With many commercial cleaning companies around, it can be difficult to know which company to pick, when you are simply looking at various websites.
Most of us have worked in an office or other environment where we have found the cleaning to be of a very poor standard. Our first instinct is to blame the cleaner and say they can't clean, but we need to ask the question, why is their cleaning so poor?
This leads on to the subject of commercial cleaning certification. Do you know what commercial cleaning certification is? The title would suggest that it is a qualification needed to clean professionally, however the sad reality is that anyone can start a commercial cleaning company, pull anyone off the street and out them to clean your premises, with little or no training.
Sure they will probably offer a cheap service compared to some companies that invest in staff training, but the results will reflect this, almost guaranteeing no customer satisfaction.
Think about it, why should commercial cleaning be any different to any other service we use at our business? Would you use an unqualified electrician to rewire the office, or let your office staff run with business without training them on your policies, procedures and how to maximise the efficiency of your business?
The sad reality is, many cleaning companies aren't willing to have this outlay, to squeeze every penny of profit they can in this competitive market place. It's an old saying, but if you buy cheap, you buy twice. This is no different in the cleaning world.
At Green Fox Cleaning, we invest in our commercial cleaning certification to professionalise ourselves, and stand out from the crowd. We are members of the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc), and have our own qualified BICSc accredited training team that deliver training to our cleaning operatives.
The amount of sites we quote at where a previous cleaning contractor has been in place and there is absolutely no standard of cleaning at all is worrying.
It is a real misconception that everyone can clean well if they want to. Knowing how to clean efficiently and effectively takes skill. Vacuuming using correct processes can be up to 50% more efficient that not using a systematic process, and avoids areas being missed.
Did you know there is a correct way to vacuum, to mop and even how to fold and use a cloth? Following correct process will benefit your company, as the cleaners will be trained in preventing cross contamination and leaving other health & safety breaches.
When selecting a commercial cleaning company for you premises, it can be easy to simply focus on the price. The reality is that a company that do not invest in commercial cleaning certification may well cost you a lot more in the long run.
Companies that invest in their staff will have better retention, meaning a more consistent service for you, and better standards. Invariably, companies that have staff nightmares end up becoming your nightmare also with poor cleans and even missed cleans.
Click here to learn more about Green Fox Cleaning and how we can improve the appearance of your business with ours. Our investment in commercial cleaning certification for our staff results in great staff retention rates, and happy, valued employees.
Whether your medical practice is a doctors surgery, dental practice, hospital or any other healthcare setting, correct cleaning processes are essential.
With various bodies including the Care Quality Commission regulating general practices and the General Dental Council for health and dentistry practices, full compliance is essential. Cleaning pays a big part in the smooth and safe running of any medical practice, and medical practice cleaning requires stringent processes and procedures.
Selection of the best cleaning company for your premises requires careful consideration, to ensure the best match. These are the top five things that you should consider when selecting a cleaning company.
Click here to learn 10 great questions to ask when looking to engage a new cleaning company for your medical practice cleaning requirements.
At Green Fox Cleaning, we pride ourselves on delivered an unrivalled and local medical practice cleaning service. Our staff are trained by our in-house British Institute of Cleaning Science accredited training team. We have a 24-hour client support line, and an advanced GPS staff attendance system monitored live-time 24/7 by an on-call manager, ensuring that you will never miss a clean. We also always pay our cleaners above the minimum wage, as we value our staff.
The Health and Social Care Act 2008: Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections and related guidance requires that registered providers of health and social care “Provide and maintain a clean and appropriate environment in managed premises that facilitates the prevention and control of infections”.
This means that every medical practice should have clear cleaning processes in place to keep staff and visitors safe,
Four key areas around this compliance are as follows:
Whilst it is of course true that cleaning is ongoing throughout the day, engaging the services of Green Fox Cleaning will ensure that you have a clear cleaning schedule, and dedicated cleaning staff for the deeper daily cleaning of your medical practice.
