Tag Archive for: commercial cleaning companies

VOC Gasses can cause cancer and other illnesses

Is Your Commercial Cleaning Company Poisoning The Air With VOC Gasses?

Are you aware if VOC gasses are a problem in your office?

Here’s the scenario:

You hire a commercial cleaning company to keep your office building clean. The floors are shiny, the door handles have been sanitized, toilets are cleaned, dust on desks and equipment has been removed, cubicle walls are cleaned and the garbage is thrown out regularly.

That’s a pretty solid cleaning routine in an office environment. It would be fair for you to believe you have provided a clean and healthy environment for staff and clients… right?

Not quite…

In a first-of-its-kind study, Environmental Defence tested the impact of cleaning products on indoor air quality. In all 14 studied households, levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) went up during cleaning.

Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are gases that are emitted into the air from products or processes. Some are harmful by themselves, including some that cause cancer. In addition, they can react with other gases and form other air pollutants after they are in the air.

Watch Out For Products Containing Prohibited Ingredients

Prohibited ingredients in cleaning products include:

  • Toxic Air Contaminants
  • Great Waters Pollutants of Concern
  • Hazardous Air Pollutants
  • Global Warming Compounds
  • Ozone Depleting Compounds
  • Alkylphenol ethoxylates
  • Dibutyl phthalates
  • Heavy Metals (including arsenic, lead, cadmium, cobalt, copper, chromium, mercury, nickel and zinc)
  • Carcinogens as listed by: International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), National Toxicology Program, USA EPA, Occupational Health and Safety Administration
  • Carcinogens and Reproductive Toxins as listed in Proposition 65

Health Effects Of VOC’s In Products Commonly Used By Commercial Cleaning Companies

As with other pollutants, the extent and nature of the health effect will depend on many factors including level of exposure and length of time exposed. Scientifically proven health effects of exposure to VOC’s include:

  • Eye, nose and throat irritation
  • Headaches, loss of coordination and nausea
  • Damage to liver, kidney and central nervous system
  • Some organics can cause cancer in animals, some are suspected or known to cause cancer in humans.

Key Signs Or Symptoms Associated With Exposure To VOC Gasses:

  • conjunctival irritation
  • nose and throat discomfort
  • headache
  • allergic skin reaction
  • dyspnea
  • declines in serum cholinesterase levels
  • nausea
  • emesis
  • epistaxis
  • fatigue
  • dizziness

Common Sources of VOCs In An Office / Home Environment:

  • paints, paint strippers and other solvents
  • wood preservatives
  • aerosol sprays
  • cleansers and disinfectants
  • moth repellents and air fresheners
  • stored fuels and automotive products
  • hobby supplies
  • dry-cleaned clothing
  • pesticides
  • building materials and furnishings
  • office equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper
  • graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent markers and photographic solutions.

Indoor air quality has always been a key component of effective green cleaning. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC gasses) are a major control point from cleaning and sanitation products.

Studies are now showing that VOCs from cleaning products are also a large contributor to outdoor air pollution.

Make sure your commercial cleaning uses Green Cleaning products and processes.

Evergreen Building Maintenance Is Committed To Green Cleaning.

Call Evergreen Building Maintenance for a free quote for daily or weekly office cleaning services: 1-888-559-6870 or 250-999-2796

Kelowna Commercial Cleaning Services – Evergreen Building Maintenance uses “Green” cleaning solutions and equipment so you can breathe easy!

commercial janitorial company price quotes

How To Help Your Building Janitorial Company Give You Pricing In A Format So You Can Compare Quotes

Have you ever had a stack of building janitorial company pricing quotes for one facility that look like they are each for completely different buildings?

How do you compare commercial cleaning companies if the wording and descriptions in their quotes don’t seem to have anything in common?

This is a real problem for facility managers when trying to get the best value for their dollar.

Do you go for the lowest price not understanding that it may not cover even the essential cleaning services you need?

Maybe you pick a premium-priced quote thinking you will get a more professional cleaning company… and later you find out that the company doesn’t even have experienced cleaning staff?

This is a common problem when the management doesn’t take care of its employees so there is a lot of employee turnover.  They can’t keep good employees, so their costs go up because they have to compensate for the mistakes of beginners.

