Ray

Joel, we’re back, and we’re talking about more grossness.

 

Joel

That’s my favorite subject, right?

 

Ray

Joel, I raised three boys. I have no queasiness about me. I still don’t understand how your team deals with all of this, as well as your consulting clients. We’re talking about cross-contamination today.

 

Joel

Oh, it’s a beautiful thing. This is the gold in our business, is to help reduce the cross-contamination because we don’t want people to get sick.

 

Ray

Right. How do we avoid that?

 

Joel

Well, I’ve got a clean diaper in my left hand. I have a dirty diaper in my right-hand. I’m going to put them together. At what point is there no cross-contamination? Look it, this diaper is dirty. So is this diaper. So no, seriously, cross-contamination, it is a big issue in the industry overall. When I started in the industry over 40 years ago, we used a lot of paper towels. So, the client’s paper towels. We would go into a restaurant, we’d clean toilets, and we just wipe them down and things like that. I’ve seen some companies that have the white terrycloth rag. Okay, let me be honest, it’s really gray because Because it doesn’t get washed properly. And they take it from one toilet to the next toilet, to the next toilet, to the urinal, to the urinal, to the urinal, to the sink, to the door, to a desk… Because they only have one. Wait a minute.

 

Ray

Really?

 

Joel

Oh, I’ve seen it happen. Oh, God. I’ve worked for some companies in the past that that was the way that they trained their staff to do it because it was like, We’re only giving you one, and use it wisely.

 

Ray

I smell a training topic, and it’s not that diaper.

 

Joel

Yes. Well, it might be that diaper. Yes, it’s definitely a training issue. During the pandemic and post-pandemic, there’s been a lot of talk about cross-contamination and soils being moved from one surface to a next. One of the easiest ways and one of the technologies that was brought into this industry, probably 20 years ago, but was not used a lot because it was seen as an expensive option. But even just prior to COVID, it was like, oh, this is a good technology because these cloths, these microfiber cloths, clean really, really well. They can be used with water and get, in some cases, better results than cleaning chemicals alone. (Interesting.) But because of how we’re all trained in life is that, well, we need to see chemicals being used. So, the chemicals can be used to the cloths as well. But what the beauty is of these cloths is the fact that they’re color-coded. So you can get… I mean, there’s companies out there that sell you 50 different colors. What I have done in my company is I try to make as easy as possible. Because at one point we had about 18 different languages spoken in our company, between 15 and 18.

 

Joel

It made training very difficult because I barely can speak English. My second language that I kill is Espanol. And after that, I really am not good at the other ones. So, Google translator helps, but it’s not always the best option. So, by color coding things and teaching employees with the use of colors and surfaces they should be used on, is the first part of the training. We decided to go with almost like the traffic light slash construction type thought process that when you see red, you stop. Traffic light stop. Danger. So, toilets and urinals. Those are the dangerous spots. Yellow, caution. Okay, also restroom. So now we’re talking the partitions in the sinks. Orange, like caution cones. Again, caution like yellow, but a different type of caution. Break rooms, sinks tables. Green means go. Open office areas, partitions tables, desks, stuff like that. And that’s how we trained our staff. Blue is universal for most glass cleaners are blue, made it very easy to match up the blue microfiber to the blue chemical. And so most people understand that. But then also it’s folding them in quarters. So, half and half again so that you have eight cleaning sides.

 

Joel

And when you go to clean, you want to clean one surface, flip it over, clean the next surface, turn it around, unfold it so that you have two more clean sides, flip it inside out. Now you have the four, but fold it down. So you have four more cleaning sides. And again, there is actually a company out there that has it so all those eight quadrants are numbered. So you actually know which one you’ve used previously so that you don’t reuse it on the next surface. So again, it’s a training issue. And making sure that people are using these cloths the right way for the maximum cleaning, but for the best not to cross-contaminate. I saw a production video one time from a cleaning company trying to get additional work that was actually on a news program. And the owner, I believe, the owner, the manager of the company, was so proud of the fact that they were trying to reduce cross-contamination. And he used the same microfiber on bathrooms as he did desktops. And of course, the national news didn’t know the difference. And I was like, oh, no, this is horrible. Because anybody who’s really thinking about it right now is saying, Oh, is this how cleaning companies clean?

 

Joel

And I’m sure the guy was nervous. He’s being filmed live, things like that. I’m Sure, he didn’t mean it to be that way. But me, as somebody who knows the difference, was looking and saying he could have helped set our industry at a whole different level. And it really made me disappointed to see that happen. But again, I understand he had to have been nervous. Because I’m sure that’s not how he cleans. I don’t know this gentleman or that company at all. It was just something that I saw, and it made me go, Oh.

 

Ray

Well, I’m not going to guess how another company cleans, but I do know that DOC’S focuses on cleaning for health, not for appearance.

 

Joel

That is correct. Even when I use my consulting company and go around and teach other industries in-house, like hospitals, schools, or other building service contractors. I teach them the same way I teach my staff.

 

Ray

For the cleaning company owner who wants their team to clean for health, to reduce sick building syndrome, or at least have the opportunity to do so, please contact Joel at Docs Facilities. Thank you, Joel.

 

Joel

You’re welcome, Ray.