente di ECJ Hartley Milner
esamina la loro difficile situazione e i mezzi
in atto per venire loro in aiuto.
The European Commission says it is
responding to these calls with initiatives
to guarantee loans from financial institutions. These include the Competitiveness and
Innovation Framework Programme (CIP),
which has a budget of more than one billion
euros to provide access to finance for up to
400,000 SMEs until 2013.
More than 140,000 loans have been handed out since the programme got underway in
2007, the majority going to help start-ups,
the Commission says.
Richard Pelly, chief executive of the
European Investment Fund (EIF) which manages the programme, said: “Every euro of
funding under the CIP guarantee facility has
translated into 17 euros of SME loans; this is
a good indicator for the broad impact of the
programme which should be maintained in
the next financial framework.”
The Joint European Resources for Micro
to Medium Enterprises initiative enables
member states to use their structural EU
funding to finance small and medium-sized
businesses via equity, loans or guarantees
through a ‘revolving’ holding fund. To make
this sustainable, loan repayments to financial intermediaries are recycled to provide
further lending.
A more recent stimulus, the First Loss
Portfolio Guarantee, has already had an
impact on lending, according to the EIF, and
it says it is now launching a risk-sharing pilot
scheme to meet the financing needs of highly innovative SMEs and expanding its range
of venture and growth capital instruments.
The EC is also seeking to grow Europe’s
network of 75,000 ‘business angels’, who
invest their own money and experience in
start-ups they find promising. The angels
invested three billion euros in 2006 alone.
Funding and support for entrepreneurs
were key features of European SME Week last
month. Conferences, workshops, exhibitions and advice sessions were held across
37 countries in line with the Small Business
Act for Europe. Since the act was adopted in
2008, the Commission says “considerable”
progress has been made to help businesses,
with measures including public authorities
required to pay suppliers within 30 days.
Other EU funding sources include:
•The Seventh Framework Programme for
Research and Development – support for
applied research and the commercialisation
of the results
•PROGRESS programme (to 2013) –
micro-credit for small firms and people who
have lost their jobs and want to start their
own businesses
•Grants – for projects or organisations
that promote the interests of the EU or contribute to the implementation of EU programmes or policies.
For more about EU funding, go to www.
ec.europa.eu/youreurope/business
Shopster System
Equipe System
·
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Endless configuration possibilities.
The modular cleaning trolley that is one-by-one fitted
to your needs.
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Change attachments quick and easy without tools.
Maximum number of cleaning methods on the
minimum size of a trolley.
Scandic System
Orbit System
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waste disposal.
The perfect trolley for every cleaning task.
All the VERMOP trolley systems offer a range of different trolleys to cater every need.
Find more information on the VERMOP trolleys in our catalogue and on our website.
VERMOP Deutschland GmbH Tel. + 49 9342 878-800 info@vermop.com www.vermop.com
TROLLEYS
Which trolley
goes where?
C
leaning trolleys are ingenious
inventions. They are sufficiently lightweight and easy to push
while also housing a wide variety
of tools, chemicals and waste disposal facilities. A trolley’s configuration will depend
greatly on the environment in which it is to
be used. When cleaning a small room that is
a short distance from the cleaning cupboard,
for instance, the trolley will be a simple affair
housing only a few essentials.
But where long distances are involved and
complex cleaning operations need to be carried out, the configuration of the trolley
will be more of a juggling act. It should not
run out of supplies, since repeated trips to
the cleaning cupboard will be costly from a
labour point of view. However, if the trolley is too heavy to push it could slow down
the operator - and even lead to back or skeletal injuries.
So, how does the configuration of a trolley differ from environment to environment?
And which are the hardest sectors for which
to provide trolleys?
According to Crisp Clean Services’ design
manager Dave Hudsmith the type of flooring
present and the level of hygiene required play
major roles in determining the type of cleaning system to use. “Carpeted office areas,
for example, need no mopping systems but
do require waste collection facilities and a
vacuum cleaner,” he said. “Hospitals tend to
require a flat mopping system either in the
form of a double bucket wringer or a dosing
system that uses a clean mop for every 10 to
20 square metres.
“Hospitals also often require segregated
waste collection, whereas heavily soiled areas
such as school entrances and passageways
are ideally suited to a flat mop double bucket
system since this will be highly effective at
removing large amounts of soil.”
Another consideration will be the impression the trolley is likely to make on the public
– and whether this matters, he adds. “Public
areas often demand that the trolley does not
become an eyesore or that harmful chemicals are secured out of view,” he said. “For
this reason, part or fully-enclosed trolleys
What is the ideal configuration for a cleaning trolley in an office,
a school or a hospital? Ann Laffeaty asks trolley manufacturers
how they adapt their products to fit specific locations.
have often become a prerequisite. However
the underlying trolley configuration can be
broken down into the same basic elements
according to the cleaning method, storage
and waste requirement.”
In restricted access areas trolleys also
need to be as small, lightweight and as
manoeuvrable as possible says Hudsmith.
“The addition of large fixed wheels at the rear
of a trolley to enable it to be taken upstairs is
another typical requirement,” he said.
Crisp Clean Services offers a range of trolleys from a simple single bucket flat mopping
system to a multi-function trolley that can
carry several mops and segregate various
different forms of waste.
According to Hudsmith, one aspect of a
Continued page 54
November 2011 ECJ
53
TROLLEYS
trolley system that is often overlooked is
the material used in its construction. “In a
hospital environment it is astonishing to see
the condition of some plastic-based trolley
systems being taken onto wards,” he said.
