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UK diners suspect poor hygiene practices
The British are not convinced about the hygiene standards of staff in restaurants and fast-food chains, a new survey has revealed. 16% fear that chefs regularly fail to wash their hands before handling food. And one in five suspect that staff will still serve up food after it has been dropped on to the floor.
These were among the results of the Tork Toilet Barometer, an annual survey of washroom trends commissioned by Tork manufacturer SCA to coincide with World Toilet Day. A total of 4000 Europeans took part in the survey, including 500 from the UK.
The study showed that 65% of UK diners have walked out of a restaurant because it had a grubby appearance. Meanwhile 88% suspect that if a restaurant toilet is dirty, the same standards will be reflected in the kitchen. And nearly a quarter of UK respondents (22%) said the cleanliness of the toilet was a significant factor for them when visiting a restaurant.
“Hand hygiene is not rocket science - but it is crucial in a restaurant,” said SCA product and segment manager, Julie Ray. “Diners need to feel confident about the hygiene standards in an eating establishment or they will simply not stay. And one way in which restaurants can help to instill this confidence is by providing clean, hygienic toilets equipped with single-use paper towels and soaps in sealed cartridge systems.”
The British are most sceptical about hygiene standards at fast food chains, with 28% claiming to find these either dirty or very dirty.
Upper-end restaurants and sushi bars received the best rating with more than two-thirds of respondents claiming these to be generally either clean or very clean.
On a European scale, the survey revealed the Polish to have the greatest concern about restaurant cleanliness with a massive 85% claiming to have walked out of a restaurant because it did not seem to be clean.
At the other end of the scale, the Finnish have greater confidence in their restaurant industry with 94% believing kitchen staff to wash their hands after visiting the washroom and only 8% accepting that staff may use food they pick up from the floor.
The ‘Barometer of Public Washroom Opinion’ is carried out every year to coincide with World Toilet Day on 19 November. World Toilet Day aims to raise awareness about the importance of sanitation and highlight the plight of the 2.6 billion people globally who have no access to toilets.
www.tork.co.uk
Rubbermaid receives ISSA award
Rubbermaid Commercial Products was recently awarded a 2011 ISSA product innovation award for its new HYGEN Clean Water System. The award was presented at the ISSA/Interclean show held in Las Vegas in October.
The ISSA product innovation awards, in its second year as an online programme, offers cleaning industry distributors, building service contractors and in-house service providers the opportunity to cast their votes online for the most innovative products in five different categories: cleaning agents, paper/plastics, equipment, supplies and services, technology and other. Of the numerous products displayed, ISSA members selected the Rubbermaid HYGEN Clean Water System as the most innovative product in the supplies category.
www.rubbermaid.eu
OCS on TV at LGW
The OCS teams responsible for providing aircraft cleaning, toilet services and airport terminal night cleaning for British Airways at Gatwick Airport recently became stars of the small screen in the new Sky 1 documentary series ‘Inside Gatwick’.
Independent production company Silver River TV, makers of award- winning, factual documentaries, comedies and dramas, filmed the OCS cleaning teams as part of its inside-all-areas eight-part documentary series commissioned for Sky 1 which aired in the autumn. The cleaning staff appeared in episode 8 which, with viewing figures of around half a million per programme, gave excellent prime time television exposure to the quality customer service that OCS and its clients, British Airways and Gatwick Airport, aim to deliver. The OCS transport team has provided aircraft cleaning services to British Airways at Gatwick for over 20 years.
“Our Gatwick team’s hard work and enthusiasm for this project paid off when this week’s final programme in the series was aired,” said Trevor Horn, OCS operations manager at Gatwick. “It was a great experience. The programme featured a day in the life of a BA aeroplane at Gatwick with around 10 minutes’ footage which showed our aircraft toilet servicing and cleaning services, as well as the night terminal cleaning operation. Our vehicles were clearly visible and our staff looked really professional and smart.”
The programme also made the viewing list of OCS’s managing director Martin Gammon, who congratulated the staff on their involvement. He said: “OCS has over 50 years’ experience of working in partnership with airports and airlines. We are trusted by our industry clients to provide a range of bespoke services, achieving improved standards and delivering value. This would not be possible without our highly trained, dedicated and professional staff and it was fantastic to see them achieve national recognition on television.”
Midland Paper accredited by the CHSA
Worcestershire-based Midland Paper Products has passed the audit and been accredited to join the Cleaning & Hygiene Suppliers Association’s (CHSA) Soft Tissue Accreditation Scheme.
Midland Paper Products is a successful converter of toilet rolls, centrefeed rolls, hygiene rolls and floorstand rolls and provider of a wide range of paper hand towels as well as a comprehensive range of dispensers, paper napkins and Metsa Katrin products. It set out to offer products of the highest quality from its inception and so has always been determined to conform to the CHSA guidelines.
