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Maintaining a clean and healthy office environment in winter is already a demanding task, which is why trying to keep illness at bay can be extra arduous. Between increasing your disinfection stations, hiring professional cleaning services in Melbourne and asking employees to take extra caution this flu season, you may have overlooked some of the filthiest areas in your office. Here are three of them.

Handles Are Dirty Hotspots

Addressing your main door handles may seem like it should be your first task, but have you thought about the other handles around your office? Surfaces can be a viral playground for infections, and these can include appliances in your kitchen like your microwave, kettle and refrigerator doors. Bathroom door handles, file organiser cupboards and even vending machines are just as filthy. Although you can implement a hand sanitizer policy at work, this won’t curb infecting handle spots in your office because of how frequently used they are. Professional cleaners can identify any other hotspots and regularly disinfect these areas.

Grimy Electronics

It’s easy to forget to clean our everyday electronics, and the biggest culprit is often our mobile phones. Encourage your team to wipe down their mobile phones frequently as this makes direct contact with their face. However, what about keyboards, telephones and photocopy machines? Chances are no one in your office gives these electronics a second thought when it comes to frequent use, even though they could be filthiest area in your office. Using frequent cleaning services in Melbourne can sanitise these areas and keep your office hygienic.

Messy Elevators and Handrails

How often do touch a handrail on your way to the next floor? Once you start looking at how clean your environment is, you’ll swiftly realise that there are many dirty areas there are that people are unaware of. Another example is jumping into an elevator, where most people instinctively hit the button of the floor they need to go to without thinking about how many other people have already touched the keypad.

To maintain hygiene in all areas of your office, you need to hire reputable cleaning services in Melbourne for peace-of-mind. Ankars Commercial Cleaning Services can assist you in stopping the spread of bacteria throughout your office, paying attention to these areas and give your employees a healthy environment to work in.

So, you’ve been doing your cleaning in the workplace for a while, and it’s getting a bit much. Perhaps you already have a commercial cleaning in North Melbourne helping you out, but they’re not quite what you were looking for. Either way, it’s time to look for a new cleaning company, but how will you ensure that you hire the right team this time? Every company presents itself as the best at first glance, but when you start asking the right questions, the truth becomes clearer.

In a previous blog, we showed you how to identify if you’re with the wrong company. In this one, we’ve put together a list of questions you can ask to determine if a cleaning company will work for you. Don’t be shy – ask away!

1. How Much Do Your Services Cost?

The first step is to determine what your budget is for the service you need. You should shop around and compare quotes so that you can either adjust your budget or requirements appropriately where necessary. Remember: cheaper isn’t always better.

2. What Do Your Cleaning Packages Include?

Every commercial space is different. While some only need regular cleaning in specific areas, others need the whole nine yards every time. Ask cleaning companies if you can customise your package and if they include things like cleaning supplies.

3. Do You Have A Vetting Process For Your Employees?

Cleaning staff come into contact with sensitive information, sick people or children. It’s important to verify that they’re safe in this regard. Cleaning companies should do background checks to protect you, your employees, your clients, and your property.

4. What Does A Standard Agreement With Your Cleaning Business Entail?

Always ask for a draft contract to read through. Read attentively and ask questions about clauses you don’t understand. Don’t sign anything if you’re not happy with the offer.

5. How Much Industry Experience Do You Have?

You want to be sure that your cleaning company knows what they’re doing. Find out how long they’ve been in business and check on reviews and references before you hire them.

Once You Have The Answers You Need, You Can Decide

Nobody knows what your business needs better than you do. Ask these questions confidently, and you’ll be able to separate the chancers from the professionals. Ankars is a top cleaning business in Melbourne. Contact us to learn more.

Related Tag: Cleaning Office Services, Cleaning Service Melbourne

With the nippy winter months fast approaching, we can’t help but notice the increase in random coughs and sneezes all through the streets of Melbourne. It’s unpleasant, but it comes around every year. Flu season is upon us, but there’s no reason to panic if you have the right mechanisms in place to keep it under control. Who would have thought that the right school cleaning services can protect people in public spaces from contracting flu? It’s more than just dirt we get rid of – it’s airborne particles that carry viruses too!

Why Are Schools Hard-Hit By Flu Season?

Schools are filled with people day in, day out, which is why it’s no surprise that the flu spreads so quickly and vastly on campus. The virus spreads either through airborne or surface particles that are carried by students and staff. There are a few things you can do to manage this. On top of encouraging vaccinations and personal hygiene, you can work together with your commercial cleaning company to keep the spread as low as possible. Here’s how:

• Regular Disinfection Of Surfaces Throughout The Premises

Consistency is key during flu season. A regular disinfection schedule (more rigorous than in summer) will keep your school environment clean throughout the season.