Commercial Janitorial Company Pricing Factors

  • Labor costs
  • Insurance
  • Taxes
  • Employee benefits package
  • Direct costs like cleaning supplies, toilet paper
  • Equipment costs
  • Training costs for employees
  • Management fee
  • Profit

Janitorial Quotes – Factors You Need To Consider 

One of the best things you can do to make the job of comparing quotes easier is to be clear in your own mind what kind of services you are looking for.  Here are some idea starters:

  • What type of building is it?
  • What kind of business you operate?
  • What are your building’s traffic and use patterns?
  • Where is your facility located?
  • What are the labor costs in your area?
  • What scope of cleaning do you need?
  • Do you have any special requirements?
  • Do you need landscaping services?
  • Do you need parking lot maintenance?
  • Do you need general building maintenance from time to time?
  • Do you need a cleaning service that can be available during the day time?
  • Do you have special projects or interim needs?
  • What frequency of cleaning do you want?

Provide Your Janitorial Service With Solid Information So They Can Give You A Solid Quote 

  • Tell them the total square footage of your building
  • Break the square footage of each flooring type (carpet, hardwood, cement, marble, etc.)
  • How many people typically use your building during the day?
  • How many people use the building in the evenings?
  • Are people using the building on weekends?
  • Are there regular “special events” that need to be built into the quote?
  • How many washrooms are there?
  • How big are the washrooms?
  • What did your previous cleaning service miss or failed to do?

This type of information will help commercial janitorial services estimate how much cleaning supplies they will need.  They can establish budgets for trashcan liners, toilet paper, paper towels and hand soap.  If you have different flooring types, they can budget for time, materials and employees with specific expertise.

Remember to prioritize your “wants” and “must-have’s”.  Some companies may be able to give you a price break on services of more value to you.  In other cases it might be too expensive to include some services on a regular basis, but becomes affordable on less frequent basis.  For example, you may get your hardwood floors waxed every quarter instead of once a month.

Call now for a free, confidential commercial cleaning and building maintenance quote from a commercial janitorial company that provides transparent pricing:   1-888-559-6870 or 250-999-2796

Kelowna Janitorial Services – We’ll Give You An Easy To Understand Pricing Format So You Can Easily Compare Quotes!

commercial cleaning services security

Commercial Cleaning Service Security – Can You Trust Them To Be In Your Building At Night?

Your commercial cleaning service company will often need to get into your building after business hours.  You don’t necessarily want someone vacuuming or mopping in the presence of your clients and busy staff.

Sometimes the nature of your work demands a great deal of security.  You can’t let just anyone wander around completely unsupervised.

Banks have that problem.  So do police stations and jails.  In fact, because of our privacy laws and customer confidentiality, a lot of businesses would lose the confidence of their clients if there was a security leak.

Here are a few things your commercial cleaning service should be doing to make sure your interests are secured:

  1. All Commercial Cleaning Staff Members Must Have Background Checks

    You don’t want people with criminal records in your building at night. Your commercial janitorial service must provide assurance that they do a thorough background check of their employees including getting police reports.

  2. Commercial Cleaning Service Security Requires Mandatory Drug Testing

    A reputable commercial cleaning service must be able to provide some sort of evidence that they do drug testing on ALL employees. Even though privacy laws may prohibit providing information on specific employees, ask for evidence of drug testing procedures including names of the drug testing companies they use.

  3. Communication With Non-English Speaking Staff

    Commercial cleaning companies often employ non-English speaking staff. When you want to communicate information about hazards and sensitive areas you need to make sure everyone clearly understands.  It is important for your janitorial company to provide someone on the cleaning team that is fluent in English and is smart enough to understand what you are saying.  They must also be able to communicate that information to the rest of the staff.

  4. Fully Bonded And Insured

    Things can go wrong. Employees can make mistakes.  Sometimes the wrong person can get the job on the cleaning company’s team.  Make sure your cleaning company is fully bonded and insured.  If something goes wrong, including theft, you don’t want to end up with the bill.

  5. Check References

    In addition to all of the above make sure you get several references. Check to see if your cleaning company has consistently held long-term contracts with several of their clients.  Find out how long the employees have been with the company on the team that will be handling your contract.  Ask around among other facilities managers about what they have heard about the company you are considering hiring.  Do a check on the Internet to see if there are reviews or media reports about the company.

Screening a commercial cleaning company for trustworthiness can never be perfect, but you can get a good “feel” for the attitude of the management from the consultant you are working with.  Keep good communication lines open with that person to address any concerns and adjust practices to suit your business.

Evergreen Building Maintenance has long-term experience working with banks and government offices.  They have provided commercial cleaning staff for police services and criminal detention centres.  Sometimes it can take six to eight months to go through the enhanced security clearance.

Whatever your needs, Evergreen Building Maintenance can provide the commercial cleaning service security cleared staff to look after your building responsibly.

Call now for a free, confidential quote:   1-855-824-8450 or 250-869-5165.

Evergreen Building Maintenance hires and trains people you can trust.