The Janitors' Closet

Waterfall, and the importance of communication

A story from a few years back, that happened to come to mind:

From my operations manager's over night report:

"While Ernie was doing the floor at ..... a pipe burst in the ceiling and started pouring water down on top of him. He was able to get his wet-vac and keep the water from flooding the building until I arrived. I spoke to Bob, the emergency contact, who walked me through where to find the shut off valve for the water pipes. Had to climb up above the ceiling but I got everything shut off. Lucky for them we were there when this happened so there was no real damage except for the wet ceiling and water in the light fixtures."

And, from our client, this morning:

"Good morning Gentlemen, There was a call on my voice mail this morning from Tony. He called at 10:30pm last night. Please apologize to him for my not answering.  The problem was water was coming out by one of the light fixtures in the showroom. It turned out to be an old hot water heater we have upstairs. It hasn’t worked for years, but somehow the valve got turned on. Probably pressure or something. Tony called Bob and I think he walked him through it. We really appreciate him calling and taking care of it. You really train your teams well.  Please let him know we appreciate everything he did."

It's all in the details, and in contingency planning.  We stress communication; we're careful to get several after-hours emergency phone numbers from the client (three in this case; two of them did not answer); we encourage our folks to take the initiative to better serve our clients, and protect their facilities.  The latter is particularly significant; we provide janitorial service to clients all over the metro Phoenix area, so have keys to lots of client facilities, and feel a bit of responsibility for them.  And our floor techs generally carry wet-vacs. 

From my operations manager's over night report:

"While Ernie was doing the floor at ..... a pipe burst in the ceiling and started pouring water down on top of him. He was able to get his wet-vac and keep the water from flooding the building until I arrived. I spoke to Bob, the emergency contact, who walked me through where to find the shut off valve for the water pipes. Had to climb up above the ceiling but I got everything shut off. Lucky for them we were there when this happened so there was no real damage except for the wet ceiling and water in the light fixtures."

And, from our client, this morning:

"Good morning Gentlemen, There was a call on my voice mail this morning from Tony. He called at 10:30pm last night. Please apologize to him for my not answering.  The problem was water was coming out by one of the light fixtures in the showroom. It turned out to be an old hot water heater we have upstairs. It hasn’t worked for years, but somehow the valve got turned on. Probably pressure or something. Tony called Bob and I think he walked him through it. We really appreciate him calling and taking care of it. You really train your teams well.  Please let him know we appreciate everything he did."

It's all in the details, and in contingency planning.  We stress communication; we're careful to get several after-hours emergency phone numbers from the client (three in this case; two of them did not answer); we encourage our folks to take the initiative to better serve our clients, and protect their facilities.  The latter is particularly significant; we provide janitorial service to clients all over the metro Phoenix area, so have keys to lots of client facilities, and feel a bit of responsibility for them.  And our floor techs generally carry wet-vacs. 

In bloom!

Another great season for color, at my office!

Work has changed.

Musings, from a longtime friend and CBN Board member

I retired and moved to Oregon about three years ago... the new routine has given me time to reflect and reconsider what I thought I knew... and sometimes to just confirm some things. 

Take work for instance.  You could look at job titles, or you can look at work activity... that is what actions are being done, how, and where, and perhaps most importantly, why it's being done in a specific way. 

Let's look at the job called 'janitor'.

Forty-five years ago I was stripping floors, mopping floors, dusting desks and flat surfaces... cleaning ashtrays.  Yep, people used to smoke in the office, and as a result, every janitor had four rags, a clean and more dry than not 'window rag', a regular 'wet rag', hopefully it was clean, a 'polishing rag' treated more often than not with lemon scented furniture polish, and a dirtier than sin 'ashtray rag'. I had to wash my hands for several minutes after a cleaning shift to get the cigarette tar out of my hands, as it would really kill the appetite when I picked up a slice of pizza, to only get a whiff of a dirty ashtray from my own hand. 

Here's another, I remember stripping old yellow wax off of 9 inch square vinyl asbestos, 'VA', tile floors with a mixture of ammonia and hot water, then neutralizing the floor with vinegar and cold water, before applying a fresh coat of wax. So much has changed.  

Dust?  We used feather dusters in the old days, ostrich feathers were considered the best, and later we started spraying our feather dusters with a chemical that we thought would hold the dust... it didn't really work.  We were only moving the dust around, or worse putting it into the air, then breathing it in. Today, we wipe a surface with a treated microfiber cloth that is designed to pick up and remove dust from the room.  

