As the summer winds down and the UK prepares for shorter days and colder weather, the cleaning industry also gears up for the difficult season.
Many people don’t realise how adverse weather conditions throughout the winter can influence sanitation and hygiene staff, but the industry can be hit hard just like many other sectors throughout the UK.
But dedicated cleaning companies will go extra lengths to ensure they maintain the same standards of service no matter what the environment.
Many cleaning and sanitation providers hold the same value of ‘going the extra mile’ for their customers.
A perfect example of this philosophy occurred last winter when the snow was building into twenty foot drifts.
An industrial supply company in Inverness received a call for a new carpet steam cleaner for the Ptarmigan Restaurant in the Visitor Centre of Cairngorms Mountain Ski Centre.
The dilemma facing Hamish Stuart, the company’s Hygiene and Catering Division Manager, was that the Ptarmigan Restaurant was the highest restaurant in the country with inaccessible access routes.
Despite the difficult situation, Mr Stuart took the order, seeing it as a challenge and disregarded the blizzard.
He persuaded the ski-cart operator to take him and the new carpet steamer for the final two miles on a vehicle used to prepare the piste for skiers in less harsh conditions.
The travel, which was virtually vertical, was slow and extremely hazardous, but the dedicated hygiene manager completed the delivery, taking 10 times the standard journey time.
This example depicts the lengths dedicated cleaning staff will go to ensure their clients and employers obtain the highest standards of hygiene.