“The plastic quickly accumulates dirt, germs
and bacteria and the complexity of some of
the mouldings makes cleaning the trolleys
practically impossible. In these situations a
stainless steel frame offers a much simpler
construction with the clear advantage that it
is capable of being cleaned and sterilised.”
Vileda’s technical services group manager
Jorg Dunkel agrees hospitals need to be supplied with trolleys that have a metal frame
with no dirt traps. However, he claims hospitals are among the easiest sectors for which
to provide a trolley solution. “In public areas
such as hospitals and airports the customer
understands the need for a trolley which
means the cleaning system will be very well
organised,” he said.
Configured to suit needs
According to Dunkel it is important that
a trolley should be configured to suit the
needs of the individual cleaning site. “If the
customer decides to use pre-prepared mops
in place of the mop-and-bucket method the
trolley will look very different,” he said.
“Also, if there are carpets on the cleaning
site – say in an office or hotel - then the
wheels must be bigger, otherwise too much
force is needed to push the trolley. Covered
trolleys also create a better impression in a
hotel or office.
“It is also important to consider the wastecollection system in a trolley configuration,
and whether it needs to fulfil transportation
tasks such as bringing paper towels, toilet
paper and soaps on to the site.“
He says a compromise is often required
between providing a full range of cleaning
products and limiting the size of the trolley
to make it sufficiently compact to store. “In
a hospital the main focus will be on cleaning,
whereas in an office it is often hard to find
sufficient storage space in the building for
trolleys,” he said.
Vileda’s Origo 500 modular series is said
to allow for up to 1.2 million different trolley
configurations. The company’s latest developments include covered trolleys and lockable boxes. “Covered trolleys are becoming
more and more important as an increasing
Quelle est la configuration idéale
d'un chariot de nettoyage pour
un établissement scolaire ? Un
supermarché ? Un bureau, et un hôpital
? Que font les fabricants pour adapter
ces équipements à des environnements
aux accès limités ou impliquant
l'exécution de tâches de nettoyage
spécifalisées ? Nous interrogeons des
fabricants de chariots de nettoyage sur
les secteurs qui sont les plus difficiles à
satisfaire dans leur métier.
54
ECJ November 2011
number of customers move towards daytime
cleaning,” said Dunkel. “A covered trolley
also creates a better impression in an office
and can also help to prevent the misuse of
detergent in a care home for example.”
He says other environments where specialist trolleys are required include operating
theatres - where trolleys need to be particularly compact – and clean rooms in the pharmaceutical industry. “Here we offer stainless
steel trolleys that can be autoclaved.”
According to marketing manager of Tecno
Trolley Systems Paola Zorzo all sectors have
their own specific needs but flexibility plays
an important role. “No sector poses a major
challenge when it comes to providing a trolley: this is what we continue to invest in R&D
for,” he said. “By listening to the needs of
the end-users and pulling together the work
procedures in their sector we can come up
with the trolley configuration for them.”
He says clearly-segregated recycling, storage and cleaning sections are constants that
need to be considered in any trolley configuration. “These areas should be able to
be closed off from one another whether by
drawers, doors and sides,” he said. “Lids,
doors and drawers should also be lockable
using just one removable key to allow the
operator to protect all substances and working equipment.”
He said there is a growing trend towards
the 'one-trolley-f its-all' approach. “Our
Magic trolley has many combinations to
allow the operator to create their ideal trol-
Wie sieht der ideale Aufbau eines
Reinigungswagens für den Einsatz in
einer Schule, einem Supermarkt, einem
Büro und einem Krankenhaus aus? Wie
werden Wagen von den Herstellern
an Umgebungen mit beschränktem
Zugang oder in denen spezielle
Reinigungsaufgaben ausgeführt
werden müssen angepasst? Wir
befragen Hersteller, welche Bereiche am
schwierigsten mit Reinigungswagen zu
versorgen sind.
Qual è la configurazione ideali per
un carrello di pulizia da usare in una
scuola? In un supermercato? In un
ufficio o in un ospedale? Come fanno i
produttori ad adattare i loro carrelli
agli ambienti dove l’accesso è limitato
o dove devono essere eseguiti dei lavori
di pulizia specializzata? Chiediamo
ai produttori quali sono i settori
che presentano più difficoltà nella
fornitura dei carrelli.
leys for disinfecting, cleaning and maintenance needs,” he said. “The trolley can also
comprise a separated waste collection and
a transport-managing linen service plus
almost any other application.”
According to IPC Ready System’s sales
director Mariano Adriano it is difficult to
configure a trolley for a specific environment
or industry. “The configuration will change
depending on the different habits and needs
of every country,” he said.
However, he adds that there are some general considerations to be made in specific
sectors. “Hygiene is of course a major factor
when configuring a hospital trolley since
the contamination risk is very high,” he
said. “The trolley here would mainly be used
for quickly disinfecting contaminated areas
so there would either be a microfibre mop
replacement system together with a Velcro
tool, or a standard mop replacement with
pockets made of polyester-cotton yarn.
“The trolley would also need to have handles made from fibreglass/aluminium and the
material used to produce the trolley’s plastic
components should be anti-bacterial.”
IPC Ready System’s HDS Suite features
antibacterial plastic products for the healthcare sector. The company also offers the DS
Drop pre-treated mop system.
In a school or supermarket, says Adriano,
the trolley system would need to include
separate areas for clean and dirty water and
for detergents. “Trays might also be useful to
contain cleaning products such as cloths and
microfibre mop replacements,” he said. “We
would also suggest a 120 litre bag support
with compartment for refuse with its own lid.
