As the list of ‘exempt from isolation’ roles were increased last week we were surprised to see that cleaners were not included, when professional cleaning standards are considered essential to the recovery of the economy and the provision of safe environments for the public. 

Like many in our profession we have been tasked with maintaining high level of cleanliness and hygiene to minimise the spread of the virus, and we have worked to very strict guidelines and standards since the start of the pandemic. At Crystal Clean service our team members have:-

• Decontaminating all common touch points on every clean 
• Maintained social distancing 
• Used high quality washable and disposable PPE
• Cleaned out of office hours when required
• Providing professional disinfectant fogging services
• Followed a strict colour coding system to eliminate cross contamination 

Cleaners have been an integral part in keeping people safe by thoroughly disinfecting places when a Covid outbreak has been identified. But despite this important task, they are not being recognised for the important role they play in helping to reduce the spread of the virus.

Back in April we joined the All-Party Parliamentary Group’s online meeting “The Cleaning and Hygiene’s Role in Restoring the Public’s Confidence Post-COVID in Using Work and Public Spaces”, and provided an open letter detailing ways in which cleaning standards could be improved across the sector.  We highlighted of a few key areas that needed to be addressed:-

• Training & Universal Standards
• Professional Products
• Insurance
• Recycling and Disposal
• The approach to tenders
• Appropriate recognition

The meeting was attended by a number of MP’s and Industry leaders, and an overwhelming majority of those in attendance agreed the pandemic would be considerably worse without stringent cleaning practices……

Now, only a few months later cleaners are still not receiving the recognition or the support they need in order to help businesses and the general public feel safe. Like many other cleaning companies many of our employees work on their own with very stringent and Covid safe practices but we are faced with a number of our cleaning staff being forced in to isolation through the app and Test and Trace. We follow all the guidance and support measures that help bring down the number of infection and we know that cleaning and disinfecting high traffic areas helps this. Our question at this stage is if huge amounts of cleaners end up in isolation who will then take