Executive Housekeeping Today - February 2009 - (Page 15)

three years. “One of the positives of being involved in IEHA, and specifically in my Chapter, is that it has allowed me to have some interaction and conversation with the universities in this area,” says Taylor. “At our Chapter meetings, I get to talk to the people that are involved in custodial services at Notre Dame, Purdue, and Indiana University, and they are much further along and much more sophisticated in testing products than we are. It gives me a chance to pick their brains on what they’re doing, what they’re using, and what they’re finding, and that’s been very helpful for me, having no experience in the custodial services field.” Taylor, who has been an IEHA member for two years, also felt that it was necessary to get his supervisors involved as well. “I thought as a way of professionalizing my supervising staff, I would enroll all of them in IEHA, and I have tried to take some of them to our local Chapter meetings so they could be exposed to a little bit more professional attitude about how they can provide our services,” says Taylor. “Executive Housekeeping Today is an important benefit of IEHA. There are always informative articles, and because all of my supervisors are members as well, they receive the publication and have access to the online resources, so it allows them to see the cleaning world a little differently than the way they’ve seen it in the past. They have a lot more resources at their fingertips.” In fact, since enrolling his supervisors, Taylor has had several of them send him articles that they’ve found online or that they have taken out of the publication that give them ideas on how to improve the department. “This has been another benefit of being a part of IEHA. I don’t All custodial supervisors for Portage Township Schools stand with custodial services director Tom Taylor and show their support for Portage. From left to right: Nancy Shuttz, Nancy Busch, Robin Vaughan, John Scott, Candace Koedyker, Bob Bailey, Tom Taylor, Jerry Weyant, Dave Christy, Kelsie Loar, June Rinehart, Nancy Martinez, Irene Cox, and Deanna Jacobs. think the supervisors would have come to me with ideas three years ago,” says Taylor. were using everyday were not effective. In addition, from discussion, they discovered they were using a number of different products and vendors based on the wishes and desires of the supervisors at different schools. Therefore, they contacted a couple of vendors and had them present their products, and through a consensus of the Custodial Advisory Group, they chose one vendor to go with to purchase all their cleaning products for the entire school system. In addition, 80 percent of their cleaning chemicals are Green. “Standardizing our cleaning chemicals and dispensers has been not only helpful from a cost and cleaning standpoint, but certainly from a safety and training standpoint as well,” says Taylor. In regards to training, mandatory classes occur yearly for the custodians on topics such as slips, trips, and falls; material and safety handling; bloodborne pathogens; bathroom care; and floor care. (continued on next page) Steps Towards Improvement One of the first things Taylor did when he started in his position was establish a Custodial Advisory Group. The group consisted of some of the custodial supervisors as well as custodians. They would meet with Taylor once a month and discuss problems in the custodial department and how the problems could be resolved. “I found the advisory group to be very interesting,” says Taylor. “Since I had no experience in the field, I needed to hear from them as to what they were doing, where they thought they needed help, and how we could provide that help to them. And I think that I got some really good feedback.” Initially, Taylor changed the entire cleaning chemical process based on their input. The supervisors’ and custodians’ feelings were that the cleaning chemicals they February 2009/Executive Housekeeping Today 5

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Executive Housekeeping Today - February 2009

Executive Housekeeping Today - February 2009 Contents Executive Corner Putting a Stop to Restroom Complaints Clean Soap Dispensers are Good for Business Frugal Housekeeper Executive Profile Spartan Scholarship Award Winner USGBC Tip The Green Scene 2008 IEHA Audit Report The Un-Comfort Zone with Robert Wilson 2009 Salary Survey Inside the Industry Product Highlights New Members Joint IEHA/ISSA Members Advertisers’ Index Calendar of Events Inside IEHA What IEHA Has Done For Me

Executive Housekeeping Today - February 2009

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