Doctors surgery cleaning and general practice cleaning require skill and knowledge to be completed correctly. Understanding of full colour coding processes to prevent cross contamination (click here to learn more), the best cleaning products to use in the healthcare setting, and the high levels of cleaning as disinfection required every single day.
To find out more about how Green Fox Cleaning can improve the appearance of your general practice surgery, dental practice or any other medical practice, click here to learn more about our work in this sector and get in touch.
Veterinary practices like other healthcare sector premises require the highest levels of cleaning and disinfection. A single cleaning mistake could become a huge problem, with poorly animals and surgery taking place, only the highest clinical cleaning standards are acceptable.
Most veterinary practices outsource their cleaning requirements, allowing them to focus on running their business. You can learn more about the benefits of outsourcing your cleaning by clicking here.
"Don't forget to ensure you keep your veterinary practice car park clean, and litter pick on a regular basis. A car park full of rubbish will give a negative appearance of your premises before your customers even enter, often at a distressing time in their life. It can be easy to focus on getting everything looking great inside, and forgetting the grounds of your practice."
Paul Barrett - Company Director
Good cleaning processes from highly trained cleaning staff is essential, but without the knowledge of the correct and most suitable cleaning products to use in the veterinary practice cleaning sector, you can never be certain that your premises is as clean and safe as it should be.
There are many suppliers of veterinary practice cleaning products, with one established supplier being Anigene.
As well as ensuring the services of a good commercial cleaning company are in place at your veterinary practice to keep everything safe for your staff and visitors (both human and animals), correct product selection and knowledge is essential.
At Green Fox Cleaning, we are highly experienced in the veterinary practice cleaning sector. We provide daily cleaning services for independent groups of veterinary practices, as well as various practices for national giants Vet Partners and IVC Evidensia.
A firm favourite of our products within the veterinary practice cleaning sector is the Anigene range. Specifically designed for veterinary practice cleaning, it is highly efficient and proven to be effective.
There are a wide range of products available in the anigene veterinary practice cleaning range, which are specially designed for the veterinary cleaning sector and offer a number of benefits, including the following:
The above make it a firm favourite for us at Green Fox Cleaning, as an environmentally conscious cleaning company.
Anigene can be used in numerous areas for veterinary practice cleaning, to include hard floors in reception and consult rooms, walls and animal habitats when unoccupied, to include surfaces and sinks. It really is a versatile veterinary practice cleaning product.
We hope you have found this article useful, and that it has given you some food for thought. Careful product selection and the placement of a good commercial cleaning company will make your veterinary practice a safer place for each and every visitor, and give the best possible impression all round.
To find out more about our work in the veterinary practice cleaning sector and how we can help improve the appearance of your practice with a reliable and local cleaning service, click here to learn more.
You can learn more about the history of the veterinarian sector from wikipedia by clicking here.
Most laminate floors have a degree of waterproof protection, but all. Do you know the best way to clean laminate floors that are not waterproof?
Incorrect cleaning processes to laminate floors can cause irreversible damage. Learn more here by taking two minutes to read this blog - it may save you quite a bit of money in the long run!
The method to clean laminate floors should remain consistent, whether the flooring has a layer of waterproof protection or not. Always remember the one key point.
"A wet mop or too much water being used on laminate flooring is highly likely to cause the floor to lift, resulting in permanent damage."
Green Fox Cleaning accredited training team
It is important to remember that laminate floors are not fully waterproof, so any spillages should be cleaned up straight away to minimise the risk of any lasting damage or warping of your floors. All that is needed to do this is a damp (not wet!) cloth to remove the spillage, and wipe to dry.
Whilst laminate flooring is tough and robust, every precaution should be taken to minimise the risk of scratching the floor. You should never use scouring pads, wire wool pads or any other abrasive cleaning tools - a soft bristled brush is best.
The best mop for laminate floors is one that will pick up dirt, won't leave behind excess water and won't scratch the floor during the cleaning process In our opinion, the best mop option when it comes to cleaning laminate flooring is a microfibre mop.
If you choose not to buy a cleaning solution from the store, it’s pretty easy to make your own product and save some money, and reduce chemical usage during your process to clean laminate floors that are not waterproof.
