Cleaning Industry News July 2008

NIGHT TIME STREET CLEANING SCHEME EXTENDED IN SWANSEA CITY AREAS.
Night-time litter louts will have their mess cleaned up after them, under a new street cleaning scheme, that will not cost the local taxpayers a penny. Members of business group Swansea Bid have vowed to make Swansea a cleaner place to party. A team of three stewards will be patrolling the city at night and putting food wrappers, cigarette butts, flyers and discarded bottles in the bin. It follows a pilot scheme which has been hailed a success.

Keep Wales Tidy officials applauded the street-cleaning programme, saying it would help give the city a feel good factor. Communications manager Wynne Williams said: "This initiative is to be to be applauded. Other cities should be looking to do the same thing. If you visit a town and it is clean, it gives it a feel good factor. It can also make people feel safer."

For the past five months, litter-pickers have been patrolling the city centre every night of the weekend as part of a pilot scheme. So far, cleaners have collected over 700 bags of rubbish on their night shifts.

The £260,000 initiative was put together by Swansea Bid - a collaboration of 730 city centre businesses. Each business pays into a pot of cash that is supplemented by grants. Jennie Clements, chairwoman of the Bid cleaner working group, said the pilot scheme was now being made permanent. "It's an unfortunate feature of life that people drop litter," she said. "But in areas where there is a round the clock culture, it is important we don't allow litter to build up".

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MANY JOBS FORECAST TO BE LOST IN THE CLEANING SUPPLIES SECTOR
Up to 2525 jobs could be lost as the UK Cleaning Equipment & Materials industry consolidates over the next 12 months, according to the 3rd edition 2008 Plimsoll Analysis.

The unwelcome news for the cleaning equipment & materials sector coincides with the British Chamber of Commerce survey which suggests unemployment could rise by up to 300,000 over the next 12 months as the UK economy experiences a "prolonged and bumpy landing."

The latest Plimsoll analysis of the UK's cleaning equipment and materials firms sheds some light on to this issue. By providing an individual analysis of each of the UK's leading 653 companies, it has assessed each company's chances of survival and the steps each could take to charter a path through these choppy times. The analysis found that:

2525 jobs could go as companies seek to get costs in line with sales
One of the largest firms could see up to 427 jobs lost alone
A quarter of the companies surveyed are already running at a loss

This special edition of the Plimsoll Analysis exposes all the names, details and financial performance of the UK's 653 leading Cleaning Equipment & Materials firms. It also includes a future snapshot on each company demonstrating how each might survive this period of consolidation.

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TWO FATAL WINDOW CLEANING ACCIDENTS
Window cleaner Graham Clark, 21, died after falling 4.6m (15ft) from his ladder, suffering fatal head injuries. Graham was working at a house in South Shields, South Tyneside, with his grandfather, Thomas Clark, 73, and his 46-year-old uncle, also called Thomas Clark, when the accident happened.

He hit his head, causing internal swelling and pressure on the brain and was taken to South Tyneside District Hospital but transferred to Newcastle General where he was put on a life support machine. When he didn't
respond to treatment his family took the heart-breaking decision to switch the machine off.

IN THE U.S.A. Two New York City employers have been cited for alleged violations of federal workplace safety standards in connection with two window cleaners who fell 47 stories when their scaffold platform detached from the permanent window washing rig attached to the building's roof.

Cited were the window cleaning firm who employed the men and operated the scaffold and a company that serviced the scaffold prior to the accident. The citations address equipment failure, lack of fall protection, and lack of employee training.

A Safety inspection found that the crimps used to secure the platform's hoist ropes were improperly installed and as a result, unable to support the scaffold's load. Neither company had inspected the scaffold to determine if the crimps had been correctly installed and to see if the scaffold could support its load.

The two employees were not wearing safety harnesses and lifelines tied off to independent anchorage points and had not been trained in fall protection measures. They also had not been trained in the inspection and operation of the scaffold, emergency procedures, and hazards associated with their work.

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SUPERVISOR HOPES TO WIN CLEANING TASKS FOR UK AT EURO SKILLS 2008
Kirsty Steel, a 21 year old cleaning supervisor will represent the UK when she competes as part of a UK team in EuroSkills 2008, to be held in Rotterdam this September. EuroSkills is a new pan-European skills competition in which 28 countries will try to prove they are the best at skills including cooking, fashion, cleaning and hairdressing. Each team will face three tough days of competition, watched by 50,000 spectators.

Kirsty from Sowerby Bridge, who works for MITIE Cleaning & Support Services Ltd, will compete as a cleaning supervisor, overseeing the work of two cleaners as they clean an office and hospital area and then strip and reseal a floor. She will have to organise the team and ensure procedures are correctly followed.

She said: The selection was tough, but I knew that we had the ability to be able to win a place on the UK team. We have already been training hard to get this far and I know there is lots more to come but we're really excited about it. To be able to represent the country and the cleaning industry at an event which showcases the best of Europe is a great feeling.

The UK EuroSkills team is managed by UK Skills, a not-for-profit organisation that champions skills and learning for work through competitions and awards. Chief executive Simon Bartley said: "Kirsty has certainly earned the right to be on this team, who will all need to perfect their technical skills and prepare themselves for competing under some tough conditions. They are going up against the most skilled young people Europe has to offer, but we have every confidence in them and their ability."

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