The same can be said for daily floor care.  We used to vacuum a carpet with machines that exhausted fine dust particles in the air; and we would 'wet mop' a hard surface floor with soap and water, leaving a fine film haze as often as not. Now we damp clean a hard floor with a special microfiber floor tool... in most cases it works faster and does a much better job than a wet mop, as it cleans the floor surface leaving no strings or streaks. 

I could go on, however the point is that while some job titles may be the same as fifty years ago, the activity, tools and techniques can be very different.  It could be argued that some jobs are entirely new ones, as the work has very little in common with the same job titles of fifty, or a hundred years ago. 

Here's an article about what jobs were most common in Oregon in 1870, as compared to 2020.  Although, without the details of how and why a job was done, I'm not so sure that it tells us as much as we might think it does.  Think livery stable... parking garage... and ride share apps. 

https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2022/04/the-10-most-common-jobs-in-oregon-in-1870-and-2020.html

From the floor to the blood pressure cuff

So, how do pathogens travel through a building?  Enjoy (?) a good article on exactly that, from our friends at CleanLink.

To quote the study, "...many pathogens start their journey on floors, which, according to the study, were frequently contaminated with pathogens.  From here, they managed to get on the hands of patients and staff in the hospitals. And then they traveled on to high-touch objects in hospital rooms such as side tables and call buttons."

I'd like top see a bit more information on the floor-to-everything-else connection, but clearly one's sanitation focus needs to be on floors.  As I've long contended, a string mop, dunked into a bucket and wringer, provides an excellent pathogen pathway from one patient room to another.  Even if the cleaner is changing mop water after each room (imagine just how often that happens), the mop itself can harbor and transfer the pathogen.  That's why a fresh microfiber mop pad for each room, pulled fresh from the sanitizing solution, never re-dunked in the solution, and placed in a bag for laundering after the single use, prevents cross contamination - the mop is fresh, and the solution never sees a contaminated mop.  Been in use in Europe for decades, I understand, and only recently adopted here.

We use the same principal in "route work" janitorial.  A fresh microfiber mop for each small building (often the only hard flooring is a couple of small restrooms and a lunchroom).  No cross contamination between buildings.

This program is also easier on the crew.  No more breaking out the (heavy) bucket and wringer, wheeling it into the building, filling it, using it perhaps for only one "dunk", and then emptying it into a sanitary sewer (it's just not done, and is also illegal, to tip it into the shrubbery, or a storm drain, or a corner of the parking lot).  So you have to walk back over your freshly mopped restroom floor and lift the bucket up to pour the solution into the toilet (most smaller facilities lack a floor or utility sink).

Best to design the job so that it's easy to do properly.

We use maps at CBN to better understand and improve performance

The old days of pins 'n strings on a cork board have been over for some time now, but the practice of planning our work continues.  Years ago I was the sales manager at CBN, and when I brought a new account's paperwork into Bob's office, he would get excited, jump up from his desk and go over to a large map we had on the wall. Bob would then select a colored pin with a number, the color representing the frequency that we would clean the account, the number representing the account's ID number. These pins would be grouped with a string, that represented 'the route'.  There was a visceral feeling of pride that we all felt in our wall map ritual.  Google's mapping technology definitely changed that. 

Today we use digital mapping to efficiently route customer service visits, inspections, floor crew assignments, and to spot trends.  Digital mapping technology has improved our operational efficiency and helps us to better serve our clients. But for the nostalgia we wouldn't go back to pins 'n strings. 

I bring this up because I read this article in Fast Company about maps and how they help us understand the world and events, in this case Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

The idea of crowd sourcing maps with information content can also be paired with cloud based webcams and drones to help us see and understand what's happening in the world in real time. 

There are some very interesting links in the article that suggest that they might be better than the good old Penguin Atlas, although the sites linked in the article do have a lot of ads, while a used but good Penguin Atlas could be picked up at the annual Visiting Nurse Service Auxiliary book sale for cheap. 

https://www.fastcompany.com/90733391/theres-a-lot-you-dont-see-in-maps-of-the-war-in-ukraine-heres-how-to-look-at-them-differently

Here are two links from the article, it may take a bit of effort to get to the good stuff. 
https://liveuamap.com  

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2022/02/27/follow-the-russia-ukraine-monitor-map

by Bill Black 

My first business card read "Full service, competitive, honest, and friendly"

 

By my decades-long friend, Bill Black 

There are many management trends afoot, as there have been for many decades.  For a long time we could read books of wisdom written by former and famous Fortune 100 presidents and CEOs who turned into business consultants, and we could be inspired to try some of their story suggestions ourselves.  Do you recall The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, From Good to Great, First Break All the Rules... and the 'ol granddaddy of them all, How to Win Friends and Influence People?  If you're over 40 years old then it's likely you do. 

