Young Offenders to Clean up Graffiti as Part of a New Scheme
November 19, 2008 Posted by Katie in : News, Cleaning News , add a commentBuckinghamshire County Council and a youth offending team have partnered up to send young offenders who have been involved in vandalism onto the streets to clear graffiti.
The work is done as part of the youngsters time with the youth offending team, which children are referred to after being convicted in court.
Under the project, youngsters are sent out with non-toxic cleaning kits and work in small teams under close supervision.
Michael Box, a technician with Buckinghamshire County Council, came up with the idea for the project.
He said: ‘We have virtually no budget for graffiti cleaning bridges and subways, and seeing these public places covered in tags does upset members of the public.’
‘I was trying to work out how to overcome this when I had a chance conversation with a friend, who works with the young offending service in another part of the country, who spoke about having difficulty finding schemes to get the youngsters involved in.’
‘It just seemed obvious; you could solve both problems by putting them together.’
The scheme has been hailed as “exceptional” and has earnt Mr Box some personal success after he won the county council’s Innovation Achieving Top Performance award earlier in the year.
Buckinghamshire Youth Offending Service manager said: ‘Community reparation work is a fundamental tool in making sure young people who offend understand there are consequences for their behaviour, and preventing them from re offending.’
Yet Another Complaint About Hospital Cleanliness and Another Attempt to Fix it
November 13, 2008 Posted by Katie in : News, Cleaning News , add a commentHealth staff are under fire for not keeping Falkirk Royal hospital clean, resulting in a team of inspectors being brought in to ensure they do.
The inspectors will have powers to go into any hospital in Scotland to check anti-infection procedures.
There was a call for an on-site system for reporting issues which would allow problems to be dealt with directly, avoid health and safety risks, and make the overall environment more pleasing.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon is now demanding a clean up in a bid to cut infection rates.
She has told health boards they must cut cases of C.difficile by 2011 and wants to see a 30% reduction for patients over 65.
Ms Sturgeon believes one of the failings of previous anti-infection policy in hospitals was that it was too reliant on self-assessment.
And she vowed that every hospital in the country would now be subject to random inspections to check they were meeting hygiene and infection control standards.
Burnham-On-Sea Carnival Comes at a Clean Price
November 5, 2008 Posted by Katie in : News, environment, Cleaning News , add a commentSedgemoor District Council revealed this week that the cost of cleaning up Burnham-On-Sea’s town centre streets, after next Monday’s carnival will be £2,500.
A huge clean-up operation is to be carried out overnight, so that the town centre is restored to pristine condition by 7am the following morning.
A team of 20 staff will sweep and collect what has been left by the thousands of spectators. The cost for this is estimated at about £5,000 in Bridgwater, £4,800 in North Petherton and £2,500 in Burnham-On-Sea.
Council spokesperson Claire Faun said: ‘This covers staff time, vehicles, bags and the cost of disposing of all those glasses, cans and food wrappers. It usually takes about five hours in Burnham-on-Sea and a little longer if it is very windy as the rubbish blows about.’
Johnson’s Cleaners Launches ‘Greener’ Cleaning Programme
October 30, 2008 Posted by Katie in : News, environment, Cleaning News , add a commentBritain’s biggest dry cleaning company has chosen two Cheshire branches for the first step of their new £20m `GreenEarth’ programme.
The branches have been rebranded and refurbished at a cost of £80,000 and will this weekend re-open with the latest environmentally-friendly cleaning technology.
GreenEarth is a US- patented cleaning system which uses liquid silicone cleaning solvents derived from sand, giving it minimal environmental impact. And if all this wasn’t enough, it will be available at the same price as standard cleaning as well.
GreenEarth has no harmful waste products and is said to be kinder to clothes and skin than traditional methods of dry-cleaning.
Gary Knox, environmental brand manager said: ‘It is the company’s intention to roll out the GreenEarth initiative across our entire estate over the next two years.’
‘The investment in each of the shops is in the region of £40,000, which includes a new fascia, new machinery and marketing.’
The re-launches follow its coat hanger recycling campaign launched earlier in the year - which called on customers to take the chain’s distinctive yellow hangers back to their nearest branch.
Johnson’s is also committed to a 5% reduction in energy consumption each year until 2010.
Health Secretary Attacked Over Contract Cleaning Plans
October 22, 2008 Posted by Katie in : News, Contract Cleaning, Cleaning News, Total Clean Services , add a commentThe conservative party has attacked health secretary Nicola Sturgeon, over plans to ban NHS bosses from putting more hospital cleaning services out to contract.
The Tory MSP said: ‘It was disingenuous, misleading and wrong of the SNP health secretary Nicola Sturgeon to infer that external cleaning contracts were to blame for recent outbreaks of hospital acquired infections.’
’She should concentrate on practical measures which would make a difference and not waste time on misguided political ideology.’
Ms Sturgeon told the SNP annual conference in Perth that she is banning hospitals from contracting out anymore cleaning and catering services.
She said she was setting ‘very tough’ new targets to cut rates of C difficile, and added that ‘the very highest standards of hospital cleanliness’ would be required to meet this.