This is for aesthetic and security reasons and
to avoid the spread of bad smells.” He says
useful accessories in a school or supermarket
would include handles for dust and wet flat
mops, Kentucky mops, a multi-purpose clamp
and a wet-floor sign.
A similar trolley configuration would work
in an office, he says, though here he would
suggest the addition of waste and recycling
compartments for collecting rubbish from
individual desk bins.
According to Adriano, IPC Ready System
trolleys can be adapted to suit any environment including clean rooms where equipment
that produces no static energy is required.
“Aluminium frames with Velcro and disposable mop replacements would be the recommended solution here,” he said.
He adds that the most difficult market
for which to provide trolleys is the contract
cleaning sector. “In order to keep costs low
and be more competitive while also increasing their profit, the cleaning sector restricts
our efforts to create professional cleaning
systems,” he said. “The biggest challenge is
letting our customers understand that they
should evaluate the product first – and then
the price.”
PRODUCT S: TROLLEYS
• La gamme de chariots de nettoyage
Alpha de Filmop est dotée d'un panier
supérieur verrouillable pour un maximum
de sécurité, sûreté et hygiène.
• Splast a développé une boîte de
désinfection remplie de têtes de balayage
humide imprégnées pour ses chariots de
nettoyage.
• Vermop propose le Shopster Stairs, un
nouveau chariot de nettoyage capable de
négocier des escaliers pour atteindre des
zones difficiles d'accès.
• MagicArt est la nouvelle gamme de
chariots de nettoyage pour l'hôtellerie
proposée par TTS. Elle se distingue par un
design contemporain.
• IPC Euromop a introduit un plateau
verrouillage à couvercle et à clé dans sa
gammes de chariots.
• Les chariots Crisp Clean sont fabriqués
en acier inoxydable et peuvent être
personnalisés selon les applications.
• Die Reinigungswagen der Produktreihe
Alpha von Filmop bieten durch
einen abschließbaren Aufsatzkorb
optimale Sicherheit sowie Arbeits- und
Gesundheitsschutz.
• Splast hat einen mit imprägnierten
Moppköpfen gefüllten Desinfektionskasten
zum Einsatz mit seinem
Reinigungswagensystem entwickelt.
• Neu von Vermop ist der treppengängige
Reinigungswagen Shopster Treppe, der
leichtes Arbeiten in Bereichen, die bisher
schwer erreichbar waren, ermöglicht.
• Bei MagicArt handelt es sich um die neue
Produktreihe mit Hotel-Reinigungswagen
von TTS im zeitgenössischen Design.
• IPC Euromop hat Antares, die
Produktreihe mit Reinigungswagen, um
eine Ausführung mit abschließbarem
Deckel erweitert.
• Crisp Clean Reinigungswagen
werden aus rostfreiem Edelstahl
hergestellt und können dem jeweiligen
Verwendungszweck angepasst werden.
Safety priority
designed for use in high traffic
areas such as hospitals, airports
and stations, or in areas where
the air may be polluted (laboratories, factories and heavy
industry for example).
The new trays are available
with closed-end bottom to store
buckets, detergents, cloths or
other materials; or with an open
Safety in the workplace has been
a major priority for Filmop in
the development of its trolley
products. The Alpha line, for
example, offers a number of
options for locking away chemicals or potentially dangerous
cleaning tools such as scrapers.
Systems can incorporate a
central cabinet accessible via a
lockable door or drawers. The
most recent innovation in this
area is the lockable top basket,
which allows operators to lock
away smaller four- or eight-litre buckets that would usually
sit on top of open trolleys - full
of potentially dangerous chemical solution.
The top basket can also hold
spray bottles thanks to a special insert that keeps them in
an upright position, and easy
to access. The basket is locked
using a lid with removable key.
Tel: +39 049 932 5066. Email:
filmop@filmop.com
tions of a conventional cleaning
trolley with the footprint of a
double bucket model.
The Shopster Stairs can negotiate steps, which makes it suitable for working in hard-to-access
areas. For the operator, going up
and down stairs is not a problem
thanks to two large 200 mm castors and the height-adjustable
ergonomic steering handle.
This new trolley can be configured using Vermop's Shopster
Configurator and it can accommodate all conventional floor
cleaning methods.
Tel: +49 8105 77 88 9 100.
Email: info@vermop.com
Marketing tool
Rust free
Easy disinfection
• La linea di carrelli per le pulizie Alpha
della Filmop è dotata di un cestello
superiore che si può chiudere a chiave per
la massima sicurezza.
• La Splast ha sviluppato un secchio
di disinfezione contenente mop preimpregnati per essere usati con i suoi
sistemi di carrelli.
• La novità della Vermop è il carrello
Shopster Stairs, in grado di superare le
scale per accedere alle aree difficili da
raggiungere.
• MagicArt è la nuova linea di carrelli
per le pulizie dal design contemporaneo
prodotti dalla TTS.
• La IPC Euromop ha aggiunto alla sua
gamma di carrelli Antares un vassoio con
coperchio che può essere chiuso a chiave.
• I carrelli Crisp Clean trolleys sono
prodotti in acciaio inossidabile che non
arrugginisce e possono essere personalizzati
in base alle necessità di utilizzo.
56
ECJ November 2011
bottom which is suitable for
storing a 120-litre waste bag or
other bulky tools.
T h e c o m p a n y 's A l l In
Evolution trolley systems boast
maximum security, wide 20-litre
drawers for storing disposable
gloves, toilet tissue, cleaning
cloths, chemicals, etc, or a grid
for mop impregnation.