White distilled vinegar is a miracle worker when you mop laminate flooring. To make your solution, simply combine 1 part vinegar and 3 parts warm water together. Add 1 teaspoon of washing up liquid and mix together before putting it in a spray bottle.
The first thing to do it to vacuum your flooring to remove any dust, but more importantly any debris that could cause scratching if pushed around by a mop.
Lightly dampen your microfibre mop by spraying some solution onto it, then begin the process of mopping your floor. Ensure that you overlap your mopping pattern, to cover all areas of the floor and make sure nothing is missed during your cleaning process.
Remember to drain your mop if it absorbs too much water, as you don’t want your flooring to get too wet. After cleaning, allow your flooring to dry naturally. This completes the correct process to clean laminate floors that are not waterproof.
"Do you have a dog at work? Make sure you keep on top of clipping their claws, as if they get too long they are one of the quickest ways to scratch your laminate flooring!"
Green Fox Cleaning accredited trainer
The easiest way to clean laminate floors that are not waterproof and keep all your floors and the rest of your workplace looking great is to engage the services of a professional commercial cleaning company.
Green Fox Cleaning are a commercial cleaning company that deliver unrivalled local cleaning services to businesses in all sectors. Click here to learn more.
Whether it is our home or our workplace, we move premises from time to time and have to hand the premises over in a good, cleaning condition. The way this is achieved is through the completion of an end of tenancy clean.
In both a domestic and commercial setting if the premises is rented, charges can be made if the property is not returned in an acceptable condition. An agent will inspect the premises after you return it and have completed your end of tenancy clean. Any missed areas may result in a deduction to your deposit, so understanding exactly what is required from this check out clean is really important.
The purpose of this blog is to give you a better understanding of what an end of tenancy clean is, and what you should expect.
End of tenancy cleaning is the term given to completing deeper cleaning at a domestic or commercial premises before giving it back to a landlord, or selling it.
The level of detail and depth of the clean should be much deeper than a regular clean, with attention to areas that the average person may not even consider.
An end of tenancy clean will include, but not be limited to the following:
You can either carry out the end of tenancy clean yourself if you prefer, as long as you are confident you can meet the high standards that are expected, as a poor clean may cost you a lot in deductions!
The easiest way to ensure an end of tenancy at your home is completed well is to employ the services of a domestic cleaning company.
To ensure the best quality end of tenancy clean at your business as well as regular cleaning services, click here to learn more about Green Fox Cleaning and how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.
Can you clean fabric vertical blinds? The thought of such a task may appear an extremely daunting one, but the reality is that this doesn't need to be the case.
The purpose of this short article is to give you some tips and guidance on the best and easiest way to clean vertical fabric blinds.
For daily cleaning, the easiest way is to use a brush attachment on a vacuum cleaner, and gently vacuum from top to bottom of each blind, to catch all dust.
For deeper periodic cleaning, the following is a simple five step process to keep your blinds looking great all year long. It is likely you will need to complete this process every 6-12 months.
Before we can start the cleaning process, we need to remove the blinds from the holding rail. Carefully unclip or remove in the correct manor dependant on how they are attached. Be careful when stretching up.
Once you have removed the blinds, be sure to dust your rail with a damp cloth to make them nice and clean when you hang them back up later.
Fill a large bucket, sink, or even the bath if easier with warm water - do not use hot water, just warm. Some blinds have glue attachments, and hot water could perish this.
Very carefully and gently, scrub the vertical blinds with a soft sponge or cloth from top to bottom, ensuring you cover all areas of the blind to fully clean.
Do not soak the blinds - this could result in shrinkage to the blinds.
If you hang the vertical blinds when wet, this may result in them stretching. You should never tumble dry them either, as this will damage them for sure!
Lay them on a flat surface to dry. If you have some water spots, gently wipe away with a dry cloth, or use a hair dryer on the lowest setting for very short periods.
Once the blinds are fully dried, you can hang them back on their rail, and your work is complete!
Green Fox Cleaning are a commercial cleaning company that complete cleaning for businesses of all sizes, and in all sectors. Click here to learn more about us, and how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.
