Keeping the crunch out of contracts
October 1st 2008

According to the media, everybody's battling the 'crunch' and industry is tightening its belt. So how is industrial contract cleaning adjusting to the lean times? Gerardine Coyne got the lowdown from Phil Simmons and Donnie McCoy of Initial, and Jane Speyer from Interserve

Crunchtime or not, the fact that a large part of industrial contract cleaning revolves around ensuring health and safety, means that corners cannot be easily cut. "Health and safety is of paramount importance," confirms Phil Simmons, (top) director of operations at Initial Specialist Services.

"Working around heavy machinery in plants means the areas are much more open, and it's a 24/7 production environment." There are risks everywhere.

Jane Speyers, divisional director of Interserve Cleaning adds,"We deal with places like Corus the steelworks which is incredibly dangerous.We have areas on that particular site where we have to go inside huge drums with only one exit that can be filled with noxious fumes".

Obviously the only way to deal with these sort of high risk environments is highly specialised training.

"Training is very much based on the individual site and the circumstances people are working in," says Speyers. "And we own the specialist equipment for the dedicated sites so it is readily available." Initial also has its fair share of dangerous sites. "We work within catalyst vessels, so people have to use breathing apparatus, so there's specialist training for that," says Simmons' colleague Donnie McCoy, general manager of the industrial services division. "And there's confined space entry, which again is specialist training, you can't just send anyone into it without the necessary knowledge." So is this specialist knowledge and experience really worth shelling out for? Speyers thinks so. "Facilities managers should absolutely be asking for contractors. Particularly from the safety front. Interserve has a team of dedicated specialists on what we call 'Q-SHE' – Quality Safety Health & Environment.They are experts in their field and they provide an essential service." But surely the managers know their own plants better than a contractor? "I believe that whilst they will have the site knowledge, they don't necessarily have that expert health and safety knowledge," argues Speyers."What we bring to the party is the ability to compare and discuss other sites," adds Simmons. "Initial is a UK wide business serving quite a broad base of different clients.And we can share those experiences and examples, whereas an inhouse onsite team is much more introverted and introspective." A long length of time in a facility can actually be detrimental."Working practices are often historical, whereas by engaging with an outsourced agency, you are looking to engage with new and up to date technology." McCoy agrees: "We can bring best practice," he says.

Despite health and safety being interlinked with contracting, expertise costs, so using contractors may not be at the top of industry's list in these uncertain economic times. But how uncertain are they? Have things really changed that much? According to Speyers, what's happening now is not the sudden beginning of a new crisis but a continuation of current trends. "The economic climate has actually been causing a problem for a few years now with heavy industry moving abroad, that trend's been going really since the 80s. Using Cowley the British Leyland plant as an example,we were the incumbent when it went into receivership".

Survival of the fittest The key to survival is adaption. Industrial contract cleaning has had to develop and diversify alongside the industries it caters to. "In our experience with every contract it's all about partnership, being flexible, and multi-skilling.With industrial contracts in particular,we find more and more that our people need to be able to do a whole range of cleaning/service provision related tasks – it's not a case of one person having one particular job and that's all they do.We're very aware that we need to be able to move with client requirements." Simmons talks along similar lines. "In terms of industrial contract cleaning as a percentage of business, I think it's fair to say our business is much broader than just pure cleaning, that probably is our entry point in to the client. Once we've built up trust and an understanding, there's a whole variety of services that we offer that would arguably not be seen as cleaning." Service providers are intelligently branching out so as not to get stuck in a deepening industrial rut. "As we know in the UK the industrial sector is not a sector that's grown particularly," says Simmons "but for us, services in that sector have grown as clients have looked for the benefits of specialisation, gained by moving into outsourcing". And although specialist outsourcing is a service that costs, it can actually save money explains McCoy. "The benefit is, companies can employ us as required.They don't have to employ us full time. Some people do but there's a lot of work we can cover for three months of the year.They don't have the expense of having to pay their own employees, or having to lay people off.We are a cheaper option." Some sectors are also not looking to make drastic cuts. Speyers reveals that some clients are saving smarter not harder. "With a lot of the industrial sector,we are still talking the public sector as opposed to the private sector, and that is more stable.AWE (the Atomic Weapons Establishment) is a good example, it's clearly an industrial site, and we've been on it for 10 years.And over time the client has become far more intelligent in terms of what they expect for their money what they want from us." This seems to be a plus point. "At the same time they are a very nice client to deal with in the public sector, because they are very black and white.Their policy is, 'It's in the contract or it's not in the contract.' There is none of this wanting something for nothing.They are catching up with the commercial side but without any of the squashing the margins type behaviour.

While they do ask for savings, it's intelligent savings, it's not a case of 'take a 100 hours off but we still want the same service'. It's not knee jerk, because they've got a more stable environment." Another arena linked to contractors is the companies supplying them with equipment, and here demand is certainly still strong, even if it's not about completely new innovations. "If you look across our customer base the areas of production are so vastly different we are always going to be looking for something with an extra bell or a whistle," says Simmons. "I think it's difficult to perceive something that's going to be completely revolutionary but the equipment suppliers seem to be evolving as time moves on." Speyers agrees with this love of extra gadgetry."We are a bit equipment obsessed in the cleaning industry aren't we? There aren't many people who get as excited over new shiny scrubber-dryers as we do." However, Speyers has spotted a gap that she thinks needs filling. "Moving away from the industrial side for a moment, I've been waiting for my entire career in cleaning, which is 15 years now, for a decent battery operated vacuum. One that actually does vacuum and lasts for a reasonable length of time.We're still not there. I think there's an awful lot that can be done."

Environmental perspectives Apart from the economy, the other big issue in cleaning centres around the environment. Simmons thinks developments are hinging around this rather than pure innovation. "I think nowadays it's much more about the application of chemicals, and what is used. It's about reducing the amount of chemicals needed.That's what's getting a lot of attention at the moment, because there are obviously environmental issues." Speyers agrees that greeness is certainly on the agenda for cleaning contractors. "There is an environmental aspect and what we are suggesting to our clients these days is utility savings, because we review service provision and hours on an ongoing basis.With utility savings we're still saving them a cost, it just it doesn't directly impact us.

"We work with Green Planet very closely on the washroom side of things and we can make really significant savings on utilities where they are metered." It all sounds very positive then, cleaning is greening up.However, as the old saying goes, 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'."We did come across a situation the other day where we were talking about savings and the client wasn't interested, which is quite unusual I think these days," confides Speyers. "It was a case of 'well I pay a fixed amount for my water anyway', so then we were talking about the moral obligation and the environmental impact of running urinals 100 times a day.They really couldn't care less. It was amazing." Looks like there's still a way to go in some areas of cleaning then, but hopefully industrial contract cleaners can continue to sort out at least some of the mess.

Initial Specialist Services 0800 077 8963 Interserve 0121 500 5000

Tender assistance safety service

Firms tendering for industrial cleaning contracts could benefit from a new RoSPA Tender Assistance Service launched to help companies to meet the health and safety requirements stipulated in many tender documents.

A good record on accident prevention and health is increasingly seen as conferring a competitive advantage.

Winners of RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards, for example, have cited that public recognition has proved valuable when tendering for new contracts. Through the new service, RoSPA consultants can give telephone advice and where appropriate, face-to-face guidance.

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