COVID-19 update: Celebrating Industry Heroes

Celebrating our industry’s heroes – blog from Jan Hein Hemke, MD at Facilicom UK and Ireland

For as long as I can remember, the cleaning and hygiene industry has battled to portray its value in society. To many outside the sector, the role of a cleaner is often dismissed as low-skilled and short-termist. But since the Covid-19 crisis began in the UK, it has become increasingly clear that these workers are, in fact, vital to the health and wellbeing of our nation.

Cleaning is essential to the UK’s recovery from coronavirus, and with hand and surface hygiene remaining the first line of defence against the disease, our cleaning operatives are needed more than ever before. From hospitals, care homes and schools, to offices, supermarkets and public places, cleaners across the country are putting their personal concerns to one side and turning up to work, day in day out to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Despite the mounting pressure, I have been overwhelmed by the unwavering dedication and commitment of our cleaning teams here at Facilicom. From undertaking additional training to delivering tasks outside of their normal requirements, our teams have gone above and beyond for our clients.

And it hasn’t gone unnoticed. We’ve had glowing feedback from clients, and our industry even had its moment in Parliament when our Prime Minister and former leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, thanked cleaners for ‘keeping us safe’ during the outbreak, hailing them as unsung heroes.

However, many in our industry don’t believe these words of support go far enough to credit and protect our colleagues. The British Cleaning Council (BCC) is currently campaigning to ensure people within our industry are explicitly named as essential ‘critical or key workers’, who are needed now more than ever.

As BCC Chairman, Paul Thrupp, said in a recent statement, “Our cleaning staff throughout the UK have the expertise, training and knowledge to carry out sanitisation, hygiene, clinical or decontamination cleans so it is essential that the workforce are kept available by being identified as ‘critical or key workers’ by the Prime Minister and the British Government.”

I couldn’t agree more, and this is a movement that we fully support at Facilicom. Ensuring that our colleagues are able to deliver vital services, whilst being protected by the right equipment and products, has never been more important for the future health and wellbeing of our nation. That’s why we’ve started showcasing individual examples of their work to support others, with the important message that #WeSupportTheUK and will do all that we can to help others.

#OneDreamOneTeam #Inspiring #TeamWork #KeyWorkers

For as long as I can remember, the cleaning and hygiene industry has battled to portray its value in society. To many outside the sector, the role of a cleaner is often dismissed as low-skilled and short-termist. But since the Covid-19 crisis began in the UK, it has become increasingly clear that these workers are, in fact, vital to the health and wellbeing of our nation.

Cleaning is essential to the UK’s recovery from coronavirus, and with hand and surface hygiene remaining the first line of defence against the disease, our cleaning operatives are needed more than ever before. From hospitals, care homes and schools, to offices, supermarkets and public places, cleaners across the country are putting their personal concerns to one side and turning up to work, day in day out to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Despite the mounting pressure, I have been overwhelmed by the unwavering dedication and commitment of our cleaning teams here at Facilicom. From undertaking additional training to delivering tasks outside of their normal requirements, our teams have gone above and beyond for our clients.

And it hasn’t gone unnoticed. We’ve had glowing feedback from clients, and our industry even had its moment in Parliament when our Prime Minister and former leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, thanked cleaners for ‘keeping us safe’ during the outbreak, hailing them as unsung heroes.

However, many in our industry don’t believe these words of support go far enough to credit and protect our colleagues. The British Cleaning Council (BCC) is currently campaigning to ensure people within our industry are explicitly named as essential ‘critical or key workers’, who are needed now more than ever.

As BCC Chairman, Paul Thrupp, said in a recent statement, “Our cleaning staff throughout the UK have the expertise, training and knowledge to carry out sanitisation, hygiene, clinical or decontamination cleans so it is essential that the workforce are kept available by being identified as ‘critical or key workers’ by the Prime Minister and the British Government.”

I couldn’t agree more, and this is a movement that we fully support at Facilicom. Ensuring that our colleagues are able to deliver vital services, whilst being protected by the right equipment and products, has never been more important for the future health and wellbeing of our nation. That’s why we’ve started showcasing individual examples of their work to support others, with the important message that #WeSupportTheUK and will do all that we can to help others.

#OneDreamOneTeam #Inspiring #TeamWork #KeyWorkers

This content was published in April 2020 on the Facilicom UK and Ireland website: https://facilicom.co.uk/news/blog-celebrating-our-industrys-heroes