Tel: +39 049 9325075. Email:
info@euromop.com
New from Splast is a disinfection box for use on trolleys to
hold impregnated mops for wet
cleaning. The box holds up to 15
40 cm or 12 50 cm mop heads.
Tel: +48 13 435 21 43. Email:
mop@splast.com.pl
MagicArt is the new range of
hotel cleaning trolleys from
TTS - the company says they
incorporate Italian design
and elegance to make them a
powerful communication
and marketing tool for any
hotel housekeeper.
Seven collections are available and trolleys can also be
customised with logos or any
other illustrations.
Tel: +39 049 93 00 710. Email:
info@ttsystem.com
Up the stairs
Under lock and key
The newest addition to
Vermop's Shopster cleaning
trolley range is the Shopster
Stairs, which boasts all the func-
The newest accessory for the
Antares trol ley f rom IPC
E u ro m o p i s t h e c l o s e d
tray with lid and key. This is
All trolley ranges produced by
Crisp Clean Services are produced from rust-free stainless
steel - claimed to be easy to clean
and maintain as well as being
strong and easy to manoeuvre.
W i t h
t h e m a rket moving
increasingly
towards
customised
systems
the company has
developed
its capability to cater for customers' individual requirements. The degree
of customisation can vary from
simply needing to include additional waste facilities for used
mops and cloths, incorporating
height adjustment for waste storage, buckets and pushing handles through to the design and
development of complete new
trolley systems.
Tel: +44 1458 250385. Email:
info@crispclean.co.uk
WORKFORCE: CLEANERS' RIGHT S
Campaigning for
T
he cleaning sector in Ireland is
remarkably diverse in that it
employs people from many countries around the world - there
are over 20 nationalities in Dublin alone.
Representing staff in the cleaning industry is
the trades union SIPTU, based in the capital
city, and earlier this year it decided to target
the sector specifically with a campaign that
became known as Fair Deal for Cleaners.
ECJ visited the SIPTU headquarters to find
out more about the background to the campaign, and how it attracted media attention throughout the country. The campaign
organiser is Ethel Buckley, and she explained
how vital it was for the union to target the
contract cleaning sector specifically in order
to achieve any success.
"The cleaning industry came to our attention because of a very nasty dispute in 2008
at one of Dublin's most famous public buildings - which was a government contract at
the time. A non-unionised cleaning contractor was then appointed and attempted to
reduce terms and conditions, in breach of
TUPE regulations. SIPTU put a picket on that
building, a group of extremely determined
women campaigned against the changes and
eventually won their case. A unionised contractor then took on the job."
She continued: "Problems around TUPE
58
ECJ November 2011
European Cleaning Journal editor Michelle Marshall visits the
trades union representing contract cleaning workers in Ireland SIPTU - to find out about how it started its successful Fair
Deal for Cleaners campaign earlier this year.
came to the fore in Ireland in the early
2000s, when mass immigration from new EU
member states started. Ireland was one of
the few countries to have a completely open
border and all workers were made welcome
to our labour force, and to our trade union.
"However, we were concerned employers
would use the immigrants’ vulnerable status
to exploit them and to drive down wages and
conditions in unionised sectors. As predicted, service industries became undermined."
Bitter dispute
Matters were brought to a head in 2005
when there was a bitter dispute concerning
Irish Ferries, which wanted to replace over
500 members of its existing workforce with
agency workers. A national day of protest
over the broader issue of job displacement
was held and that brought over 100,000 people out onto the streets of Dublin.
It was as a result of this unrest and under
the Social Partnership Agreement that the
Irish government formed the
National Employment Rights
Authority (NERA) - with the
aim of working towards a
national culture of employment rights compliance.
Buckley explained: "In 2008
NERA started to release statistics about the various industries it dealt with, obviously
related to employment rights.
Contract cleaning came out
as one of the worst sectors,
based on inspections it carried
out. Among the worst areas of
non-compliance were employment law, statutory rates of
pay, holiday pay, breaks and
working time."
This put the spotlight on the
cleaning sector in Ireland for
the first time, so SIPTU decided
to fund a Fair Deal for Cleaners
campaign. "The unionised,
responsible contractors were
fully supportive of what we
were doing because they were being undercut by those businesses not complying with
regulations. We also felt it was time to tackle
this sector because it’s very much in the
country to stay – it can’t be exported – and
it’s extremely labour-intensive."
Before a successful campaign could be
started, however, the issue of union density
had to be tackled. Trades union membership
across the cleaning industry was fairly low,
with variances according to the sector the
cleaners were working in – hospitals and
the public sector were more unionised for
example. Buckley explained: "We rely very
heavily on activists (we call them 'leaders')
and we needed to develop those in order to
get the campaign going. As it was, SIPTU was
not reflective of the industry today, in that
there were too many Irish members. We had
to make ourselves more reflective of demographic changes."
Lead organiser for the union is Gerry
Flanagan, who was responsible for much of
the face-to-face contact SIPTU has had with
the cleaning staff. Having worked in other
industries prior to joining the cleaning campaign, he quickly realised they would have
to adopt a different approach. "Traditionally
we have met with large groups of around 100
people, but we knew that with the cleaning sector that would not work. We needed
to identify leaders and have more intensive
engagement on a smaller scale. So typically
we were speaking to groups of between three
and four people.
"We would have two organisers present
– this enabled us to establish the likely support and assess how much involvement we
would have in the workplace. We could identify leaders on each site and develop their
leadership skills, giving us a basic infrastructure to move forward with."
