Tag Archive for: student accommodation

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Helping spotlight future generations at ServiceMaster Clean Mercia

What’s it like doing your work experience at ServiceMaster Clean Contract Services?

This month, the team at ServiceMaster Clean Mercia had the pleasure of hosting a work experience placement for a young student.

This blog post has all the details.

Learning Opportunities

Samuel quickly became a valued member of the team, spending his time learning about all aspects of running a commercial cleaning business — from on-site services to behind-the-scenes operations.

Throughout his placement, the team worked hard to ensure he gained a full overview of what it takes to keep things running smoothly, and he got involved in everything from scheduling to quality control, and even explored how we manage customer relationships and business development.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of his time with the team, Samuel presented a fantastic project showcasing his findings and insights from his time at ServiceMaster Clean. His presentation didn’t just reflect what he’d learned, but also included thoughtful suggestions and fresh ideas for ways the business can improve and advance moving forward.

Business Development Manager Mark Harden says it is always useful to receive new insights on the business from someone seeing it with a fresh pair of eyes, and strongly advocates for businesses across all sectors to take on students for work experience.

“Offering students the chance to gain experience in our industry has proven to be a real win-win,” he says.

“It’s rewarding to support future professionals, and we gain valuable new perspectives in return. We’re proud to have been part of Samuel’s learning journey and look forward to welcoming more students in the future!”

“I would highly recommend that any business take the opportunity to offer work experience placements if they can. Not only does it provide young people with valuable insight into the variety of roles within a business like ours, but we also gain fresh perspectives and ideas from the next generation entering the job market!”

Need a new cleaner?

If you’d benefit from expert commercial cleaning services from a local expert backed by 65 years of experience as part of a multinational brand, contact Mark and the team at ServiceMaster Clean Mercia today on 0300 003 7042 or find your nearest ServiceMaster Clean business to see how we can help you today.

The best way to clean your warehouse

Our industry insider tips for keeping your warehouse clean and sanitary.

For those who manage a warehouse facility, it can be difficult to keep up with proper cleaning when there is so much to keep track of. However, there are myriad reasons why a clean warehouse should be your top priority.

Not only will keeping a clean warehouse keep workers healthy and happy, but it also ensures the quality of your products is unaffected by potential contamination from harmful bacteria and germs.

If staying on top of warehouse sanitation is too much of a burden on you and your workers, regular visits from a commercial cleaning service like ServiceMaster Clean Contract Services can help.

To ensure that your warehouse facility is being properly cleaned on a routine basis, we’ve put together a Sanitation Checklist that can be used for daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, and biannually warehouse upkeep.

Why is Warehouse Cleaning Essential?

While warehouses are often used to store items or products before they get shipped out, keeping them clean is critical. Proper cleaning will protect products from gathering dirt and dust, and the potential of bacteria, mould, and mildew growth in case of a leak.

Routine cleaning keeps your products safe and protects your workers from bacteria, viruses, and other potential health hazards by ensuring that surfaces are properly disinfected using a hands-on application of disinfection products.

Irregular maintenance can also impact daily workflow, leaving you with less productive workers and a dirty facility. On the other hand, having a clean space to work helps boost productivity, keeps employees safe, and can lead to higher job satisfaction across the board. Make sure that your employees know how to clean their workspace.

Alternatively, you could also call on the cleaning experts who can do the cleaning for you, all while addressing your unique needs with the know-how needed for your specific industry.

