Getting to grips with floorcare

YHA (England and Wales) has enlisted the help of Robert Scott whilst looking to update the specifications of its floorcare system to better suit the needs of staff. Robert Scott hosted YHA’s team at its mill in Saddleworth for the company’s inaugural Housekeeping Forum, with 15 of the business’s cleaning managers in attendance. The event was designed to give the team the opportunity to discuss, as a group, the main requirements for the new floorcare system. Together they were able to look at various demo units and discuss the benefits of each in relation to their specific needs for the company.

Lisa Venter, operations standards and quality manager at YHA, said: “One of the main reasons we were looking to update our floorcare systems was based on the feedback from our staff… With different handles for mops and brooms across sites, it was causing confusion for the teams when equipment was not piecing together correctly. We also wanted to find a UK-based manufacturer as part of the company’s contribution to reducing our carbon footprint wherever possible. Time-saving and cost-effectiveness are also important factors that we must consider as a business. A system that was going to help us reduce volume of wastewater, chemical cleaning agents and time spent cleaning for the team, were also important. YHA takes housekeeping very seriously and the focus and investment on improving standards of cleaning has resulted in a big uplift in guest satisfaction scores over the past four years. Updating our floorcare system is part of our continuing focus on innovation and finding better ways of doing things.”

Kelly Brierley, key account manager at Robert Scott, said: “Once we’d worked through the requirements of YHA’s team as part of the forum and addressed the main user concerns, we showed the team a range of suitable options that would suit their requirements, each with their own specific benefits.”

As a result of the Housekeeping Forum, Robert Scott’s team was able to suggest the Abbey handle as the most appropriate solution.

“To address the issue of mismatching handles, we created a handle amnesty whereby all old handles were surrendered by staff to be recycled and replaced with white Abbey handles for consistency,” continued Brierley. “As a result, the new handles can now be used with any products from mops and brushes, to squeegees and sweepers. These head attachments come complete with sockets that comply with the BICSc universal colour code system to prevent cross contamination.”

Lisa Venter added: “The team at Robert Scott has provided us with invaluable product knowledge, allowing us to make an informed decision that has benefitted the business and its staff. The support of their team to help us move over to the new spec of equipment has been hugely appreciated.”

www.robert-scott.co.uk