SIPTU representatives then carried out
500 one-to-one meetings with cleaners in
order to ascertain the issues of most concern to them. They expected wages to be the
number one concern, so were surprised when
it was actually number seven on the list of
points surveyed.
WORKFORCE: CLEANERS' RIGHT S
cleaners' respect
"One of the early messages we got from
cleaners was that they lacked dignity and
respect," continued Flanagan. "They feel
cleaners are invisible and their work is undervalued. People don’t see them as human
beings – that’s how they feel. Often nobody
in the building where they work even knows
their name." Also high on the list of complaints was lack of communication. "It was
also interesting to note cleaners are often
dissatisfied with the quality of products supplied to them with which to do their job."
Having established the issues the cleaners wanted to address, it was time to take
the campaign public. Here, SIPTU found it
was those cleaner 'leaders' themselves who
proved to be most effective in putting their
case forward. "Therefore we equipped them
with the skills to convey their own message,"
explained Flanagan, "with media training
and any other back-up they needed."
That approach has proved to be highly successful - those leaders have appeared on
TV, on radio and even in parliament, all as
part of the Fair Deal campaign. "We have
been honoured to discover that some of our
cleaners are exceptional leaders," said Gerry.
"And their message is much more powerful
than any from a trades union leader. It has
inspired an extremely positive response."
On International Justice Day in June
SIPTU member cleaners were extremely
proactive around the streets of Dublin and
gained significant media coverage for the
Fair Deal campaign - this included an interview on prime-time TV about how cleaners'
work is undervalued. The union also signed
a Responsible Contractor agreement with
market leading service provider ISS. Buckley
explained the background to this. "SIPTU
has found a persistent problem of non-compliance with employment law in the cleaning
sector. However we do now have a core of
firms that are committed to better methods.
Being recognised as a 'responsible contractor' means ISS complies with all rules and
regulations related to its workforce."
Union responsibilities
She went on: "The company also encourages interaction between trades unions and
its cleaners, and itself positively engages
with SIPTU rather than simply tolerating it."
The union is now keen to invite other credible firms to join the scheme and Buckley is
highly aware of its own responsibilities in
entering into an agreement of this nature.
"My part of the bargain is to talk to every
cleaner at the company, organise them and
implement an infrastructure. And of course,
to deliver a product that is of real benefit to
ECJ rapporte sur la campagne réussie
qui est actuellement menée à Dublin
par le syndicat représentant les agents
de propreté, le SIPTU. La campagne
Fair Deal for Cleaners (conditions
équitables pour les nettoyeurs) vise à
sensibiliser aux mauvaises pratiques
d'emploi et faibles salaires du secteur.
Son succès à ce jour est impressionnant.
all parties."
Buckley and Flanagan say the Fair Deal
campaign is inspiring some real change
within cleaning companies and when those
changes take place, it's quickly noticed by
the staff. "Simple measures like consulting
the cleaners before major changes are made
are very much appreciated by the workforce,"
Flanagan pointed out.
And SIPTU has seen membership in the
cleaning sector improve dramatically - it says
the number of representatives has increased
10-fold in just one year. Not only that, attitudes among business owners to the trade
union are gradually shifting and SIPTU says
some employers now see unionised sites as
being the least confrontational, and the ones
that operate most efficiently.
"Because everything is organised, staff
are on a level with each other and they act
as a group. Historically, contractors are not
used to dealing with unions productively but
now employers increasingly see that we have
spent a long time gaining understanding of
how the market works."
Buckley is keen to emphasise: "Of course
we understand that cuts sometimes have to
happen on a contract but we expect to be
involved in negotiations and consultation.
And if cuts in budget must be made, then the
specification for the cleaning contract must
be amended accordingly."
The campaign is currently focused only in
Dublin but Flanagan has ambitions to take it
nationwide if resources allow. In Dublin he
would like to achieve 70 per cent density over
the campaign’s term, which is set at three
years. Many of the companies involved in the
Dublin initiative operate in other parts of
Ireland, however Flanagan is realistic about
the potential limitations for cleaning companies and the issues they face in terms of price
pressure etc. "We acknowledge that conditions need to improve for them too in order
for real, widespread change to take place."
Das ECJ berichtet aus Dublin über
die äußerst erfolgreiche Kampagne
„Fair Deal for Cleaners“. Sie wurde
von SIPTU durchgeführt, der irischen
Gewerkschaft, die Reinigungsbranche
vertritt. In ihrem Bestreben, mit
dieser Kampagne ein Bewusstsein für
schlechte Beschäftigungspraktiken
und niedrige Gehälter in der Branche
zu schaffen, hat die Gewerkschaft
eindrucksvolle Erfolge erzielt.
Da Dublino il corrispondente di ECJ
ci informa sulla campagna di grande
successo organizzata dal sindacato
SIPTU che rappresenta i lavoratori
del settore del cleaning. La campagna
“Fair Deal for Cleaners” ha lo scopo
di aumentare la consapevolezza sulle
cattive pratiche nell’ impiego del
personale e i salari bassi nel settore,
e il sindacato ha ottenuto un livello
altissimo di successo.
November 2011 ECJ
59
The new HDS compact class assists your operation, and not just by cleaning. Through reduced
CO2 emissions, it also protects the environment. This is achieved with the eco!efficiency mode.
In this mode, the high-pressure cleaner switches to the efficient 60°C operation, through which fuel
consumption is reduced by a whole 20 %. A clean side benefit: 20 % more also remains in your purse.