Later we could buy their cassette tapes, then CDs.  Some folks signed up for their seminars... I did... usually after attending a free presentation.  It was all closing, I get it. 

Today we have the internet, with Zoom, webcasts, YouTube, digital newsletters, and blogs... like this one, The Janitors Closet, of course it's my favorite.  You have got to believe in what you're doing, I remember that was one of the lessons, so Bob Croft, the president of CBN, and I spend some extra time writing it. 

Well, I suggested this article from Psychology Today, a popular magazine with an online newsletter that I subscribe to, and I believe is worth a reading, to Bob Croft.  And I also asked that if he was 'agreeable' to the idea, to look again at how we look for those traits of agreeableness mentioned in the article when CBN is hiring janitors and staff.  Screening, selecting, developing, and leading the best people is the most important thing CBN's management team does. 

I wonder how one might empirically and practically test for it? 

Please let me know what you think. 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/insight-therapy/202204/inside-the-psychology-niceness

Editor's note:  Bill Black is a member of the Board at CBN

Those "maintenance free" floors

Now and again, a janitorial client will install a (rather expensive) luxury vinyl tile (LVT) floor, justifying the expense with the expectation that it will not need any maintenance over simple vacuuming and  wet mopping.

Sometimes, it's best to take the sales guy's pitch with a bit of salt.

Problem is, the wood grain that looks so pretty is embossed into the surface, creating texture - low spots that attract dirt, oily substances, and detergent residue (if you're mopping with detergent).  Mopping will not get into the low spots.  A machine scrub, with the proper pad, is necessary.  We scrub most of our LVT client flooring quarterly, which seems about right with low to medium traffic, treated entry mats properly positioned, and a mopping program that contributes little residue - we use a hydrogen peroxide based cleaner/sanitizer, not a detergent.

Here's an article from our friends at Cleanlink; it's an add for a particular floor machine, but tells the overall story well.

Buy local - for several reasons

An article from our friends at CleanLink, about the advantages of using smaller, local suppliers:

"SME (small & medium size enterprise) owners focus more on direct-to-consumer contact and are typically tuned with a particular product or service needed in that community. This model allows SME owners
(typically) to be nimbler and more adaptable to changes in consumer behavior, market trends, and economic climates....Focusing on your community and the small businesses is a socially responsibly, fiscally minded duty we all share as community members and neighbors. It is a way to directly impact the overall economic health and wellness of a community, and it simply is the right thing to do when possible."

But it goes way beyond that. Consider supply chain issues when ordering products produced out of state, let alone overseas. Consider Russian auto, aerospace and other industries that are slowing or ending production, due to sanctions on foreign produced parts.  Here's a Wall Street Journal article on medical research firms worldwide unable to get precursor molecules from Ukraine, not due to sanctions but to war itself.

Closer to home, it took us the longest time to get adequate supplies of N-95 masks, and Covid quick tests (both made in the U.S., but in short supply).  We now keep on hand a bunch of each, not so much for current use as in order to be ready then the next, likely more infectious, strain hits.

And we still have full bio-hazard suits we picked up a few years back, during the Ebola scare.  If nothing else, they'll be great for Halloween. Or, in the case of the attached photo, a Saint Patrick's Day singalong in a time of Covid.

Entry mat selection

Received an article on entry mat selection from the good folks at CleanLink.  If I might quote the article:

“Remember the ‘Rule of 15s,’ which dictates that at least 15 feet of matting should be installed at all entry doors — five feet each of coarse scraper, wiper/scraper, and wiper mats. The American Institute of Architects reports that five feet of matting will capture 33 percent of walked-in debris; 10 feet will capture 52 percent; and 20 to 25 feet can capture as much as 100 percent of soil on a person’s shoe bottoms, preventing the soil from entering the facility.”

About all I'd add is on the desirability of rented, TREATED mats for the "wiper mat" function.  The laundering that the mat company uses, generally weekly, will get the mat cleaner than anything we, or the client, can do on site, and the treatment (added after the laundering) removes from shoe soles both tiny particles and oil based dirt, generally picked up in the parking lot (think engine oil, tranny fluid, and petroleum distillates from the asphalt).  All things that your floors ought avoid.

We can only do so much with vacuuming, mopping and shampooing.

An enticing promotion

Our quality control rep noticed and photographed a promotional banner while out visiting clients. (We do at least a monthly daytime inspection of all our clients, in addition to nighttime inspections, during or after the cleaning.  So he'd on the road a lot.)

It advertised free coffee for veterans, and being a Navy vet, he was temped.

But then he reconsidered; he plans to not give the establishment any business for a very long time.  It's a funeral home.