Industrial facilities aren’t always known for their cleanliness and hygiene. After all, dust and debris will accumulate more easily in a warehouse than an office. Unfortunately, this expectation can result in bad habits — even unprofitable ones — when it comes to industrial cleaning. If facility managers are resigned to substandard cleanliness, it’s easy for them to accept substandard industrial cleaning practices.
These decisions are often more damaging than facility managers realize. Industrial cleaning is directly correlated to the productivity and profitability of industrial facilities. A cleaner facility increases worker performance and productivity, while decreasing illness-related productivity loss and HR costs.
Industrial Cleaning & Workforce Performance
Outside of some exceptionally unclean spaces, most people don’t think twice about the cleanliness of their workplace. Neither do their managers. After all, what difference does a little bit of dust really make on a facility’s bottom line?
The answer, it turns out, is a big one. Numerous recent studies have measured the impact of workplace health and hygiene on employee productivity. The consensus of these studies is clear: a cleaner workspace improves employees’ performance and productivity.
Air quality, in particular, has been linked to workforce performance. In study after study, poor air quality has been shown to reduce workers’ rate of output, while increasing their rate of mistakes.
This holds true in all kinds of work environments, but the effect is more pronounced in jobs with higher levels of physical activity. This includes a large number of industrial jobs, including warehouse, packing, shipping/receiving, and assembly line positions, to name just a few.
Researchers have also studied the impact of workplace cleanliness on employee health and wellness. Unsurprisingly, workers in unclean and unhygienic facilities report poorer levels of well-being. This can have an even bigger impact on your bottom line. Workers report sick more often and are at increased risk of long-term illness or chronic disability.
Once again, air quality is a significant source of this problem. High levels of particulate matter and VOCs will naturally increase the rate of respiratory illness and disability.
Another key factor is workplace hygiene. In facilities with poor hygiene practices, it’s easy for workers to spread bacteria and viruses. This not only increases the number of sick days taken by workers, it also leaves facilities vulnerable to outbreaks during cold and flu season.
Smarter Industrial Cleaning Practices
If you own or manage an industrial facility, improvements to your industrial cleaning practices can deliver significant ROI. Today’s best industrial cleaning companies use a range of modern strategies, products, and technologies to help manage air quality and reduce infection risks in the workplace.
Let’s look at JAN-PRO® industrial cleaning services as an example.
To reduce air pollution in the workplace, we use low-VOC cleaning products whenever possible. When we need to use other products, our cleaners use methods that reduce the volume of cleaning product used, which can help keep VOCs at a manageable level. Our industrial cleaning services also include the use of HEPA-filter vacuums. Each vacuum contains four HEPA filters that trap airborne particulate matter as small as 0.3 microns in diameter. This keeps dust and other common pollutants out of the air in your facility.
We’re equally committed to improving workplace hygiene, reducing the infection risk posed by workplace bacteria and viruses. We train cleaners to target contagions in the areas where they pose the greatest risk to workers. We use microfiber cloths and mop pads, which are proven to remove much higher rates of bacteria than traditional cleaning materials. And we equip our cleaners with some of today’s most advanced sanitization and disinfection products, including our exclusive EnviroShield® disinfection system.
Learn more about JAN-PRO industrial cleaning services and request a free consultation by calling 866-355-1064 today!