Kärcher eco!efficiency – achieve more with less.
www.kaercher.com
s.
ea
ea
ila
Reduces fuel consumption by 20 %: the new
HDS compact class with eco!efficiency mode.
ler
a
Av
bl
t al
l pa r t i c i pa t i
ng
d
HIGH PRESSURE CLEANERS
The pressure
on sustainability
R
educing water and energy consumption are widely regarded as
important moves in increasing the
sustainability of any operation.
Water, in particular, is now an increasingly
sought-after commodity. As water shortages
continue to bite in various countries around
the world, companies are looking at ways to
reuse and recycle water wherever possible.
Yet high pressure cleaners use large quantities of water as well as consuming plenty
of energy, particularly in the case of hot
water cleaners. So does this make them
inherently unsustainable?
On the contrary, says Nilfisk-Advance’s
senior group product manager for professional high pressure cleaners Andrew Caddick.
“At first glance pressure washers do seem
to entail a large consumption of water and
electricity as well as diesel oil in the case
of hot water pressure cleaners,” he said.
“However, the real calculation needs to take
into account the consumption of water compared with the time taken to clean.
“Using a pressure washer will be quicker than carrying out a manual clean with a
hose pipe. It has also long been proven that
using a private pressure washer to wash your
car consumes between six and 10 times less
water than the use of a simple hose pipe at
low pressure. The additional pressure and
water flow provides a level of cleaning performance that cuts cleaning time.”
Water savings
Nilfisk-Advance recently carried out tests
using two 160 bar high pressure cleaning
machines, one operating at 1,200 litres per
hour and the other at 700 litres per hour.
“Simple reasoning would have it that the
1,200 litres per hour machine would be less
sustainable and more heavy on resource consumption,” he said. “However, for an identical cleaning task the 700 litres per hour
machine required one hour 12 minutes to
clean compared with only 26 minutes for the
1,200 litres per hour machine. Meanwhile in
pure water consumption terms, more than
500 litres of water were saved by using the
High pressure cleaning systems use plenty of water and
energy - but they also reduce the need for chemicals
and speed up the cleaning process. So how sustainable
are they? Ann Laffeaty finds out.
larger machine. And of course, the reduced
cleaning time led to a reduction in electricity
and labour costs.”
He says the picture is similarly unclear
as far as hot water versus cold water pressure arguments are concerned. “It may be
tempting to argue that a hot water pressure
washer is less sustainable than a cold water
machine since this will potentially consume
more fuel and lead to higher emissions of
exhaust gases,” he said. “However, in a typical application where oils and greases need
to be cleaned away, the use of hot water will
reduce cleaning time by up to 40 per cent
compared with a cold water pressure washer.”
According to Caddick, where detergents
are required for high pressure washer
tasks, these will have been designed by the
machine’s suppliers to be as sustainable as
possible. “For example, when Nilfisk-ALTO
detergents were developed a level of 80 per
cent biodegradability within 14 days was a
key specification,” he said.
He goes on to claim that Nilfisk-ALTO was
the first supplier to come up with an environmentally efficient boiler. “Today we can still
boast efficiency levels of up to 93 per cent
which equates to less waste and less pollution in terms of exhaust gases,” he said.
Dibo managing director Pierre van den
Borne supports Caddick’s view that high pressure cleaning actually reduces the amount of
water used compared with manual cleaning
methods. “By adding pressure to the water it
gains more power and becomes more effective,” he said. “When using a hot water pressure washer the temperature provides more
supplementary power which also results in
Continued page 62
November 2011 ECJ
61
HIGH PRESSURE CLEANERS
lower water consumption because the cleaning effect is improved and the time to finish
the job is shortened.”
He adds high pressure cleaners mostly reduce the need for chemicals as well.
“However, this depends on the surface that
needs to be cleaned and the type of soiling that needs to be removed,” he says.
“Sometimes the use of chemicals of fers
advantages as they speed up cleaning and
reduce the amount of water required.”
According to van den Borne, sustainable
cleaning can be defined as a task that is carried out swiftly and well, and with the lowest
possible consumption of chemicals and energy. “However, you need to make the right
choice for the specific cleaning job in every
case,” he said. “As a manufacturer it is our
job to keep the energy use of our machines
as low as possible.”
As an example he quotes the GreenBoiler
which is claimed to offer efficiency levels
of 92 per cent and reduce fuel use by 18 per
cent compared with an average boiler.
He claims the company is continuously
looking for ways to make its machines more
sustainable. “Our customers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance
of working with environmentally-friendly
machines,” he said. “Our JMB-H WWC has
become very popular and the GreenBoiler has
62
ECJ November 2011
been in high demand in the five
years since it has been released.”
Kärcher’s environmental matters public relations manager
David Wickel says high pressure
cleaners are of ten assessed
wrongly from a sustainability
point of view on account of the
amount of water they use.
“Pressure cleaning is actually an eco-friendly cleaning
method,” he said. “It is an environmentally friendly alternative to using
chemicals and leads in many cases to better
cleaning results in a much shorter time. It is
also very efficient because high performance
can be achieved even on irregular surfaces.”
Efficiency factor
Like other manufacturers, he stresses that
high pressure cleaning requires less water
than when using a hose. “The narrow diameter of the nozzle reduces water consumption by around 85 per cent in comparison
with an ordinary hose,” he said. “Pressure
cleaners also save chemicals because under
higher pressure, detergent consumption can
often be reduced. Furthermore, pressure
cleaners as a rule have dosing devices that
enable detergent to be added precisely and
in minimal quantities.”
