SECRETARIA DE TRABAJO Resolución N º 888/2011

A number of service standards have been established in the cleaning industry. These include BICS, the Association of Building Cleaning Direct Service Providers, the British Association of Cleaning in Higher Education and Asset Skills. BICS has developed a standard for the education sector, which is used by boards and by nearly all the external organisations that were consulted as part of the review. After consideration by the ELB service managers, the BICS standard for education has been proposed as the preferred option for the single service.

The service standard can be enhanced through the achievement of continuous improvement models such as Charter Mark, IiP, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and use of the EFQM Business Excellence Model. Attainment of these standards ensures a customer focused and quality driven approach and can be used as a marketing tool.

Standards are usually described in a service specification, of which there are two main types. An input specification details the frequency of operations rather than the standard to be maintained. In this instance a service provider might deliver the correct number of operations but not at the optimum time for the customer. An outcome specification explains the standard to be achieved but not how it is to be achieved. In this case it is difficult for the customer to measure the level of activity.

Both types of specification are widely used by public and private sector providers.

Consultations with a range of organisations have pointed out these inherent flaws.

5.4.1 Customer Feedback

The consultation exercise has provided feedback on customer satisfaction with the current standard of cleaning. Of the site visits to 26 schools, 14 use ELB services, 9 employ their own cleaners and 3 make use of private sector cleaning companies.

Of the schools using ELB services:

• Two have recently ceased using private companies due to poor service and a perceived lack of value for money

• One has recently joined the ELB provision and considers the standard higher than when managing its own service

• A majority feel they receives a good or very good service

• A significant minority consider the cleaning to be either poor or inconsistent

• Nearly all schools view using the ELB service as a means of reducing their administrative burden

• A minority experience problems in communicating with the service managers

• A minority are not satisfied with monitoring procedures Of the schools employing their own cleaners:

• One has recently left the ELB provision and prefers the standard of its own managed service

• A majority are satisfied with the standard of cleaning

• Very few schools have a specified cleaning standard

• Nearly all schools rely on the ELB service for site surveys, training and advice on materials and equipment

Of the 3 schools contracting private sector cleaning companies:

• 2 are satisfied with the standard of cleaning

• All agree that standards must be clearly established and monitored

• All have to work hard at developing and maintaining relations with the provider

• All experience problems with the conflicting cultures between public and private sectors and in managing the interface

General themes include:

• Nearly all schools agree that the standard of cleaning is affected by factors such as age and condition of buildings, levels of maintenance, use of mobile classrooms and behaviour of pupils

• A significant minority experience problems with cleaning of toilet areas in relation to design flaws, suitability of wall and floor surfaces and acts of vandalism. To minimise these problems, access to toilets is often restricted, especially between break periods.

• Where toilets are satisfactory, schools are normally attended to on a regular basis by a daytime cleaner or the building supervisor. The job description for building supervisors includes a responsibility to ‘provide an ongoing Cleaning Service to the entire premises to deal with such things as midday toilet cleaning’

Quantitative data from the survey of school principals indicates high levels of satisfaction with their current cleaning provider. Satisfaction with ELB central service providers is shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Satisfaction with ELB Central Service Provider ELB Percentage

Satisfied

Percentage Very Satisfied

Overall Percentage Satisfaction

BELB* 57 14 71

NEELB 50 31 81

SEELB 50 13 63

SELB 55 26 81

WELB 46 30 76

Average 51 25 76

Source: CMSU (* schools in Belbclean arrangement)

Overall customer satisfaction levels for all board properties with their current service providers are given in Table 6 (5.4.4). Average customer satisfaction for central service and school-based cleaning across the educational estate is 80%.

From the survey, very few (6.5%) schools have a desire to change their service providers from the ELB. This positive picture was also reflected by schools employing their own cleaners and the private sector.

5.4.2 Hygiene and Health Issues

Effective cleaning of toilets in schools is a nationwide challenge and is being addressed through the Bog Standard Campaign (www.bog-standard.org). The campaign aims to promote better toilet facilities for pupils and has three key objectives:

• To increase public awareness of how improving provision and access to pupils’

toilet facilities can benefit children’s health and learning

• To raise the standard of provision and access to pupils’ toilets in all schools nationally

• To ensure that UK and EU regulations adopt and enforce acceptable minimum standards for provision and access* to toilet facilities and drinking water for all pupils in school

* Access refers to both allowing pupils to go to the toilet when they need to and providing facilities that are suitable for use by all pupils, including those with special needs.

The Bog Standard Campaign has also produced a 12 point Charter, which is available at the organisation’s web site.

Hygiene is a serious issue in schools, and not only in toilet areas. Research indicates that the average desktop has over 2,000 germs per square inch compared to the average toilet seat with 49 germs per square inch (www.aboutgerms.com and www.germx.com). Similar comparisons can be made with computer keyboards and telephone handsets. Effective hygiene is crucial in helping to prevent the spread of diseases to vulnerable young people.