Tips to Keep Your Warehouse Clean

  • Have a plan. Don’t let cleaning hinder the productivity of a warehouse and add it to the workflow instead. Cleaning without a plan will not address the unique cleaning needs of your warehouse and may give you a false sense of confidence that your property is clean. Knowing what areas to clean and how to do so is key.
  • Make sure cleaning supplies are always stocked. Even if you outsource the deep cleaning to the professionals, cleaning supplies like mops, brooms, etc, should always be available. This will be helpful to clean up manageable messes as they happen.
  • Have your employees be responsible for their “areas.” Assigning areas for employees to clean can help everyone stay accountable. Give them a list to check off their cleaning tasks, along with a spot to initial and date/time. For example, if your employee uses two types of heavy equipment throughout the day, have them be responsible for cleaning the machines.
  • Ensure employees know when they should report issues. All warehouse workers should know when and whom to go to when there are spills, hazards, and other conditions that need to be reported immediately. If hazardous messes aren’t taken care of right away, they can cause potential health issues for workers, affect products and even cause a loss in revenue.

Our Warehouse Cleaning Checklist

So, how should you clean your warehouse? Separating lists for different tasks will help to maintain a clean and safe environment. While you most likely take the rubbish out every day, you probably don’t rotate products and clean behind the shelves daily. Having separate lists for different tasks will help you stay organised.

A daily warehouse sanitation checklist could include:

  • Sweep and mop the warehouse floor.
  • Take out the bins and recycle waste in toilets and washrooms, kitchens, and areas where products are unpackaged.
  • Clean employee toilets.
  • Wipe down all heavily trafficked areas like countertops, machinery, and doorknobs.
  • Wipe down all heavily used equipment, like forklifts.

Note: It’s also advisable to implement a “clean as you go” rule for warehouse workers to take care of new messes as they happen.

A monthly warehouse sanitation checklist could include:

  • Inspect floors throughout the warehouse.
  • Pull pallets and rotate products on shelves.
  • Clean breakroom fridges and throw away expired or uneaten food.
  • Check for leaks, mould, and mildew.
  • Wipe down windows and dust/clean blinds.
  • Clean under units and shelving.
  • Power wash walkways, steps, and landing decks.

A manager or worker in a warehouse should be able to quickly create these checklists, and more tasks can be added as the routine cleaning process is implemented.

Need a hand cleaning your commercial property?

You may not find that there is enough time in the day (or in a month) to get through all the cleaning to uphold your safety and cleanliness standards. This is where a regular cleaning programme from the professionals at ServiceMaster Clean Contract Services can help.

With over 65 years of cleaning experience in the UK for both Private and Public Sector clients, we are best placed to utilise our expertise and work with you to put in place the most suitable cleaning services for your premises.

If you feel you aren’t properly equipped to keep up with the regular cleaning at your facilities, consider outsourcing to commercial cleaning services that can keep everything up to standard. Find your nearest ServiceMaster Clean Contract Services business to receive a free quote on our bespoke commercial cleaning services today.

Cleaning student accommodation

Cleaning student accommodation

How ServiceMaster Clean Contract Services can help you clean up student accommodation.

There’s a lot to think about when leaving university. Students can be unsure of their next steps, where they’re going to live next, and whether they’ll secure a job after graduation. And without parents around to clean up after them, they can also create quite a mess. It’s no wonder then, that sometimes they are happy to cut their losses and leave their rented accommodation in a state. Research conducted by EstateAgentToday suggests that “students are twice as likely as other tenants to have part of their deposit retained, with 22%, or one in five, not receiving the full amount when they leave their accommodation.”

Unfortunately, this leaves any mess they leave behind in the hands of you, the letting agent. And with other things to attend to, we know your time is better spent than cleaning up after students. Thankfully, with a deep clean from ServiceMaster Clean, you don’t have to.

With over 60 years as a leading brand in the commercial cleaning industry, we are trusted by a highly varied range of clients across the nation who trust our bespoke and professional contract cleaning service. This experience uniquely places us to work closely in partnership with housing associations and letting agents throughout the United Kingdom. By consulting with your nearest ServiceMaster Clean business, you can receive a tailored plan to suit you, whether with our deep clean and sanitation service after tenants have moved on or a regular clean of communal areas like washrooms and kitchens throughout the academic year.