He says the sustainability of high pressure washing systems depends greatly on
the individual machine. “The energy consumption of high pressure cleaning machines
depends on the power rating of the device:
entry-level machines use about 2kW while an
especially powerful model may use up to 10
kW,” he said.
“Efficiency is a relevant factor here and
an optimal combination of water pressure, throughput and accessories can make
an enormous difference, especially when
comparing pressure washers made by different manufacturers. In practice, cleaning
with one machine can be done twice as
fast as with another in the same category.
Using less time can reduce both water and
HIGH PRESSURE CLEANERS
power consumption.”
Kärcher’s new compact-class hot-water
pressure washers have an eco!efficiency setting and water temperature can be varied
between 20°C and 155°C as required. “Since
many types of soiling can be removed at temperatures of around 60°C, the eco!efficiency
mode can be set permanently on the master
switch to reduce fuel consumption by 20 per
cent,” said Wickel.
Aquila Tr iventek’s managing director
Torben Andreasen agrees that high pressure
cleaning is a sustainable cleaning system. “It
is fast, effective and extremely versatile,” he
said. “If you can eliminate harmful substances in the waste water by using a hot water
high pressure washer, any excess water can
be sent directly into the public sewers.”
He concedes that using high quantities
of water is bound to be seen as a negative
from a sustainability point of view – particularly if the water to be disposed of has been
polluted. However, he says the company’s
TD302REC machine addresses this since it is
capable of recycling and reusing more than
95 per cent of its water consumption.
“This high pressure cleaner collects the
dirty water that may contain harmful substances, such as chemicals from graffiti paint
or from a workshop floor,” said Andreasen.
“It then cleans it and reuses the clean water
over and over again, which means it keeps
water consumption to a minimum.”
No chemicals needed
He adds that hot water high pressure
cleaning systems can also eliminate the
need for chemicals. “The hot water dissolves
the dirt and other substances to be cleaned
away,” he said. “This means that the only
real environmental impact comes from emissions from the oil burner, where the environmental exposure on a long-term basis is
easier to assess than the outlet of hazardous
harmful chemicals. “
He says the company’s own heavy-duty
high pressure cleaners generally run on diesel engines with relatively low consumption.
“However high pressure cleaning is one of
the fastest ways to clean, so the environmental impact should be measured per square
metre per hour,” he said. “In this case, high
A quel point les systèmes de nettoyage
haute pression sont-ils durables ? Et que
font les fabricants pour les rendre plus
durables ? En examinant les dispositifs
de contrôle de détergent, consommation
de carburant, usage d'eau etc., nous
essayons d'établir ce qui est fait par les
fabricants pour rendre ces appareils
plus écologiques.
pressure cleaning and sandblasting emerge
as the most environmentally correct methods of cleaning.”
Aquila Triventek is currently working on
various sustainable high pressure cleaning
projects. “For example, our SPUMA high pressure washer is specially developed for environmentally friendly weed killing through a
mixture of water steam and biodegradable
organic sugar foam,” he said.
“We are also ready to produce high pressure washers in which the engine and oil
burner both run on biodiesel, cutting down
CO2 emissions and reducing harmful outlets
of carbon monoxide.
“Our future goal is to manufacture
all standard models running on biodiesel
engines and oil burners, and we are committed to developing new tools, nozzles and
methods to make high pressure cleaning
even more sustainable.”
Wie nachhaltig sind
Hochdruckreinigungssysteme?
Und welche Schritte unternehmen
Firmen, um sie in dieser Hinsicht
zu verbessern? Wir betrachten
Reinigungsmittelregelung,
Kraftstoffverbrauch, Wasserverbrauch
usw., um herauszufinden, wie
Hersteller die Umweltfreundlichkeit
ihrer Produkte verbessern.
Fino a che punto i sistemi di lavaggio
ad alta pressione sono sostenibili? E
cosa fanno i produttori per renderli più
sostenibili? Esaminiamo il controllo dei
detergenti, il consumo di carburante,
l’uso di acqua ecc. per scoprire cosa
stanno facendo i produttori per rendere
i loro prodotti più ecologici.
November 2011 ECJ
63
PRODUCT REVIEW
• Désormais disponible en Europe, le
système de pulvérisation électrostatique
ESS peut servir à la restauration, au
nettoyage d'installations agro-alimentaires
et au contrôle anti-infectieux.
• Vileda Professional a ajouté des produits
de gestion des déchets à son portefeuille
grâce à sa coopération nouvelle avec
Rothopro.
• KleenRite Equipment a développé
la machine 2240 pour le nettoyage
d'escalateurs et de trottoirs roulants.
• Le système de nettoyage interne de vitres
HiFlo se signale par sa flexibilité et son
économie.
• GOJO Industries Europe a développé
une gamme de distributeurs à codage
couleur pour simplifier la conformité aux
exigences d'hygiène des mains.
• Thomil a ajouté à son assortiment un
détergent de machine à laver la vaisselle
pour eaux douces et demi-dures, et un
rinçage pour machines à laver la vaisselle.
• Jetzt ist auch in Europa das
elektrostatische Spraysystem ESS
erhältlich, das bei der Sanierung, der
Reinigung in der Nahrungsmittelindustrie
und der Infektionskontrolle eingesetzt
werden kann.
• Durch die neue Kooperation mit
Rothopro hat Vileda Professional das
Angebot um Abfallmanagementprodukte
erweitert.
• KleenRite Equipment hat die 2240
Reinigungsmaschine für Rolltreppen und
Fahrsteige entwickelt.
• Laut Unger bietet das
Fensterreinigungssystem für
Innenräume HiFlo Flexibilität und
Kosteneinsparungen.