• Using High-Quality Disinfectant, Products Equipment & Materials

Your cleaning company must be committed to using only the best products and equipment to disinfect surfaces such as desks, keyboards, basins, doors, and more.

• Recognising High-Risk Areas & Treating Them With Extra Attention

Communal areas, such as the lunchroom, computer room or bathroom are more likely to be contaminated. Be more meticulous when cleaning these areas.

• Using Disposable Safety Masks, Gloves And Other Protective Gear

Cleaners must protect themselves, and the rest of the school by extension, by wearing protective gear while handling potentially contaminated spaces.

As much as you can’t control when students and staff contract flu during flu season, you can minimize its spread on campus. The first step is finding school and Brisbane commercial cleaning services that you can trust. Contact Ankars Commercial Cleaning Services to stay safe this winter.

Choosing a commercial cleaning company is a big task. More so with all the chancers out there who are waiting to take unsuspecting businesses for a ride. Sometimes everything seems to check out at face value, but things go awry once you’ve signed a contract. Thankfully there are signs that you can look out for to see if your office cleaning company isn’t the right match for you. In this blog, we discuss a few common red flags that you shouldn’t ignore. The sooner you ditch cleaning companies that do the following, the better:

Shady Sign #1: Incomplete Disclosure When It Comes To Prices

There’s nothing shadier than getting a vague answer when you ask for a quote for cleaning services. A legitimate office cleaning company should be able to provide prices transparently. The moment there’s secrecy on money, there’s a chance that you’re being taken for a ride.

Shady Sign #2: Inconsistent Results Over Time

Let’s paint a scenario: your office cleaning services were fantastic in the first month. You were happy, and so were your employees – but then there was a switch. By month three, the standards had dropped. Sound familiar? This shouldn’t be the case. Consistency is everything. Failure to achieve this is unacceptable.

Shady Sign #3: No Sense Of Urgency During Emergencies

Things happen, we know that by now. What matters is how your cleaning company responds to it. There must be a standard operating procedure to counter emergencies like water damage from flooding, accidental spills and similar urgent issues.

Shady Sign #4: Outdated Cleaning Methods, Equipment & Products

It’s important for your office cleaning company to come prepared. This entails having the latest, suitable quality detergents and tools. Efficient and effective cleaning should be the name of the game. If it’s not, you’re with the wrong company.

Shady Sign #5: Insufficient Training For Employees

Cleaning staff must be trained on a variety of things, from company culture to security procedures. Neglecting this compromises your business’ security, so ensure that you’re with a cleaning company that has a comprehensive training programme.

Are the alarm bells going off for your current office cleaning company? Don’t worry. Contact Ankars Commercial Cleaning Waverly Service can help you, so contact us today for assistance.

The price tag of lost productivity due to sickness and absenteeism in the Australian workplace amounts to billions each year and a contributing factor to this alarming statistic is that the typical office desk has been found to house excess amounts of harmful bacteria. Other common germ-infested office areas include elevator buttons, microwave doors, fridge doors, computer keyboards, telephones, computer mice and even the coffee cups. Surface areas like the phone or computer can harbour viruses responsible for spreading sickness for hours and sometimes for months. Wondering what your workplace risk is? The following factors will increase your need for an office deep clean.

• Open-Plan Layouts

Open-plan workspaces put employees more at risk of falling sick than employees in private offices. Premises with an open-plan layout necessitate a stricter adherence to thorough cleaning schedules. It may be hard to believe, but the conditions of an environment have been found to influence the way we behave. Employees who wouldn’t normally litter are more likely to do so in a dirty environment. One reason for this is that following the norm is easier than taking responsibility for an already dirty environment.

• Shared Stationery

While digital technology has meant less reliance on paperwork, there are many instances when we still come into contact with paper in our day-to-day activities. It may be sharing meeting minutes with a colleague, reading the newspaper in the breakroom during lunch or leaving someone a message. Pens are another common item that are shared and even chewed on.

How To Reduce Sickness In The Workplace

• Encourage Better Hygiene Practices

Employees should be encouraged to implement best practice hygiene methods such as washing hands and wiping down desk surfaces after using them.

• Put In Place Better Hygienic Workplace Facilities

It’s the responsibility of every Australian employee to ensure that their employees have a workplace environment that meets health and safety standards. Providing easy access to antibacterial wipes and hand sanitisers and having a professional commercial cleaning contractor keep premises clean and tidy are highly recommended.

