View The Latest Issue
Official Media Sponsor
C&M is published by
Cresswell crowned champions
A team from Cresswell, the South London based cleaning and facilities management company, smashed the competition to win the overall trophy at a recent Dragon Boat Racing Regatta in London.
Active in its corporate social responsibility and sustainability projects, Cresswell is ISO14001:2004 certified and encourages staff to give up valuable time to support fund raising projects and charity events. Previous events have included a 5km run to raise money for Trees for Cities.
Racing head to head in a 30ft Hong Kong style Dragon boat where the drummer beats out a rhythm for the 10 paddlers has become a regular event in support of The Anthony Nolan Trust which provides lifesaving donors for patients in need of a bone marrow transplant. The Cresswell Crusaders team of 11 entered for the very first time and, after a slow start in the first race, gained momentum, finishing with the fastest overall time in heats. The team then went on to win the semi-finals and finally beat the Virgin Active team in the final to become champions of the whole event.
David McLeod, managing director, said: “I am delighted that we managed to raise a substantial amount of money for a very worthwhile charity, but was not expecting such a great result. I would like to thank the team members, who worked so hard on the night, for their dedication.”
www.cresswellservices.co.uk
Safety always comes first
Keeping windows clean can be a daunting and time-consuming task for building managers and the maintenance staff they manage. With window cleaning standards and health and safety improving, building managers understand the importance of employee training and safety.
Dedicated to developing best practices in the cleaning industry, FWC has been a professional employers trade association for window cleaners for over 60 years and part of its aims are to:
• Increase public awareness of the need for high standards of safety.
• Encourage members in attaining health & safety training & education.
The FWC, in conjunction with IOSH, has launched two accredited one-day health & safety courses for window cleaners: ‘Cleaning windows safely’
is a no-nonsense, hands-on, practical and theory course covering health & safety legislation, risk assessments, safe systems of work and the use of waterfed poles and portable ladders. A course written by experienced window cleaners, it will provide an externally recognised qualification, accepted by employees, clients and health & safety professionals; ‘Risk assessment training’ is a relatively new one-day IOSH accredited course that will identify any applicable legislation, discuss what to look for, show you how to put controls in place and how to draft out the risk assessments. It can also be used as proof of prior learning for City and Guilds NVQ level 2 Unit 201.
This course is aimed at everyone within the window and specialist cleaning industry.
www.f-w-c.co.uk
TUPE or not TUPE
A recent tribunal decision has illustrated that the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) applies even where there are building closures and shift changes - as long as the cleaning contract retains its entity. So when tendering for contacts, be aware that the contract/company you are providing the service to is the entity, not the building.
In this particular case, Brayborne provided a daily cleaning service to a college which went out for tender at the same time as moving two of the three buildings into a new campus. All tenderers were made aware of the building moves and that TUPE applied to all staff. The contract was ultimately awarded to a new contractor last summer.
The new contractor accepted no liability for costs to the employees as a result of these closures and took the view that, although TUPE did apply, it only applied to one of the buildings that remained, not the two that were shutting down and relocating to the new campus.
Brayborne had approximately 50 employees who had been consulted throughout the process. They were advised that TUPE clearly applied and they would all automatically transfer. The new contractor agreed TUPE applied and put it in writing, but a week before the transfer date retracted this as, in its opinion, it only applied to the existing building - which equated to only one third of the team employed at the college.
Subsequently, Brayborne and the new contractor became respondents one and two in a tribunal in November, with an agreed bundle of approx 600 pages. The hearing, which lasted a full day, was followed by a request from the judge for final submissions from both respondents. A final judgement was received during February 2010, stating that the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 applied to the service provision change of the cleaning contract for the college and therefore the new contractor, who took over the contract on 1 August, was liable for redundancy, pay in lieu of notice, and the liability for accrued holiday.
