What do we mean by colour coding? What difference does that make to commercial cleaning standards?
Commercial cleaning standards are not just about whether a floor looks clean and shiny bright. Although I must admit it is sometimes easier to measure that.
The word cleaning has far wide implications particularly when it comes to commercial cleaning standards. it is also about whether a surface is hygienically clean. Think about it. if your employees are consistently in contact with contagious viruses such as on door handles, phone hand piece, computer keyboards they are likely to pick up some infection as well. That can lead to loss of the employee time, sickness cover costs and lost production time.
Colour coding of cleaning equipment was introduced to enable a clear separation of equipment used to clean one area being used to spread infection or different types of contamination to other areas.
It is usually thought of stopping infection being spread from mops etc being used to clean toilets then taking some infection into food preparation areas such as kitchens. However it is also used for stopping oil and sand etc on a workshop floor being taken by a mop or brush etc into smart office areas.
Restaurants kitchen staff use a similar system to prevent cross contamination across cooked and uncooked meats as well as different coloured carving knives when cutting different types of food.
Clean Care Scotland conforms with the colour coding system adopted by the British Institute of Cleaning Science which is usually interpreted as being
Red for cleaning toilets
Blue for general cleaning
Yellow for all sinks
Green for cleaning kitchens and other food preparation areas.
Exceptions to these cleaning colour coding systems
There are times when we have to change this and use another coding system for example we clean for major international pizza restaurant chain here in Scotland that uses a colour coding system set for cleaning equipment that is adopted by their international HQ in the USA.
For this operation we are obviously happy to use their colour coding cleaning charts as it it still fits our criteria of clear separation we just make sure that our staff are fully trained and understand the reasons for on the different standards.
Food preparation and commercial cleaning standards
As an Area Manager I recently was asked to quote for the contract cleaning of a major leisure centre in Aberdeen serving food and drink to it’s customers. During an initial walk around I spotted one of their existing cleaners who I recognised as having applied to work with us the previous week and said hello.
During the brief discussion I was pleased to hear her explanation of colour coding for the wet mop cleaning involved using three different colour mops for the different areas. However as she was holding a blue mop in her hand I had to ask why I could see a red mop and yellow mop leaning against the wall just behind her and in physical contact with each other. She explained this by saying that they only used the one mop bucket which was used for all mops.
Despite working as a commercial cleaning supervisor at that leisure centre for over a year she had totally failed to fully understand that the colour coding system is there to prevent any cross contamination taking place. The understanding of commercial cleaning standards did not seem to be high on the agenda of this cleaning company.
Why had the cleaning company manager’s not picked up on what was happening there? Obviously they were not monitoring the work their staff were doing on a regular basis.
Monitoring commercial cleaning standards is important!
If they are not monitoring their own commercial cleaning standards how do they identify the cleaners training needs?
How do they recognise the work of good reliable cleaners if they are not there to congratulate and encourage them.
If cleaning staff are not visited they will start to feel “Who cares? My managers never come to visit and talk with me about my work as a cleaner. They don’t care so why should I?”
Are you going to get the best cleaning attitude when people are treated like that?
If you are washing the toilet floor with a red mop then putting that aside and picking up a yellow mop to wash the floor in the food preparation are you should AT LEAST also change the bucket of water or you will simply be spreading bacteria across from one area to another.
Surely this would be just plain common sense?
Why change the mop and put that clean mop into the bucket of dirty contaminated water?
We at Clean Care Scotland would insist that the cleaner follow our commercial cleaning standard procedure guidelines for example
- When finished one area wash the mop and bucket in the sink using running water before putting the mop and cleaning bucket away safely.
- Take the fresh appropriate colour bucket and refill with water.
- Add appropriate cleaning chemical reagent for the job they are going to be working on.
- Take a clean mop and wash the floor area concerned before cleaning the mop and bucket and putting it away again.
Commercial Cleaning Standards
What would happen if a source of food poisoning was traced back to that particular leisure centre?
Surely it is the responsibility of all concerned in working there to ensure the highest level of commercial cleaning standards are adopted and complied with at all times. Note Clean Care Scotland have taken it a stage further for safety reasons and introduced a range of cleaning chemicals that will not only clean but also kill germs and powerful enough to be approved for use in hospitals.
See we really do care about commercial cleaning standards.
