What Does a Background Check for a Commercial Cleaning Employee Actually Involve in Canada?

If you manage a building that houses sensitive operations, government tenants, healthcare services, a school, or a financial institution, one of the first questions you should ask any cleaning company is: what does your employee screening process look like?

The honest answer from most providers is more complicated than a simple yes-or-no, and it is worth understanding the landscape so you can evaluate what you are actually being told.

Canada has a multi-tiered system of criminal record checks with different scopes, different depths, and different regulatory contexts. What a commercial cleaning company calls a “background check” can mean anything from a name-based search of a single database to a comprehensive fingerprint-based investigation. The difference matters significantly for high-security, healthcare, or government-access environments.

The Three Main Tiers of Criminal Record Checking in Canada

Basic Criminal Record Check

The most common form of vetting in commercial cleaning is a name-and-date-of-birth based search through the RCMP’s Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) system – the National Repository of Criminal Records maintained by federal law enforcement.

A basic criminal record check searches for indictable (serious) criminal convictions where the individual has not received a record suspension (formerly called a pardon). It is processed through local police services or authorized third-party providers (such as the Commissionaires), can typically be completed in minutes to days, and does not require fingerprints unless the individual’s name and date of birth produce a potential match that requires confirmation.

This is the appropriate baseline for general commercial environments where cleaning staff will have access to standard office spaces and common areas, but no particular access to sensitive information, vulnerable populations, or restricted government spaces.

Enhanced Criminal Record Check (Level 2)

An enhanced check adds visibility into several categories of information not included in the basic check:

• Summary conviction offences (less serious criminal offences, as opposed to indictable offences only)
• Absolute and conditional discharges within defined disclosure periods (absolute discharges within 1 year, conditional discharges within 3 years)
• Outstanding criminal charges before the courts
• Active warrants, peace bonds, and probation orders
• Non-conviction information that local police may have on file

Enhanced checks are appropriate for environments where the cleaning staff will have access to sensitive areas, work independently in buildings outside of business hours, or service facilities where the building owners have specific risk management requirements. Many professional property managers now require enhanced checks as their portfolio standard, particularly for multi-building contracts.

Vulnerable Sector Check

A vulnerable sector check is the most comprehensive check available and is legally restricted to positions that involve trust or authority over children or vulnerable persons. Under the Criminal Records Act, it is actually an offence to conduct a vulnerable sector check for a position that does not meet this definition.

In addition to everything in the enhanced check, a vulnerable sector check also searches for record suspensions (pardons) that were granted for sexual offences. This additional search requires the individual to provide consent and, in many cases, fingerprints – particularly if their name and date of birth match records on the pardoned sex offender registry.

In BC, vulnerable sector checks are administered through the BC Criminal Records Review Program (CRRP), not directly through local police services for most applicants.

This level of check is appropriate for cleaning staff who will regularly access healthcare environments with patient contact areas, schools with active students present, childcare facilities, or elder care settings. It is not the standard for general commercial cleaning, but for cleaning companies that service these environments, it should be.

What “Government Security Clearance” Means for Cleaning Staff

Beyond the civilian criminal record check system, some government buildings require a higher level of vetting administered through Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) or building-specific security programs.

The most common clearance levels relevant to cleaning staff in government-occupied buildings:

Reliability Status is the baseline clearance for individuals working in federal government buildings in non-sensitive roles. It involves a standard criminal record check plus a personal history verification covering residence, employment, and references for the past five years, and potentially a credit check. Cleaning staff working in general federal government office space typically need at minimum Reliability Status.

Enhanced Reliability goes further with more thorough background investigation and is required for positions with access to Protected B information or more sensitive areas of government facilities.

For RCMP facilities specifically, clearance requirements are often determined building by building based on the sensitivity of the operations conducted there. Cleaning staff in RCMP detachment support areas typically require Reliability Status; those with access to more sensitive areas may require higher clearance levels determined by the RCMP’s own security personnel.

For provincial government buildings in BC, clearance requirements vary by ministry and tenant. Property managers and cleaning providers working in this sector need to confirm requirements with the specific tenant rather than assuming a uniform standard.

In Practice: What a Reputable Cleaning Company Should Be Doing

A professional commercial cleaning company operating in Western Canada should, at minimum:

Conduct a basic criminal record check on all employees before their first day of work, not as an afterthought. The check should precede unsupervised access to any building, not follow it.

Maintain a documented screening file for each employee, including the type of check conducted, the date, and the result. This documentation should be available to clients who request it as evidence of compliance with contractual vetting requirements.

Upgrade check levels for employees assigned to higher-security clients. If a cleaning company places a general commercial cleaning employee in a government or healthcare building without upgrading the screening level, they are exposing both themselves and the building owner to risk.

Have a defined re-check schedule. A criminal record check conducted at the time of hire is a point-in-time snapshot, not a permanent clearance. For staff in sensitive environments, checks should be renewed on a defined cycle – typically every two to three years.

Have a clear policy for what happens when a check returns a flag. Not every conviction is disqualifying for every role – context matters, and both the cleaning company’s HR policy and the building owner’s requirements need to be considered. What you want is a documented process, not ad hoc judgment calls.

Questions to Ask Your Cleaning Provider

When evaluating a cleaning company’s staff vetting practices, ask:

1. What type of criminal record check do you conduct – basic, enhanced, or vulnerable sector? 2. Is it completed before an employee’s first shift, or during the probationary period? 3. Can you provide documentation that a check has been completed for each employee assigned to our building? 4. Do you re-check employees periodically? If so, how often? 5. For our building’s security requirements (healthcare, government, financial), do you upgrade the check level? What does that process look like? 6. What happens if a check produces a flag? Who makes the decision about suitability? 7. How do you handle access card and key security when an employee leaves?

A company that can answer these questions specifically and confidently has thought seriously about security. A company that responds vaguely, that claims “all employees are background checked” without specifying what that means, or that cannot produce documentation on request, is not operating to a standard appropriate for sensitive commercial environments.

A Note on Key and Access Management

Background checking is one dimension of security. Access management is another, and they need to work together. A vetted employee who has been with a company for three years but has just resigned still represents a risk if they retain keys or access codes to your building after their last day.

Your cleaning contract should specify:

• A key/access card inventory and sign-out log for all assets held by the cleaning company
• Return obligation upon termination of any employee assigned to your building
• Notification to building management when an employee holding your access assets leaves the company
• A defined window for key return and access revocation (24–48 hours is a reasonable standard)

Building managers who change access codes or rekey affected zones when any contracted service provider relationship ends – not just when there is a specific concern – are operating with the right posture.

Evergreen Building Maintenance conducts criminal record checks on all employees prior to first assignment, maintains documented screening records, and upgrades screening levels for government, healthcare, and security-sensitive client environments. For RCMP and government facilities, our staff have the relevant clearance levels required for those environments. Call 1 (855) 824-8450.