“It has always been our intention to join the CHSA’s Manufacturing Standards’ Accreditation Scheme so from day one we have adhered to the guidelines,” said Craig Williams of Midland Paper Products. “In 2008 we began our own conversion operation giving us the quality control and consistency we needed to be certain we would deliver exactly what we promised to our customers every time. We are very proud to have secured the accreditation and will now be putting the logo on all our packaging and stationery - we want to shout about our membership. Our accreditation comes at a moment we are moving to larger premises and investing in new machinery, important developments that we are delighted to be celebrating.”
The accreditation process itself proved valuable to Midland Paper Products. The CHSA’s auditor, Gordon Butt assessed the company’s products, confirming they complied with the standard in every way and at the same time provided additional valuable and constructive feedback.
“We are delighted to welcome Midland Paper Products into the accreditation scheme,” said Graham Fletcher, general secretary of the CHSA. “The market is extremely challenging right now and cowboy suppliers are cutting corners and selling sub-standard products. It is excellent news for customers that there is now another supplier of paper products who can proudly brandish the scheme logo and so can be depended upon to adhere to our standard.”
The accreditation scheme for industrial cotton mops came into being in 2000 and the one for plastic refuse sacks in 2005. A unified look and feel was introduced in 2007 and these two schemes were formally united with the Soft Tissue Accreditation Scheme in 2011 as the Manufacturing Standard Accreditation Scheme.
www.midlandpaper.co.uk
‘Show you love where you live’ campaign launched
To kick-start its ‘Love where you live’ campaign, Keep Britain Tidy’s new national anti-littering initiative, the charity is working with some of the world’s biggest brands (including McDonald’s, Wrigley and Imperial Tobacco), government, local authorities, voluntary organisations, schools and communities to take action to tackle the problems of litter, dog fouling, fly-tipping and graffiti that can blight the places we love.
At launch, the campaign encouraged everyone to take five minutes of action to show that they love where they live - whether that be picking up some litter, pulling a few weeds out or sweeping the pavement outside their home or business.
New research from Keep Britain Tidy shows that, as a nation, the English really do love where they live. The charity’s new ‘Word on our street’ survey shows that the appearance of people’s local area concerns them more than the level of services provided by the NHS, traffic congestion or global warming - and that level of concern has risen in the past 12 months from 63% to 70%.
The aftermath of this summer’s riots revealed the extent to which people care about their communities. Spontaneously, people came together to clean up the mess left behind.
‘Love where you live’ is about taking that desire to live in clean and tidy places and turning it into a long-term campaign of activity by all sections of the community. It is being backed by Keep Britain Tidy’s celebrity ambassador and TV personality Kirstie Allsopp. She said: “By taking small actions, we can make a big difference and tackle the problem of litter that blights our beautiful country. I hope everyone will get out there and support ‘Love where you live’. We all have a role to play and it is not someone else’s responsibility to clean up, it is everyone’s responsibility.”
www.keepbritaintidy.org
Indigo finds a new home
On 29 September 2011 an agreement was reached which saw the Vebego International Group sell its UK operation - Indigo Services (UK) Ltd - to the Facilicom Services Group, effectively transferring ownership from one Dutch family-owned services group to another. In real terms this saw Vebego exit the market, ending its 20 year association, and Facilicom increase its share of the UK contract cleaning sector.
After a short period of integration the new combined entity will be relaunched under the Facilicom Cleaning Services brand in the new year.
The newly enlarged Facilicom operation now boasts a combined turnover in the UK of £30 million with over 2500 employees providing best-in- class cleaning and security services to a nationwide client portfolio.
Whilst the service delivery element of both UK companies will remain unchanged there will be a restructuring of the senior management team of the new organisation. Jan-Hein Hemke will continue his role as managing director; Chris Gilbey, Indigo’s managing director, assumes overall control of the £24 million cleaning portfolio as director of cleaning services; and Phil Smith moves from the same role within Indigo to become commercial director for the new combined cleaning division. Smith said: “These are exciting times and I’m looking forward to delivering a new era of success for Facilicom. As well as our operational strength, underpinned by a focus on exceptional customer service, we have a team of highly experienced sales professionals who are eager to explore a greatly enhanced range of opportunities.”
The new organisation will operate from the Facilicom head office in Sidcup, with regional offices in Westminster, St. Neots in Cambridgeshire and Manchester. A key component of the new organisation’s intentions within this national structure will be to retain its concentration on sector specialisation. Indigo has long been recognised for its focus on high value service into commercial office spaces, the education sector, residential estates management, hi-tech industry and public transport environments. Similarly, Facilicom has focussed on developing major clients within the food manufacturing and preparation, and commercial property management sectors as well as creating bespoke solutions for key private sector organisations. Chris Gilbey said: “The strengths of both companies will be utilised in the creation of a compelling service offering and we look to the future with confidence, determination and the ability to build upon our past success into the years ahead."
www.facilicom.co.uk
