february2023 - 30

Ground Service Providers
chemicals and supplies are necessary
is key.
* PPE - Gloves are required 100
percent of the time, regardless of
position. Changing gloves or even
wearing double gloves may be necessary
to ensure the hands are protected.
Some cleaners opt to wear
masks. It's not required but gloves
are definitely the most important PPE
that cabin cleaners use on a per clean
basis.
* Training - According to Kennedy,
Unifi has a mockup of a cabin with
aircraft seats in some markets to
assist with training. Getting on
aircraft, allowing employees to
physically get a feel for the cleaning
as they go throughout the process
is important because the physical
demand of getting in between the
different rows can be difficult. Being
able to bring on new hires and show
videos to new hires who may have
never been on an aircraft or flown
is key just to get their mind focused
on what the job entails. So the training
provided by a physical mockup
after classroom training is completed
helps complement on-the-job
training.
* Checklists - Checklists from a lead's
perspective provide oversight on
assignments. Flowing through a
checklist, and then a separate checklist
for a team lead, who then goes
through the aircraft to do a final
inspection with their checklist, is
very helpful.
* Color-codes - Some airlines color-code
supplies - one color for galley
supplies, one for lavs, one for cabins,
etc. From a visibility standpoint, if
someone was auditing or someone
came on board, they can clearly see
that color and ensure that there's no
cross contamination between the
different areas, which is very important.
Kits are built on an airline's
requirements.
* Ensuring a proper clean - This task
falls to team leaders. The leads go
through checklists and do a walk
through of the aircraft after the team
has cleaned.
The Importance of Cabin
Cleaners
Kennedy says cabin cleaning staff do not
have high visibility or receive recognition
from flying customers because the job is
done behind the scenes.
" It's crucial for us as a company and a
leadership team to really thank them on
a daily basis but more so celebrate wins
from audits. The airlines and ourselves,
we do internal audits on the teams, and
the airlines do audits and really put
together a scoring competition between
the groups on grading those cleans, " he
says. " Celebrating with the teams on
those wins to really recognize the folks
for the hard work they've done is crucial
to creating a great culture. "
Kennedy adds it's important
to emphasize how much cleaning
tasks matter.
" It's a thankless job, " he says. " They
don't get to see it, but knowing if that
passenger was sitting on an aircraft for
three-plus hours in an area that they
may not have cleaned and paid lots
of money to sit there, they wouldn't
be very happy.
" Passengers want a clean product and
The number of cabin cleaners on
a cleaning team depends on the
size of the aircraft and the time
available to get the cleaning done.
30 || Ground Support Worldwide || February 2023
our employees carry so much weight of
making sure that happens, so it's a very
important job and we have some great
folks out there doing it. "
UNIFI
february2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of february2023
