Health Care Facilities: A Profitable Niche for Your Cleaning
Business
Copyright 2006 The Janitorial Store
A growing area that offers plenty of opportunity and potential
profit for building service contractors is cleaning health care
facilities. Besides hospitals, there are nursing homes, doctor's
offices, clinics, hospices, and dental offices that all need
cleaning. With the aging baby boomer population, the number of
medical facilities will continue to increase in the next few
years. Most hospitals employ in-house cleaning crews, but there
is a growing trend towards outsourcing cleaning services. Even
if a hospital or medical facility has their own in-house
cleaning crew, they will sometimes hire a cleaning service for
offices, public areas or specialty cleaning (carpets, floors,
windows). This presents an opportunity for janitorial cleaning
companies who are willing to invest some time and effort into
learning the ins and outs of cleaning medical facilities.
Begin by realizing that cleaning in the medical world is
regulated and you must follow specific rules and guidelines. In
many instances, you will need to document your cleaning
procedures. There will be extra training required for your
employees and you must provide close supervision to assure that
everything is cleaned correctly. You may have to invest in more
equipment, chemicals, and supplies to meet the requirements of a
particular facility. In addition, laws in your state may require
you, as an employer in the health care industry, to provide your
employees with hazard communication training, hepatitis shots,
and instructions in the proper disposal of biohazard materials.
There are many types of medical facilities, so take some time to
study the market in your area before deciding to add this niche
to your business. First decide which type of facility your
company is best suited to clean. When you are just starting out,
it's better to begin with smaller clinics and doctor offices.
Another choice when just starting out is to provide specialized
services such as floor care, carpet cleaning, upholstery
cleaning, and window cleaning. Smaller facilities and
specialized cleaning gives you a chance to learn the ropes and
build up a reputation in this area. This is also worthwhile,
because owners of janitorial cleaning services say that it's
from word of mouth referrals that they gain new health care
clients.
It is important to know there are different definitions of
"clean" when considering the needs of medical facilities. When
you traditionally think of cleaning, it implies removing all
visible soil. However, when it comes to health care buildings,
clean can also mean disinfecting, sterilizing, and
decontaminating surfaces. If you are thinking of presenting a
proposal to a medical facility, it is important to know the
difference between these three terms. You are often dealing with
more than just soil removal -- you are removing soil that can be
highly contaminated. It is important that your employees follow
documented procedures and don't take any shortcuts.
Sterilization or disinfection is common in most areas of a
medical facility. Sterilization refers to cleaning with powerful
chemicals that destroy all known microbial life. Disinfection is
different in that it means killing specific types of pathogens
and microorganisms. If you are involved with either procedure
you will be using hospital grade disinfectants.
In addition, you must pay special attention to mops, cleaning
cloths, and buckets. These items should be cleaned every day,
and sometimes after each use. Most medical facilities are now
using microfiber cleaning cloths and flat mops, as there is less
chance of cross-contamination. It may also be a requirement to
use a true HEPA filtered vacuum. A HEPA vacuum cleaner is
necessary to protect indoor air quality and prevent
microorganisms from becoming airborne.
When cleaning in a medical facility, workers must assume that
every surface they clean can pose a potential risk to
themselves, employees, patients, and visitors. Janitorial staff
needs to be follow the regulations established by OSHA
(Occupational Safety and Health Administration) about exposure
to blood borne pathogens.
It is essential that cleaning staff have the proper personal
protective equipment (PPE), which includes gloves and eye
protection. Wearing the right PPE helps to assure that your
cleaning staff will not touch contaminated surfaces and protects
them from splashes and spills.
One of the challenges of cleaning hospitals is that they are
often open 24 hours a day, so there are unique situations you
may have to work around. Large projects, such as cleaning hard
floors or carpets, may involve blocking off areas until the
project is completed. The same holds true for public rest rooms.
Another challenge you might face in this setting is the noise
caused by vacuum cleaners. You may need to buy "quiet" vacuum
cleaners, which may cost more than conventional vacuum cleaners.
In addition, many facilities are now requiring that you vacuum
hard surface floors opposed to dust mopping because vacuuming
reduces the amount of dust and other particulates that can
become airborne.
There are constant changes and innovations in the equipment and
supplies that are used or are required to be used in health care
facilities. Some of the new products in the marketplace include:
* Vapor Cleaning -- These are compact and low moisture steam
cleaning machines. They can be used on various surfaces
including hard floors, carpeting, fabric partitions and toilets.
These machines can sanitize surfaces without the use of harsh
chemicals.
* Electrostatic Sprayer -- This is a new product that uses an
air assisted electrostatic sprayer to apply disinfectants,
deodorizes, cleaners, sealants, and various coatings. According
to the manufacturer, it is much more efficient and effective
than traditional sprayers.
* New disinfectants and hydrogen peroxide cleaners -- New
non-toxic cleaners are continually being introduced.
If you want to expand into cleaning health care facilities, you
must be willing to spend time learning about the best ways to
keep facilities clean while using the least toxic chemicals.
Breaking into cleaning health care facilities can be difficult.
Many are hesitant to use outside contractors for their cleaning
services. In addition, it can be tough to get in touch with the
right person at a health care facility. You need to break the
barrier and find the decision maker who realizes that hiring an
outside cleaning staff can reduce their overall costs.
In the health care field there are constant changes and
advances. This includes the supplies and equipment that are used
in cleaning facilities. If you decide to venture into this area
you must be willing to do your homework and keep up with
technological changes and housekeeping practices. If you have a
thoroughly trained staff and offer quality services at a fair
price the field will be wide open.
It is almost a certainty that the medical industry will grow
significantly. This can be a boom and a profit maker for
janitorial cleaning services that have trained their staff to
properly clean health care facilities. Specializing in cleaning
health care facilities can help a cleaning service owner stay on
top of current trends and equipment in the industry. Becoming
known as a medical facility cleaning specialist can open many
doors and lead to higher profits.