Commercial Cleaning Vendors Should Consider Healthcare Facilities

This brief article is intended to address the Commercial Cleaning Industry part of the Healthcare Industry. The potential client market offered by the Healthcare Industry is a business all to itself and an incredible one for the Commercial Cleaning Industry.

99% of the typical (non-medical) commercial cleaning accounts available for bid will be awarded based on a number of factors, with price weighing heavily. Because price is a substantial determining factor, we find accounts that seem to change from one cleaning vendor to another on a regular basis. After the initial 90 days, the level of service seems to deteriorate and the relationship between client and vendor becomes adversarial. The red flag signifying a problem with the service is obvious. The facility is dirty, just that simple. With typical cleaning account facilities, this scenario repeats over and over. Its not dangerous, just dirty and annoying. It happened because the contract went to the lowest bidder and there's not enough revenue to properly service the facility.

The level of service with Healthcare Industry cleaning accounts cannot be allowed to deteriorate. Its just plain dangerous. People can become sick or worse. Patients, visitors, your clients employees and your people are all at risk if you dont get it right. The Healthcare Industry pays a much higher square footage cleaning charge to be maintained correctly by the experienced vendor.

Potential vendors typically note airborne pathogens. That heads up is correct and even more in the limelight are the blood borne pathogens. We find these little critters in the spills(accidents) on the floor and generously scattered over all the horizontal surfaces and in the sinks. Healthcare commercial cleaning would also include an understanding of working with bio-hazard waste (red bags) and sharps containers (spent needles). Although most medical facilities have a separate vendor to remove their bio-hazard waste, its typical for the cleaning company to be responsible for collecting the waste and sharps containers and relocating all this to a central point for pick up. Kinda scary stuff when you first hear about it and it is. One must take this very seriously. We dont always get a second chance.

I offered a brief synopsis of Healthcare Industry cleaning as a way to justify higher prices, strong long term relationships and referrals that will help a business owner retire early. Once a Commercial Cleaning vendor is truly skilled in this field, they can be considered top of their field.

Its suggested to research OSHA guide lines, and thats correct. I would also suggest researching J.C.A.H.O. (Joint commission of accredited hospital organizations). They are one of the governing bodies responsible for inspecting and rating hospital organizations. Their ratings determine many factors including funding to the hospital. J.C.A.H.O. regulates many aspects of the hospital. Their requirements and guidelines for cleaning offer good benchmarks for a Commercial Cleaning vendor to aspire toward.

J.C.A.H.O. ready is an incredible level of service to share with a medical facility and will justify a profitable annual rate when bidding with your prospects. Explain to a typical non-medical prospect how it would be too difficult to offer varied levels of service to different types of accounts. Its easier to maintain all your accounts to the J.C.A.H.O. standards and justify a strong bid to them also.

Anyhow, good luck with your bids