She added: ‘A letter will issue from my department to all health boards advising them that from now on there will be no further privatisation of hospital cleaning and catering services anywhere in Scotland.’
Chemical Free Cleaning
October 17, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News, Cleaning News , add a commentWith the increase of environment awareness and the green wave of environmentally friendly products, cleaning products manufactures are been forced to find “green” alternatives in order to develop chemical free products to meet the demands of an environmentally friendly market.
The German manufacturer of cleaning systems and products Karcher has developed an effective cleaning method 100% chemical free, using nothing but steam.
The Karcher SV 1802 steam vacuum cleaner efficiently removes dust, dirt and grime from all kinds of surface including carpets, PVC, natural stone and tiled floors.
The SV 1802 don’t use a bag to collect the dirt, it uses a water filter instead. An additional water container allows picking up any spilled liquids over all kinds of surfaces and a series of special filters guarantees an environmentally friendly cleaning service.
Other companies are investing their money to develop chemical free cleaning products using renewable, non-toxic, phosphate free and biodegradable ingredients. The idea is to develop cleaning products that are gentle on the planet and on the people.
Mother who is Given a Mansion by the Council, Complains That it’s too Big to Clean
October 9, 2008 Posted by Katie in : News, Cleaning News , add a commentToorpakai Saindi and her seven children have moved in to a 7 bedroom house by the local council, who is paying the £12,000-a-month rent.
Son of Toorpokai said: ‘My mum has said she is not happy because the house is so big and she doesn’t like cleaning.’
He added: ‘We are very lucky to live here. If someone gave you a lottery jackpot, would you leave it?’
Including the rent, the family receive £170,000 a year in benefits.
Apparently his Mother is able to claim so much because all her children are in full-time education and she is unemployed. The family arrived in Britain seven years ago after obtaining UK visas in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Your thoughts on this story please??
Hospitals Warned Not to Over-Dilute Their Cleaning Chemicals!
October 6, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News, Cleaning News , 1 comment so farHospitals have been warned not to dilute cleaning chemicals too much over fears that it could boost antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
A US study found bugs that survive disinfectant contact can become more difficult to kill.
They evolve new defences which allow them to ‘pump’ cleaning chemicals and antibiotics out of their system.
The NHS has recently met a target for the reduction of MRSA cases, but the rise of antibiotic resistance remains a problem.
Doctors have been told to use antibiotics sparingly, as overuse can allow harmful bacteria to develop resistance, but the new research suggests that some cleaning chemicals may also cause a problem.
Dr Glenn Kaatz, who led the study, said that if bacteria in hospitals were exposed to ‘biocides’ - antibacterial chemicals - repeatedly, they could build up this resistance, and even contribute to hospital-acquired infections.
However, Dr Adam Fraise, a consultant in infection control, said that the important thing was for cleaning staff to use chemicals in the recommended concentrations, and not to water them down more than required.
‘They can be used in very very high concentrations, and provided this happens, then bacteria will be killed, and therefore not have the opportunity to acquire this resistance.’
‘There are guidelines for cleaning staff about this in the NHS, and they need to be followed.’
Nurses Encourage Cleaning, to Help Prevent the Spread of C-Difficile
October 2, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News, Cleaning News, Total Clean Services , add a commentHospital patients and visitors have been targeted as part of a campaign to reduce the number of cases of C difficile.
As part of the disease’s awareness week at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, banners have been placed around St Luke’s Hospital to raise the profile of the bacteria that causes diarrhoea, abdominal pain and fever.
Infection control nurses manned stalls to give advice to patients, visitors and staff about what they could do to stop the bug in its tracks.
Clinical nurse specialist in infection control, Alison Hunt, said: ‘Patients should make sure they wash their hands with soap and water after they have been to the toilet and before all meals.’
‘They should also make sure their visitors do the same as well as washing their hands before and after visiting the ward.’
‘Visitors should not visit if they have diarrhoea themselves.’
It is part of the trust’s hospital hygiene turnaround programme aimed at reducing the number of hospital-acquired infections.
Cleaning Olympics Who Knew They Existed!!
September 25, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News, Funny, Cleaning News , add a commentBut apparently they do and Britain did quite well.
A young cleaner won two gold medals in the ‘cleaning olympics’.
Kirsty Steele from Sowerby Bridge, was part of Team UK, who took part in the Cleaning Services Team event at the EuroSkills 2008 competition in Rotterdam last week.
Not only did Team UK win gold, but Kirsty came home with a personal gold as the highest scoring cleaning supervisor in the cleaning competition.
EuroSkills is the pan-European skills competition in which 29 countries battle to prove they are the most skilled at 25 different competitions including cleaning and fashion.
Kirsty said: ‘Words really can’t describe how pleased I am with the results. I don’t mind getting my hands mucky at all.’
’The competition was tough and being up against the best cleaners in Europe adds a tremendous amount of pressure. But I have been training hard for this and managed to concentrate on the job in hand and doing the best I could.’
’Competing at EuroSkills has been such a great experience and I’m really happy we’ve managed to show the whole of Europe how talented the UK really is.’
Kirsty was one of 16 young people in Team UK, who achieved eight gold medals and one silver in total.