• GOJO Industries Europe hat eine
Produktreihe mit farbkodierten Spendern
entwickelt, die die Einhaltung der
Handhygiene erleichtern sollen.
• Thomil hat ein Waschmittel für
Geschirrspüler für weiches bis
mittelhartes Wasser sowie eine Spülhilfe
für Geschirrspüler in sein Angebot
aufgenommen.
• E’ ora disponibile in Europa il sistema
spray elettrostatico ESS che può essere
usato per il restauro, la pulizia dei processi
alimentati industriali e per il controllo
delle infezioni.
• La Vileda Professional ha aggiunto
al suo portfolio dei prodotti per la
raccolta dei rifiuti grazie alla nuova
collaborazione con la Rothopro.
• La KleenRite Equipment ha sviluppato
la macchina per pulire le scale mobili e i
tappeti mobili 2240.
• Il sistema per il lavaggio delle finestre
negli interni HiFlo prodotto dalla Unger
offre flessibilità e risparmio nei costi.
• La GOJO Industries Europe ha
sviluppato una gamma di dispenser
codificati in base al colore e progettati
per semplificare le norme dell’igiene delle
mani.
• La Thomil ha aggiunto alla sua gamma
di prodotti un detergente per lavastoviglie
per acqua dura e di media durezza e un
brillantante per lavastoviglie.
64
ECJ November 2011
Exclusive sprayer
Now available in Europe through
Lensmate is the ESS electrostatic spraying system - designed
in the US and suitable for restoration, remediation, industrial
food process cleaning and infection control applications.
durability and performance of
plastic with the aesthetics of
stainless steel.
Tel: +49 6201 80 87 1000.
Email: vileda.professional@
fhp-ww.com
On the move
Ne w f r o m KleenRite
Equipment is the 2240 escalator and moving walkway cleaner,
featuring an adjustable head that
can clean treads between 22 and
40 inches.
The machine also comes with
both restorative and maintenance cleaning brushes, onboard
accessory storage and a 15-feet
vacuum hose with attachments.
There is an optional powered
spotting tank to allow for cleaning up spills.
Tel: +1 559 673 5700. Email:
sales@kleenritemfg.com
The heart of the ESS system
is the patented Maxcharge air
atomising induction charging
nozzle that produces spray droplets said to be 900 times smaller
than those produced by conventional sprayers. Each droplet
receives an electrical charge that
pulls the droplet towards the
nearest object at 75 times the
force of gravity.
This causes what ESS calls a
'wraparound' effect, where droplets change direction to coat
all sides of an object evenly. In
practical terms this means the
spray reaches the underside, the
backside and all the nooks and
crevasses of surfaces.
Tel: +44 1756 700965. Email:
sales@esseurope.com
Indoor is easier
Unger's HiFlo has been developed to make indoor window
cleaning easier. The flexible pad
holder can also be used to clean
hard-to-reach areas - the pad
is simply fixed to the velcro
holder and pure water is sprayed
onto it.
Pure water dries without leaving streaks so no drying with a
squeegee is necessary.
To make the system more cost
effective, all indoor cleaning
tools are arranged in a starter
and a master kit. The starter set
contains the flexible aluminium
pad holder, the polish pad and
the new HiFlo thread adapter
for aluminium telescopic poles.
Simple compliance
GOJO Industries-Europe
is launching a range of colour coded dispensers created
to s i m p l i f y h a n d h y g i e n e
compliance and help reduce
cross contamination.
Colours and visuals are used
to distinguish the GOJO TFX
Touch Free and FMX Manual
soap dispensers and PURELL
hand sanitiser dispensers, along
with posters for workers to use
as a reference point.
The new range forms
part of the GOJO Hygiene
Management System for Food
Processing Facilities, which also
incorporates the SIGNOL hand
wash counter to monitor the
frequency of staff hand washing
and identify compliance issues.
Tel: +44 1908 588444. Email:
info@gojo.co.uk
Send news about product
launches, with photos,
to Michelle Marshall,
ECJ editor: michelle@
europeancleaning
journal.com
Water based
Thomil has launched two new
dishwashing products - Delta LV
detergent for soft-medium hard
waters and Split LV rinse aid for
use at low temperatures.
New in waste
Vi leda Professional h a s
started to supply waste management products for the first time,
thanks to a new strategic agreement with Rothopro - which
specialises in the production of
solutions in this sector.
The range covers all needs
for interior and exterior usage –
from HACCP hands-free pedal
bins to multi-purpose durable
bins and wheeled 100-litre containers. It has been designed
to meet the challenge contemporary buildings and interiors
place upon the products used
inside them.
For example, Geo and Iris
metallic bins combine the
The master kit has additional
tools, such as the Sprayer on a
Belt for easy dosing of water;
the ErgoTec belt and pouch
for easy storage of spare pads;
and the two-section 2.5-metre
pole TelePlus.
Tel: +49 212 2207 0. Email:
ungereurope@ungerglobal.com
Delta LV is a concentrated
liquid with high degreasing and
destaining power, suitable for
washing crockery, cutlery, glassware and kitchen utensils made
of china, glass, stainless steel or
plastic. Available in packs of 4.5,
12 and 24 kg.
Split LV rinse aid can be
used to dry and polish crocker y, cutler y and glassware.
It is said to work at low temperatures without generating
foam, and no scale deposits are
produced thanks to the acidic
pH. It comes in four, 10 and 20
litre packs.
Tel: +34 91 691 01 75. Email:
profesional@thomil.com
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November 2011
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