Cleaning in 2024

HAPPY NEW year to you all, I have been trying to think of something new to talk about in this column and, to be honest, the industry has so much happening that is still being progressed that I thought I would focus this column on what I think cleaning in 2024 is going to look like. 

Let me start with the new level 2 apprenticeship, at last we have a recognised qualification purely for the cleaning sector and not only as part of facilities management. I am looking forward to seeing the success of the standard and how you all take up the apprenticeship, remember we need to use it to make it a success and to keep it there. 

From BICSc experience over the last six months, training is playing an even bigger role in the industry now and whilst new ways to train and assess your staff are emerging, this is an area that will need to keep evolving to ensure what is on offer remains valid, current, and accessible to as many people as possible. We will all be going backwards if we stick with what has always been and don’t look at new and innovated ways to ensure that the future is not only bright but well-trained and effective. 

Of course, the ongoing onslaught of new technologies continue to grow, whether that be in machinery, robotics/cobotics or data-driven cleaning, all of these will be key in 2024. To address what seems like the ever-decreasing workforce we as an industry need to work smarter and utilise everything that is available to ensure we can maintain the standards of cleanliness the public expect and deserve. Data-driven cleaning means focus can be given to the areas that are most used and whilst robotic machines do have some limitations (although it appears that these limitations are decreasing at speed) they can do most large areas leaving the cleaning operative to concentrate on the detail. The benefit is the amount of time the robots can free up in an operative’s day-to-day workload to focus on the more specialised tasks.  

I would expect to see these technological advances becoming more common place and the cost of them decrease with increased take up. 

The technology we haven’t seen yet in any real way in the industry is what AI can do. I do wonder if this will start to grow in the industry this year. 

I think the final push for the year will be around ESG – especially environmental. As an industry we are very often at the forefront of environmental issues in areas – one of the first we embraced was recycling and rubbish segregation. But as an industry that heavily relies on chemicals to ensure dirt and bacteria are effectively removed, and with a huge amount of our equipment being made from plastic, I would expect to see a shift towards more environmentally friendly chemicals and equipment being introduced in the not-too-distant future. With huge environmental and sustainable pushes being made worldwide, and for good reason, we as an industry cannot be seen to sit on our laurels and not work toward improving our environmental footprint. Sticking with what we have always done, as I have already mentioned, means we are going backwards. 

So, in summary it is more of the same but as an industry we need to focus on and actually achieve change, it doesn’t just happen.  Keep an eye out for the innovative and don’t just dismiss it, you never know it could be the most surprising invention that revolutionises the industry.  I am ever hopeful. 

Neil Spencer-Cook is group managing director at BICSc.

For more information visit www.bics.org.uk