The employment judge concluded: “Applying the law to the facts of this case, the transfer of the cleaning contract for the college from the existing to the new contractor on 31 July came within the definition of a relevant transfer under both Regulation 3(i)(a) and 3(i)(b). I am satisfied that there was a transfer of an ‘economic entity’ which retained its identity after the transfer. The economic entity in question was the cleaning contract at the college. Both before and after 31 July the cleaning contract was for the same employer, servicing the same students and staff and carrying out very similar, if not identical, functions although at a different time of day and on different premises. In addition, the bidding for the contract was on the basis that TUPE applied and the contractor quoted on the basis that that was the case. In fact, all parties clearly considered that TUPE applied until some eight days before the transfer when the new contractor changed its mind. Prior to that it clearly took the view that the contract, which was let as a single activity without distinction between the sites, was clearly intended to apply to all employees.”
BCC Cleaning Conference: last few tickets remaining
The British Cleaning Council has announced that very limited numbers of tickets remain available for its Cleaning Conference, which is taking place on 5 October 2010.
Speakers at the event include former government minister Michael Portillo, Chris Cracknell of OCS and Asset Skills on the value of training during the economic recovery, Pedro Chidichimo of Diversey on building long term sustainability in the cleaning sector, Jimmy Hayes of ISS London, who will be speaking on encouraging young people to view cleaning as a career, and David Lunt, who will be talking about the newly launched Personal Accounts Delivery Authority.
Exhibitors on the day are Activeion, Nilfisk-Alto, ISS, Selden Research, Kimberly-Clark Professional, Diversey and the British Toilet Association.
Tickets for the event remain available for online purchase from the British Cleaning Council website: www.britishcleaningcouncil.org.
Buildings recognised for ‘effective cleaning’
The 2009/2010 Building Cleanability Awards scheme culminated in a presentation luncheon at Guildhall, London recently where a number of short-listed building entries were recognised for a variety of features which support effective day to day cleaning.
Promoted by the cleaning industry livery company - The Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners - this latest biennial scheme was the eighth held since the award’s inception in 1994. Nearly 400 buildings from across the UK and Republic of Ireland have been individually assessed over the 16 year period and from 10 separate entry categories.
Birmingham Metropolitan College, based in Sutton Coldfield, was declared the overall winner. There were two other major awards for the working environment, one presented to the Forth Valley Acute Hospital in Larbert, Scotland and the other to Cork Institute of Technology School of Music in Ireland.
Other national category winners were: Medway Police HQ, Gillingham; West Ham bus garage, Canning Town; Regents Place, London; G-Casino, Sheffield; Cheshire & Merseyside NHS treatment centre, Runcorn; Highcross Centre, Leicester; and Kings Place, London.
The British Cleaning Council was once again the principal patron of the 2009/2010 awards scheme with further sponsorship provided by The British Institute of Cleaning Science, Dougland Support Services, ISS Facility Services, Mayflower Washroom Solutions, Selden Research, CAM Specialist Support and Pertrac International.
The two leading building design professional bodies - RIBA (Royal British Institute of Architects), and CIAT (Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists) - also provided promotional support to their respective members for this latest awards scheme.
Full details of short listed entries and national winners are available on the awards website: www.cleanabilityawards.co.uk.
“We have managed to raise the profile of building cleanability significantly over the last 16 years,” said BCA management committee chairman, Paul Taylor, “but we recognise that we, together with our professional body partners, have much work still to do to persuade all those engaged in building design to consider the cleaning needs of a building before construction work actually starts.”
CHSA educational scholarships 2010
Now in its 11th year, the CHSA educational scholarship programme continues to strengthen the links between industry and education. Employees and their families of all CHSA member companies are eligible to apply for a bursary of up to £3000 as a contribution to their higher education costs at a time when financial pressures on students have never been greater.
This year’s scholarship has been sponsored by the International Sanitary Supply Association.
The selection process has now been completed and congratulations go to Naomi Goff, representing CHSA member Diversey UK Ltd. Naomi will shortly begin a course at the University of Gloucestershire for a BEd (Hons) in Primary Education.
The best wishes of all at CHSA and C&M go with Naomi as she embarks upon the next exciting chapter in her life.
