It is easy for people not involved in professional cleaning to think that companies like All Pro Cleaning Systems do little more than manage janitorial tasks. But there is a lot more to business and industrial cleaning than meets the eye. That is why we go above and beyond to ensure that our crews are fully trained.
Have you ever wondered what goes into cleaning crew training? There are different specifications depending on who is handling the training. A professional training organization may have one core set of standards and curriculum while the company it chooses to train in-house has another. It is all good as long as newly trained crews deliver results.
From our perspective, these are the key components of a good cleaning crew training program:
1. Skills Assessment
The best training programs begin with skills assessment. Assessing the current knowledge and skills of the people being trained gives trainers a baseline they can build on. Without a proper skills assessment, how is it possible to fully understand what a person needs to learn?
2. Customized Curricula
It is possible to utilize a standard set of training materials for every group of trainees and every session. But we prefer a customized approach to curricula. We think it is better to start with a base group of materials on which training can be expanded to meet specialized needs. For example, training a cleaning crew in office cleaning procedures would be far different from training another crew to clean a highly sensitive lab environment. You would want appropriate curricula for both.
3. Safety-Related Training
Certain types of environments are known for peculiar safety issues. Consider a warehouse or manufacturing plant, for instance. Both would be governed by specialized industrial cleaning. Crews being trained to clean such spaces would need a healthy dose of safety-related training.
Safety training would include basic safety principles as a starter. Safety principles relating to specific equipment or certain areas of the building would be included. Finally, it would be normal to train cleaning crews in OSHA standards.
A special note would be training in the safe use of certain chemicals. It goes without saying that chemicals can create huge problems when mixed improperly. Some chemicals are quite hazardous and require personal protective equipment (PPE) to use safely.
4. Hands-On Training
Classroom training is both necessary and good. However, no training program is complete until cleaning crews are put into action. The truth is that there is no substitute for hands-on training.
A good way to offer hands-on training is to pair trainees with veterans. Trainees can learn from the best in the business while in a real-world environment. Hands-on training is where classroom theory and real-world practice join up.
5. Time Management
We never want cleaning crews rushing through a space. We want them to take whatever time is necessary to do the job right. Nonetheless, a lack of efficiency can lead to taking more time than is necessary to clean a space. The way to combat this particular problem is to teach cleaning crews time management skills.
Time management includes task prioritization. It involves allocating a certain amount of time to each task and then coming up with strategies to complete the tasks correctly, but still within the allotted time. Good time management leads to more productive and efficient cleaning crews.
Now you know what it takes to train professional cleaners. Maybe you don’t want the hassle. Perhaps you would just rather have a business or industrial cleaning service take care of your building. Here at All Pro Cleaning Systems, we are up to the task.