Lacquered brass door handles can look simply stunning when looked after correctly. The fact is that sadly most people don't know the best way for cleaning them, and as such they rarely look at their best.
The purpose of this article is to teach you the best way for cleaning lacquered brass door handles, to keep them looking at their very best.
A short read of this article could save you a lot of time and stress in the future.
It is a little known fact that most brass produced now is lacquered. Being lacquered in production, the brass should not be polished as you may first think, but instead actually be cleaned.
Brass that has been lacquered has a clear layer and dully of the appearance will only occur if a crack appears on the surface. The thin clear layer in the short term protects the brass finish from exposure to the atmosphere and will ensure it displays the bright shine. If however this thin layer is not cleaned and protected, it will not last as expected.
When it comes to cleaning lacquered brass door handles, or any other lacquered brass, your best friend will be washing up liquid and warm water. Warm soapy water is going to be key in this cleaning process.
Like many other cleaning processes, use a soft cloth and wring it out so it is only damp when cleaning the brass, and never wet. After you have cleaned the brush, get a seperate clean, dry soft cloth or towel and dry fully to prevent the risk of rusting or other marking.
On a regular basis you will want to simply dust the brass with a soft cloth such as a microfibre cloth, but will rarely need to wash it.
If you do need to wipe a mark or other debris off your brass, you should only use lukewarm water and washing up liquid. The occasional use of a good quality wax polish will also help to seal and chips and scratches in the lacquer itself and is well worth doing. In exposed and external situations, more regular waxing is advised to keep it clean and protect it against the elements.
"It may be natural for many of us to think Brasso is the best option for our lacquered brass, however this couldn't be further from the truth. Brasso is abrasive and will remove the clear protective film. Brasso is only for unlacquered brass."
Green Fox Cleaning accredited trainer
At some point down the line, it is likely that the lacquer will deteriorate and will be beyond requiring a simple wash or dust to keep it looking great.
If this happens with your lacquered brass, it is suggested that the lacquer is removed using a lacquer remover and then polished back to its original finish using a good quality brass cleaner. You can then return to your normal maintenance and cleaning process.
We hope you have found this article on cleaning lacquered brass door handles useful, and that it will make the task a lot more straightforward for you.
Green Fox Cleaning are a commercial cleaning that can not only keep your brass door handles looking great, but the rest of your workplace also. Click here to learn more about us, and how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.
Medical practices such as doctors surgeries in England fall under the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) ongoing compliance monitoring system. Part of this compliance monitoring process relates to cleanliness and infection control within your practice.
A waiting room full of potentially ill people obviously carries a high risk area for bacteria and viruses to spread. This is without even considering the consultation rooms where patients come and go throughout the day. As a result, it’s clear that a professional and reliable cleaning service is essential to keep your doctors surgery hygienic and safe.
This is essential to ensure that staff, patients and other visitors are being kept as safe as possible when visiting.
Click here to learn more about the full CQC requirement with regard to doctors surgery cleaning.
"Yet again the staff at Green Fox Cleaning have immediately responded to our request for help with a situation and have dealt with it promptly and efficiently. We are very grateful and very pleased that we made the switch to you."
Doctors Surgery Practice Manager
Doctors Surgery Cleaning requires skill and knowlege to be done correctly and well, every time.
The easiest way to ensure your practice is cleaned to the highest standard every day is to engage the services of a cleaning company experienced in the healthcare cleaning cleaning.
There are many benefits to outsourcing your doctors surgery cleaning to a commercial cleaning company - click here to learn more about the benefits of outsourcing your cleaning.
If you decide to keep your doctors surgert cleaning in-house, it is essential that you have a detailed cleaning schedule. This will ensure that those responsible for the cleaning of the practice know exactly what is expected of them, and makes the expectations very clear from the outset.
The schedule should detail all rooms and areas of your surgery, and every single cleaning task to be completed in that area. The schedule should also detail the frequency of the cleaning - e.g sanitise all desks daily, or high dust weekly, for example.
