Caring and supporting your cleaning staff

When employees have a central workplace like an office, they have safety policies and health and safety to ensure all workers are protected. But what about if you’re a contract cleaner heading out to work a night shift in an unfamiliar workplace? How can employers keep their team safe in this situation? There are a few steps that managers can take to safeguard their mobile employees – let’s take a look at some.

How to safeguard remote cleaning employees

Ensure that risk assessments are up to date

Employers should always carry out a risk assessment on any new premises that their workers are expected to clean. They should identify whether any additional equipment is required to perform the job and whether the employee in question needs to undertake any extra training in order to be able to safely perform all tasks unsupervised.

Invest in digital monitoring solutions

In order to ensure that employees arrive and depart safely and punctually from their temporary workplace, all managers should implement a time and attendance monitoring solution. This easy-to-use software tracks what time workers arrive at or depart a location, and can send alerts if they are late to check in or out, prompting management to send a message to check that everything is alright. If they receive no response, they can make an extra effort to contact the employee and dispatch someone to the location if necessary.

Reinforce awareness of emergency procedures

Ensure that all employees are familiar with the emergency procedures for the building they are working in. On their first day working at the location, ask them to familiarise themselves with fire exits and escape routes, as well as the location of first aid kits if they should need them.

Provide additional resources and equipment

Cleaning employees will all have their own kit that allows them to do their job properly, but they should also be armed with a number of extras – plasters or bandages, painkillers, warming muscle pads for back strains or similar, as well as any prescription medication that they are currently taking. These will help to make staff more comfortable in their job, and prepared for any accidents that may occur.

Continually improve safety protocols

There should always be safety protocols in place for contract cleaners heading out to remote workplaces on their own. If they encounter a problem, who do they contact? Do they place a call or send a message? At the employers’ end, there should be rules in place that mean there is always someone to respond to these emergency messages – someone who can offer advice and dispatch an appropriate team to help with the situation.

Unique IQ’s award-winning software helps businesses manage their remote teams and keep lone workers safe. Find out more.