By staying up to date on the newest technology like SaniMaster 6, which is regularly used in hospitals, food preparation areas, and schools as an excellent sanitisation and decontamination product. Our expert teams of technicians are continuously trained to meet any changing hygiene standards and have been working hard to keep all of our clients safe during the COVID-19 pandemic ensuring they, and all of our equipment meet the Emerging Pathogen Standard. So, whether it’s COVID-19 or ‘Fresher’s Flu’, the risk of infection is greatly reduced for your tenants.

 

If you are a student or non-student accommodation letting agent in need of a contract cleaning provider, find your local ServiceMaster Clean Contract Services business to book a consultation with one of our teams today.

 

Written by Tom Page, Digital Content Writer

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Cleaning Your Student Accommodation

Right from the day we were born, we’ve had our parents run around cleaning up after us and when you go to university it’s the perfect time to get away from their nagging!

Keeping your student accommodation clean and tidy, especially at the end of tenancy is vitally important! Mainly to get your deposit back!

Student Accommodation

Why do I need to clean my student accommodation?

The question amongst many young university students, why should I clean my accommodation? The answer, you don’t, just call your parents!

Most student letting agents put the tenants in charge of cleaning their own property upon leaving, hence why a deposit is usually taken.

If your not careful and you don’t keep the property clean, you can sometimes be held liable for the spread of health hazards, pest infestation and mould within the property.

The cost of removal of these health hazards can really stack up, as they would have to call an external provider and the tenant will be charged for these costs.

How do I do a thorough clean of my student accommodation?

Firstly, make sure you give yourself and your cleaning team (again usually the parents) enough time to clean the property and don’t make it a last minute job.

Here are the main areas that a landlord/student letting property would expect to be clean upon inspection:

  • Kitchen
    – Remove everything in the cupboards from top to bottom and clean inside and outside with a dry cloth, unless there are some stubborn stains, and then you will need to use a wet cloth and an applied cleaning agent.- The majority of people will forget to do this, but make sure you pull out the kitchen appliances (if you can) and clean the back of those as well, including the washing machine, microwave and dishwasher etc.

    – Clean out your fridge of any food as you definitely don’t want this to sit a fester after you’ve left! Then clean it thoroughly, inside the drawers, in the ridges, every bit of shelving and then turn the fridge off and leave the door open.

    – Making sure the oven is clean can be a bit of a disgusting job, especially if it’s a shared kitchen and the other tenants have left without cleaning. So, clean everything inside the oven, trays, shelving and the oven door inside and out, switches, knobs etc.

    – The same goes for the hob, make sure the racks are removed and soaked in the sink, then thoroughly scrubbed and the top of the hob is then efficiently cleaned.

  • Living Room
    – Clean everything, and we mean everything! The coffee table, the TV, the bookshelves, any shelving and even the modern art paintings on the wall. Make sure you vacuum the carpet and upholstery until there is not a speck of dust left on them!
  • Bathroom
    – Usually, one of the most daunting tasks when cleaning your accommodation is the bathroom and it can often take the longest time to clean.- Get your cleaning hat on and scrub everything from the toilet to the mirror. Make sure you have an order of how you’re going to clean everything, just so you don’t miss anything.

    – Clean the tiles and all of the surfaces, making sure you remove any limescale that may have built up over time.

    – Clean the plug holes of both the sink and bath/shower, ensuring the water is draining away efficiently

  • Walls
    – Go around your accommodation and list any areas where there are any scuffs or marks on the walls. If you can, just wash them off, if not you may have to purchase a bit of paint and do a bit of decorating.

 

That looks like a lot to do doesn’t it?! Well if you want as much of your deposit back as possible then you need put a lot of work into it!

If you’re not bothered about your deposit, then you can leave all the cleaning up to us, as your letting agent will get in contact with us to do so.

If are there are any student or non-student accommodation letting agents that need a contract cleaning provider then find your local ServiceMaster Clean Contract Services here.