In the healthcare cleaning sector, nothing short of perfection will do. Daily sanitisation throughout the practice is essential to keep staff and visitor safe, with many visiting when their immune system is already low.
Selection of the correct cleaning products and equipment is key, and cleaning should be completed in a thorough and methodical way, following the cleaning specification.
Areas that could easily be missed such as light switches, door handles and other high touch points require extra attention.
Floors should be cleaned thoroughly using a suitable disinfectant, desks and chairs cleaned daily, and bins emptied daily also. When you think of all the tasks that require cleaning and different frequencies, a cleaning schedule for your practice is likely to run over many pages if done correctly.
Patient and staff toilets require extra attention to ensure full sanitisation and safety for all visitors when undertaking surgery cleaning.
Every part of cleaning a doctors surgery should be consider the measures needed to minimise any risk of cross contamination. Click here to learn what cross contamination is, and how to avoid it when cleaning.
Colour coding is in its most simple form, the use of different coloured cloths, mops and buckets to prevent the spreading of germs. Industry standard colours are common, and normally as follows:
Colour coding is essential to keep all areas of your practice as safe as possible. If you have a cleaning company currently, have a look in your cleaning cupboard. Are all four coloured options present, or are they cutting corners and pinching the pennies with just a couple of colours? If this is the case, it is certainly time to look for a new cleaning contractor.
Click here to learn ten great questions to ask when deciding on a new cleaning company for your doctors surgery cleaning - spending time making the right choice next time will save you a lot of time and aggravation in the long term!
"I must say to you that I have been so impressed with the service you have offered since the very first day you came to see us – just thought I’d let you know that!"
Practice manager, Doctors Surgery, Emsworth
Good infection prevention (including cleanliness) in doctors surgery cleaning as advise by the CQC is essential to ensure that people who use health and social care services receive safe and effective care. Effective prevention and control of infection must be part of everyday practice and be applied consistently by everyone.
Full guidance from the CQC around infection control in general practices can be found by clicking here. Two examples of the guidance given include the need for clinical rooms to avoid the use of carpet, and bins in all clinical areas should have a foot pedal operation.
At Green Fox Cleaning, infection control is our top priority and our team have many years of experience in knowing exactly how a doctors surgery should be cleaned to ensure high levels of cleanliness throughout the building, day after day, clean after clean.
Out of hours audits and inspections ensure that a high standard of cleanliness is consistently maintained.
We hope you have found this article on doctors surgery cleaning and the high expectations of surgery cleaning useful. Selecting a good cleaning company will save you time and money in the long run!
Many GP surgeries require an out of hours cleaning service. At Green Fox Cleaning we operate 24/7 and we can be flexible and clean at a time that suits you, the staff and your patients.
At Green Fox Cleaning, our exceptional cleaning standards from our highly trained cleaning operatives ensure the surgery is thoroughly cleaned and we also offer carpet cleaning and window cleaning to be able to provide a full and extensive service as needed.
Our cleaning operatives are local to your premises, dedicated to your venue to ensure personal pride is taken, and trained by our in-house British Institute of Cleaning Science Team.
To find out more about our work in the healthcare setting and how we can help improve the appearance of your medical premises, click here to learn more.
You can learn more about the history of general practice from Wikipedia by clicking here.
The technology used in commercial cleaning moves at a rapid pace as companies seek to improve their cleaning efficiency and service level delivered to clients.
The actual level of technology used at each site will vary depending on the size of the contract to a large degree - for example large automated floor cleaners costing £30,000 each will not be seen at many standard office cleaning sites, but are more likely to feature in large airport setups where huge areas of space require cleaning in the quickest possible time.
In most commercial cleaning settings, the traditional mop and bucket is still very much a regular site. The balance between cost and efficiency is often hard to beat, but the risk of dirty mop heads being left in cleaning cupboards can be a concern. This is resulting in disposable mop heads being used more often, especially in healthcare cleaning settings.
Scrubber dryer machines for cleaning of hard floor areas have traditionally been large and bulky, taking up a lot of space.