For a thorough workplace clean, trust in the services of an experienced, reputable contractor. Ankars Commercial Cleaning Service offers superior commercial cleaning in Sunshine Coast. Give us a call today to find out what we do and why we do it best.

When hiring a commercial cleaning contractor for your business, you’ll obviously need to consider the variety of services offered, whether the company is registered with the relevant authority bodies as well as the reputation of the company in the industry, but there are also other seldom thought of factors that can affect your choice in contractor. Identifying these factors first before selecting a cleaning contractor will make the process of hiring the best choice for your business easier. Many of these factors will depend on the size of your business premises and the nature of the business. It also might also impact the quote and service that you receive from the company in question.

• Structure Of Business Premises

The structural layout of your place of business or workplace will impact the cleaner’s speed and influence how often cleaning and maintenance will need to be undertaken. For instance, a workplace with a minimal design is relatively easier and quicker to clean than a workspace with a more complex multi-layered layout.

Different internal office spaces will require different cleaning requirements. A conference room will need more intensive steam carpet cleaning while an office kitchen presents a different safety and hygiene challenge in terms of spills and food.

• Workplace Density And Productivity

While your priority is to ensure the productivity of your workforce in a safe and clean environment, your cleaning contractor will want to complete their cleaning duties efficiently and promptly without causing too much disruption in your business’ day-to-day activities. Considering the ideal time to undertake cleaning – during office hours or after hours is a critical factor. The movement of employees will affect the cleaning strategy of your contractor so that productivity is not affected.

• The Nature Of Your Business

Your business niche is also an important factor for your commercial cleaning contractor. Many businesses will only require generic cleaning solutions, but businesses in the medical, manufacturing and hospitality niches may require more specialised advanced services. Environments that need specialised chemical cleaning methods will be costlier than general cleaning services.

Does your business require quality commercial cleaning in North Melbourne? Ankars Commercial Cleaning Service is a reputable contractor in commercial cleaning Waverly businesses. Give us a call to find out how we can best serve your cleaning needs.

Related Tag: Cleaning Service Melbourne 

Have you considered just how much smoother your office would run with the help of a commercial cleaning service in Melbourne? Well, we have. If fact there’s such a demand for such a service that our business, Ankars Commercial Cleaning Services, has been around for over three decades!

As a business owner you need to realize that the office is where your staff will spend the bulk of their time and that there’s nothing more distracting and disruptive than a messy, dirty workplace. Efficient cleaning and maintenance is essential to running a business successfully. When you hire a professional cleaning crew like the team at Ankars Commercial Cleaning Services, you’ll also experiencer the following benefits…

1. Access to Trained Professionals

Perhaps the most important gain you’ll experience from hiring a cleaning service for your Melbourne commercial property is ready-made professional assistance. You don’t need to worry about providing training for cleaning staff, because professional cleaning companies take care of that for you. Things like standard operating procedures and industry conventions are already imparted on each cleaner by the time they visit your work environment.

2. Improved Health And Safety On Your Commercial Property

A clean work environment is hygienic and safe for everyone to use. This benefits the workforce and guests to your business, making your office space more inviting and comfortable, so you won’t have to work extra hard to foster trust in the space. It also drastically slashes bugs and germs spreading in the office, which causes employees to take sick days.

3. Save Valuable Time

A good commercial cleaning service crew in Melbourne, such as Ankars Commercial Cleaning Services, come with experience and expertise. The impact of this is that faster and more efficient cleaning methods and equipment are used. This is better than doing it yourself or hiring one person to do the job, saving you time to do other important things. You can rely on the fact that the service will maintain a consistent level of cleanliness without disrupting your daily activities.

Contact Ankars Commercial Cleaning Port Melbourne for help from a trusted cleaning service in Melbourne. Call 1800 700 778 or request a free quote today.

When it comes to cleanliness in communal areas such as the workplace, sanitation is important and there are the some not so obvious areas that need extra attention. High traffic areas such as walkway carpets, kitchen surfaces and bathroom toilets are all common areas that most Office Cleaners Service will tend to spend more time on in order to evict all bacteria and to prevent the spread of germs. However, amongst these popular areas are smaller, everyday areas and objects in a workplace that require the same attention as they tend to unexpectedly harbour the most bacteria. It is important to recognises these areas as if left neglected, they could ultimately lead to an increased risk of spreading sickness throughout the office and infecting the staff members.

