Sidebar: ISSA Cleaning Standard

ISSA, a trade association for the cleaning industry, has compiled a Cleaning Industry Management Standard.

Other highlights of the standard:

-An organization shall have a written quality plan "for determining whether cleaning service requirements are met and for identifying improvement opportunities.

-An organization shall measure and document its performance through surveys, inspections, customer evaluations and examination of complaints received.

-An industry-accepted methodology needs to be established for determining the number of labor hours needed to accomplish work requirements. A system should be put in place to estimate job costs; cost controls should be used to ensure that work is completed within workloading, budgeting and costing parameters.

-Staffing levels shall be based on workloading and one or more of the following—budgeting; costing data; customer requests; and industry benchmarks.

-Individual cleaning assignments should be set forth in written plans; standardized task procedures should be used across the organization and should be documented.

-An organization should use similar equipment and supplies in similar facility types, and should use inventory management and supply control systems. Equipment maintenance and repair should occur as the result of a planned process.

About the Author

Mike Kennedy

Senior Editor

Mike Kennedy has been writing about education for American School & University since 1999. He also has reported on schools and other topics for The Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, The Kansas City Times and City News Bureau of Chicago. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.

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