Top Tips for Keeping Your School Clean

February 16, 2021 9:50 AM by Tennant Company

Posted in Cleaning Solutions, Staffing & Personnel, Productivity, Health & Safety, Best Practices,

Tennant t300 floor scrubber cleaning a school gymnasium wooden floor

Keeping your school clean is essential for maintaining the health & safety of students and staff. Brush up on ways you can keep your school in optimal condition, while also protecting your budget with these helpful tips.

1. GET INVOLVED

Regardless of how you clean your floor, being involved in the equipment purchasing decision is crucial to your facility. Three options for your floor care program:

Self or In-House Cleaning: Purchase equipment and supplies; hire labor
Outsourced Cleaning: Buy ‘the result’ through use of hired cleaning contractors
Hybrid Cleaning: Purchase equipment and supplies; outsource labor

2. VALIDATION

Clean smarter with asset management and business intelligence metrics, which allow you to:

Objectively measure a clean environment
Create consistency across your schools
Develop a consistent process that you can track across your facilities
Isolate issues and make corrective actions quickly and cost-effectively

3. STAFF TRAINING

No matter which cleaning program you choose, staff must be properly trained to ensure consistency and quality.

Thoroughly train your staff and provide job aids like wall charts and videos
Build a successful on-boarding program and frequently retrain

4. PRIORITIZE

Make the biggest bang for your buck by focusing on the most noticed areas of your school.

Classrooms, restrooms and common areas are the most used areas

5. SPILL MANAGEMENT

Risk increases and image suffers when spills are left to sit.

Put in place a spill management process to increase safety for your students and employees
Utilize small automated scrubbers for quick cleaning and water pick-up, leaving the area dry and immediately ready for traffic

6. RIGHT PRODUCT AND EQUIPMENT

Partner with excellence when choosing a cleaning product manufacturer.

Drop the mop: increase productivity and performance and reduce risk with mechanized cleaning
Give your teams the proper tools to do their job with high quality, durable cleaning equipment

Tennant T600 cleaning school hallway floors

7. BATTERY & MACHINE MAINTENANCE

Good battery maintenance is essential for battery performance, extending battery life and increasing ROI.

Charge your cleaning equipment’s batteries fully each night for optimal performance
Maintain performance by following the manufacturer’s recommended daily maintenance procedures

8. USE OEM PARTS

Correct parts are important, and OEM parts are designed specifically for your machine.

OEM parts offer better cleaning performance and help machines last
Clean your pads and check squeegees after every use

9. PREVENTION AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS

By placing mats in the entryways, you can reduce dirt by up to 80%
Small, maneuverable scrubbers and vacuums should be used to prevent dirt from being tracked further into the school

10. GO ODOR-FREE

Minimize exposure to potentially harmful chemicals and strong detergent odors

Detergent-free cleaning not only helps keep students and employees noses happy, but also reduces waste, decreases shipping costs and minimizes exposure to VOCs (volatile organic compounds)

With smaller budgets and bigger service demands, cleaning strategies have to get smarter. Hopefully our 10 Tips and Tricks to Create a Safe, Satisfying and Clean Education Experience help you build a methodical cleaning program that keeps your facility clean, safe and inviting.

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