Advances in technology have resulted in machine sizes reducing, and cordless cleaning options being available. These machines allow deeper cleaning of floors, and can reduce cleaning times considerably.
The below image shows a modern floor scrubber dryer being used by a Green Fox Cleaning employee at a veterinary practice that is cleaned on a daily basis by us. Cordless with good run time and quick battery changes allow this machine to run for hours at a time, with one battery used whilst the other charges in the same time.
A common complaint by clients generally is that their cleaning company staff are skipping time. Technology is now available to track staff, ensuring full cleaning lengths are completed every visit. Technology used in commercial cleaning to ensure agreed times are honoured should be common place with a good commercial cleaning company.
Advanced tracking systems allow a cleaning company to know the exact time their staff got to a client location, how long they spent there and their work performance there.
GPS time tracking involves the use of software and mobile applications specifically built for that purpose.
At Green Fox Cleaning, our bespoke advanced system allows accurate live time monitoring round the clock, live time by an on-call manager.
Green cleaning is to do with the use of environmentally safe products, techniques, etc, in commercial cleaning. Though it is not completely new in the industry. It is one of the best innovations so far in the industry and continues to develop day by day. Learn more about green cleaning by clicking here.
Modern commercial cleaning equipment like electrostatic sprayers help in saving time when undertaking a disinfection service in response to viral or other outbreaks. In terms of technology used in commercial cleaning, this is a great advance. You can learn more about electrostatic technology and cleaning by clicking here.
A good commercial cleaning company should only be offering this service if they have full understanding of the correct products to use in the application, and how this treatment works as part of a two step process.
Social media is more and more prevalent, and being used more by businesses in all sector to promote their services. This is no different in the commercial cleaning sector and is commonly used to promote services. Advances on various social media platforms allow more detailed targeting by businesses.
Social media is also used by some companies to recruit additional staff as well as targeting customers. In terms of technology used in commercial cleaning, social media has a very wide range of uses.
At Green Fox Cleaning, we invest in the best technology used in commercial cleaning to deliver the best possible service to our clients. Click here to learn more about us, and how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.
Laminate flooring is more and more common in workplaces in a wide variety of sectors now.
The purpose of this short blog is to share with you how to stop office chairs damaging laminate floors, and keep your flooring looking great and free of damage.
A big cause of damage to laminate flooring in the workplace environment is that of office chair wheels moving across them. Whether the wheel becomes slightly damaged and drags its rough edge over your flooring or it a piece of sharp debris gets lodged under the wheel, these are both quick ways to ruin the appearance of your flooring.
Quite often it is the wheels supplied with the office chairs that cause the damage, as they aren't really suitable for use on laminate floors. One option open to you is to replace them with more specialist wheels suitable for use on laminate floors.
One great thing about these wheels is that they were made and designed for sensitive floors such as laminate flooring. They are made from rubber rather than plastic, which means they won’t leave any marks on your expensive floors the way that plastic wheels can.
In addition to this they glide nicely over laminate floor - they don’t make any sound or noise when moving the chair while working unlike standard plastic wheels.
What are the other benefits of these specialist caster wheels?
The best example of these wheels we have found can be viewed by clicking here - please note we are not affiliated in any way with this product - it is based on the massive number of positive reviews and price balance. Please note that these ones are not compatible with IKEA chairs, and you would need to check suitability before making a decision.
This is a simple solution to stop office chairs damage laminate floors by changing the wheels. There is another option to stop the problem where office chairs damage laminate floors, detailed below.
The second option to stop office chairs damage laminate floors is to invest in mats to be placed on the floor. These are normally clear plastic mats which stop the wheels damaging the floor.
There are different styles available - some will have no slip grips underneath to prevent sliding. These are normally more expensive than those without, but well worth paying for in our opinion if choosing this option to stop office chairs damage laminate floors.
Which option you choose to stop office chairs damage laminate floors will largely be a personal preference. If it was us, the office wheels are a more elegant solution without the need for mats everywhere, but both will solve the problem for you.
Green Fox Cleaning are a commercial cleaning company that provide cleaning services in all sectors. Click here to learn more about how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.