The APSE Report on building cleaning, produced in February 2007, referred to the negative impact of the trend to reduce the number of cleaning hours provided to schools. The report recommended establishing a ‘minimum standard for school-based cleaning to stem the decline’. Reductions can have an adverse effect on the quality of cleaning and create the potential for negative impact on health.

It is acknowledged that schools have limited budgets and there is a need for compromise between cost, productivity and quality. However, the health and wellbeing of children should be a key priority and sufficient resources must be allocated to the cleaning of schools.

5.4.3 Monitoring of Standards

Key to delivering a quality Cleaning Service is a combination of clear standards and effective monitoring systems. The standard must be detailed in the service specification agreed between customer and service provider. Monitoring systems should be transparent, objective and impartial. The specification could be a hybrid of input and outcome; describing a minimum number of operations and an acceptable standard to be maintained.

Ideally, monitoring should be a mixture of self-monitoring by the service provider and external monitoring by an independent body, representing the customer. In this way, the schools meals service is subject to an independent monitoring scheme by Environmental Health Inspectors. Furthermore, the cleanliness of a school currently forms part of the report by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI).

The service is able to exploit technology to increase efficiency in monitoring, for example by using specific hand-held devices. This technology reduces the time taken, records the findings and enables accurate reports to be produced quickly.

An approved standard across the educational estate would ensure that all premises meet an acceptable and clearly defined baseline. As long as these standards were met, schools would be free to opt in or out of a single service arrangement but schools outside should be liable for cost of repairs or damage to property that is attributable to inadequate or improper cleaning practices.

Along with agreed standards and effective monitoring, it is important that all schools and properties are surveyed in a coherent manner, so that, for example, comparable schools in Bangor and Enniskillen are provided with similar resources. Again, this type of operation can be facilitated by hand-held devices and supporting software to speed up the process and ensure a high degree of consistency.

5.4.4 Customer Satisfaction

A number of leading organisations, such as Midlothian and Gateshead Councils, have produced customer charters describing standards of service, operational schedules, monitoring procedures, contact details and the complaints process. A customer complaints process, which also invites positive comments, is a valuable measure of customer satisfaction and can be linked to a helpdesk facility.

Overall customer satisfaction is more effectively measured through what is known as a ‘portfolio’ approach. This approach employs a combination of measures, including surveys, records of meetings, site visits, quality control monitoring and complaints, to provide a comprehensive picture of customer satisfaction. Consultation can also be carried out with non-users to ascertain their needs and expectations. The results and trends can be used to demonstrate continuous improvement, market the service and expand the customer base.

To complement the establishment of a quality standard and measurement of customer satisfaction, it will be necessary to develop KPIs in these areas. Achievement in meeting the quality standard will be determined using the monitoring process and customer satisfaction will be measured through the portfolio approach.

Results of overall customer satisfaction surveys for cleaning, carried out by a range of leading UK organisations over 2005-7, are shown in Table 5. The figures include customers who rate the service from excellent to satisfactory.

Table 5: Customer Satisfaction Rates for UK Organisations

Description of Organisation Satisfaction Rating (%)

North East England Borough Council 96

North West England Borough Council 96

North West England Metropolitan Council 91

Voluntary Grammar School 90

South West England Borough Council 87

Scottish Urban Authority 75

APSE average satisfaction rating (Performance Networks) 71

ELB cleaning all properties in the board area 97

ELB with a mix of board and school-based cleaners 97 Source: various

From the survey of customers in ELBs, satisfaction with the Cleaning Service is outlined in Table 6.

Table 6: Customer Satisfaction with Cleaning Provider

Customer Satisfaction Rating (%)

Youth clubs 90

Board centres 88

Branch libraries 83

Schools (principals & governors) 78

Average 80 Source: CMSU

Most primary, special and post-primary pupils (86.2%) answered positively to the sentence ‘my school is normally clean and tidy’. Pupils also rated their satisfaction with the quality of cleaning in areas of their schools. Their responses are shown in Table 7.

Table 7: Pupils’ Satisfaction Ratings for Quality of Cleaning Area of School Primary School

Pupils

Classrooms Very Good Good Satisfactory

Cloakroom Good Good Good

Corridors Very Good Good Good

Dining areas Good Good Good

Library Very Good Very Good Very Good

Reception Very Good Very Good Very Good

Stairways Good Good Good

Toilets Satisfactory Good Unsatisfactory

Source: CMSU

Nearly all parents believe the quality of cleaning in school to be important (98.5%) and that ‘the school is generally clean and tidy’ (93%).

In the remaining educational estate, nearly all users of board centres, branch libraries and youth clubs consider the general cleaning (98.7%) and toilets (90.7%) to be in the range from satisfactory to very good.