The British Cleaning Council and members write monthly columns for both Cleaning and Maintenance and Tomorrow’s Cleaning. You can read recent columns below.
To read the columns as they originally appeared, please visit https://cleaningmag.com/columnists and https://www.tomorrowscleaning.com/back-issues
Working to reduce domestic abuse
By Delia Cannings, Chair, British Cleaning Council (BCC) (This column first appeared in Tomorrow’s Cleaning magazine).
The statistics around domestic abuse in the UK are horrifying.
One in four women and one in seven men will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime.
In England and Wales combined, 2.3 million adults aged 16 to 74 experienced domestic abuse in 2019-2020.
The impact of domestic abuse can be devastating. It can drive victims to suicide, while survivors can suffer terribly physically and mentally, and it can have far-reaching consequences on children who witness it.
Fiona Bowman is a survivor. Fiona’s violent husband abused her for 11 years before she escaped, with the help of her employer.
The key moment came when the badly injured former bank clerk was in hospital for treatment and nurses called her manager for help.
When Fiona told her manager she was being abused, he knew he had to help. Her employer transferred Fiona to another branch, 400 miles away, where she rebuilt her life.
She has gone on to become a successful businessperson and author and has been an ambassador for the Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA). Fiona is a cleaning industry colleague and you may have heard her speaking at the Cleaning Show previously about her experiences.
Fiona’s story is one of thousands of similar stories, many untold, and most still hidden. It helps illustrate the vital role that employers can have in addressing domestic abuse among employees.
We must stand together in developing mediums to identify, react and support employees who suffer at the hands of others. Retribution, reprisals and the fear factor remain a key driver for silence. We must enable the voices of the victims.
The statutory guidance accompanying the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act establishes that employers have a duty of care to protect employees who may be impacted by domestic abuse and it specifically recommends that employers have a policy or guidance on domestic abuse.
Some of those who experience domestic abuse receive abusive emails or phone calls at work and nearly half say the perpetrator showed up at their workplace or stalked them outside.
Domestic abuse normally affects the performance of staff at work and can cause lateness or force staff to take time off or go off sick. It costs UK businesses an estimated £14 billion a year. So domestic abuse is very clearly a workplace issue.
We at the British Cleaning Council encourage all cleaning, hygiene and waste sector organisations to consider joining EIDA. We joined ourselves in 2022.
EIDA is a free-to-join members’ network of employers, supporting around 1,600 large and small businesses to take effective action on domestic abuse. EIDA members include household brands such as the BBC, Chelsea FC and John Lewis.
EIDA believes that through greater awareness, relationship building and the sharing of best practice, we can make a systemic change to the way domestic abuse is handled in the UK.
EIDA aims to equip employers to support employees affected by domestic abuse and to share best practice with other employers. Members are asked to sign up to a membership charter committing them to take a number of key steps.
Members can access a wide range of support and resources including the EIDA Member Handbook, which is a comprehensive guide to implementing a workplace response to domestic abuse and can be used by any sized organisation, and ‘Sharon’s Policy’ – a free domestic abuse policy template. Members receive invitations to networking and roundtable events as well as sharing knowledge with the other EIDA members.
Next month, October, is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. If your organisation is not already a member of EIDA, perhaps next month is the time to think about joining? Visit www.eida.org.uk/membership
Public sector demand helps UK bin-cleaning industry thrive
By Daniel Coulon, Director, National Association of Wheeled Bin Washers (NAWBW) This column first appeared in Cleaning and Maintenance online).
Wheelie bins have been big news this summer with the Mayor of New York announcing a ‘trash revolution’ in the city.
Of course, this technology is nothing new to us Brits, with wheelie bins having been in widespread use across the UK for decades.
The wheelie bin is thought to have been invented in 1968 and spread rapidly from the 1980s in the UK as waste disposal lorries used technology that automatically lifted and tipped the bin to deposit the waste.
As a result, most homes and many businesses, hospitals, shops and other places use them.
What has changed recently over here is the surge in demand for commercial bin cleaning, which is now at an all time high.
There has been significant growth in the national and international demand for services and equipment, with the result that the UK bin cleaning sector is thriving.
In the last few years, we’ve seen increased demand for commercial bin cleaning in the private sector, from care homes, shopping centres, airports, hotels, sporting and music venues nationwide, and this trend has only accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic. Now are seeing demand for bin cleaning surge among local authorities and NHS trusts as well.
The increase in public sector demand follows Environmental Agency guidance specifying that NHS trusts waste containers must be inspected before each reuse to make sure that they have been cleaned and disinfected. The Government has also fined some NHS trusts which do not clean their commercial bins regularly and responsibly.
Two main approaches are being taken to fulfilling these requirements. One approach is to contract out the role. Some NHS trusts are now insisting their waste contractors include regular onsite bin cleaning when putting together tenders for services while others are employing a specialist bin cleaning companies to do the work.
Specialist companies use purpose-built state-of-the-art bin cleaning equipment, approved biodegradable germ and bacteria-killing chemicals and have professionally trained staff equipped with the correct PPE.
Bins are cleaned on a range of frequencies depending on whether they are used for recycling and general waste bins or food waste. Some bin cleaning companies with the most advanced equipment can also wash yellow hazardous waste bins onsite.
Bin cleaning subcontractors are expected to responsibly deal with wastewater and dispose of it in an approved manner.
As a result of these developments, many UK bin cleaning companies are investing heavily in purpose-built equipment, much of it manufactured here in the UK by NAWBW-approved manufacturers.
The second approach being taken by local authorities and NHS Trusts is to buy equipment to wash their bin stock in-house. Static bin cleaning systems are more environmentally friendly and safer for operators.
As an association, we are pleased to see local authorities and NHS Trusts starting to take bin hygiene seriously.
Unfortunately, there are no funds or grants included in this drive to encourage responsible commercial bin hygiene and we would like to see more financial assistance given to the NHS and local authorities to allow commercial bin-cleaning equipment to be installed across the piste.
I am proud to say that the UK bin cleaning industry is a world-leader in the field and has been copied across Europe, Australia and North America. We have been at the forefront of manufacturing commercial bin cleaning equipment for the last couple of decades, with overseas companies buying their equipment largely from UK based manufacturers.