Light switches

Light switches are quite often forgotten about as a common harborer of germs. Multiple people come into contact with light switches throughout the day to which their hands transfer any residue or bacterial substances from their fingertips to the switch board. Over the space of a week, these germs multiply and create an unaware area of germs that ultimately spread throughout the office with every single contact. So it is important to regularly clean your light switches, because if ignored, the bacteria can accumulate to harbour over 200 different types.

Computer keyboards

Computer keyboards are another item that tend to harbour germs due to the constant contact with various bacteria ridden hands. In fact, some recent studies have suggested that everyday keyboards hold approximately 200 times more bacteria than a toilet seat does. For anyone who works regularly with a computer, a keyboard is an item that is always faced with direct contact from multiple people and hence the bacteria that those people hold. More often than not, keyboards are an item that is often forgotten and rarely cleaned properly. Over time, keyboards can accumulate a vast range of germs from sneezing, coughing and any spillages that present on the desk space. These germs are then easily transferred to our hands upon contact making them a dangerous harborer of all kinds of bacterial illness.

Telephones

Telephones are under the same duress as keyboards. They are in regular contact with our hands and are in the same near space of our desk to accumulate germs from coughing and sneezing. Telephones are particularly likely to harbour bacteria due to the regular use and close proximity they are to sticky fingers, mouths and the faces of all the people who use them.

Soap dispensers

Another high contaminated area is that of soap dispensers. All hands that come into contact with the dispenser are likely to be quite dirty and filled with bacteria, and although we assume once we wash our hands after touching it we will be rid of these, the reality is that we aren’t. Soap will likely kill off the majority of the bacteria, however, if the dispenser is not thoroughly cleaned on both the inside and outside, it is likely that germs will remain on the hands. This can often make us sick as we perceive our hands to be clean when they’re not, and these bacteria can ultimately infect us.

Fridge door handles, bathroom towels, filing cabinet drawers and all other common areas hold the same issues. They are likely to harbour various bacterias if ignored. When consulting with your commercial cleaning company, it is beneficial in the long term to confirm that they give extra attention to these areas. Efficient Cleaning Business of all these communal areas and objects will likely prevent the risk of illness throughout the workplace and reduce the likeliness of staff having to request sick days off.

Related Tags: Cleaning Service Melbourne | Office and Commercial Cleaning

Carpet cleaning can often be quite a laborious task to tackle when cleaning your home or office space. The process itself alone is quite time consuming, combined with the additional time required for drying makes carpet cleaning feel like an arduous chore to complete. Despite this, it is important not to ignore regularly cleaning your floor space. Unclean carpets don’t just look bad but can also be a risk to your health as they quite often harbour germs, parasites and dust that can potentially make those in the space unwell. Cleaning your carpets doesn’t have to feel like a vexatious task, in fact it can be a quicker and simpler job than you’d initially thought. Here are some tips for keeping your carpet healthy and in it’s cleanest possible condition.

Preparation

Accidental spills are common and almost guaranteed to occur when kids or pets are around the area. To avoid any spillages turning into a stain, it is important to deal with it quickly and not ignore it.

• Firstly, use an absorbent to soak up the excess liquid hanging on the surface of the carpet and be sure not to rub or scrub as this will only push the fluid deeper into the pile of the carpet.
• Before you begin cleaning, it is often helpful to run a vacuum around the spill to pick up any dust and debris. This will prevent your carpet cleaner from getting clogged up and prepare the floor for a deeper, more effective clean.
• If the carpet is heavily soiled, pre-treating it with a specific solution is often a good idea. This will give your carpet a deeper clean and a good start on breaking down the stains before you introduce a generic cleaner to fully cleans the affected area.

Before you complete all of this, it is important to double check you are using the appropriate solutions for you type of carpet, as different solutions will have different effects on various types of flooring.

The Cleaning Process

Once you have assured the right carpet cleaner for your floor, move the cleaner solution up and down the room in parallel lines, starting furthest away from the door and working your way back to the door. It can help to slightly overlap each line to ensure no space is missed but be careful that this doesn’t over soak certain areas.

After cleaning, follow instructions provided on your solution. This might mean giving your floor a slight rinse afterwards to remove any soapy residue remaining on the surface that can attract more dirt and dust if ignored. Afterwards leave the floor to dry, it might help to ventilate the room by opening windows and doors for a quicker natural dry.

Professionals.

Choosing the right office cleaners service is essential to the well-being of your company. Ankars Commercial Cleaning services have all the appropriate products and cleaning solutions required to give your floors a spotless clean look. Be sure to get in contact with us if you are seeking a commercial cleaning service for your office or work space that offers an additional professional carpet cleaning as part of the service.