Tag Archive for: Cleaning

Dixon Middle School Teacher Praises (OS1)

/in /by

by Jeff Hawkins
Provo City School District – Head Custodian/ (OS1) Certified Trainer

As a Head Custodian at a Middle School, I often have teachers approach me with comments and concerns about their classrooms as well as the school in general. I would like to share just such an encounter that happened in April of 2011.

I was walking down the hall at Dixon Middle School when Ms. Giblon, our band teacher, called my name from down the corridor. Ms. Giblon has had a lot of health problems and has been absent from school quite a bit this year. She has been experiencing unexplained migraine headaches and episodes where she “blacks out.” I stopped as she said she needed to talk to me.

To be honest, I expected to hear a concern or complaint about something that required my attention. To my pleasant surprise, she shared the accompanying story with me. I am truly inspired by her story and feel genuinely proud that the (OS1) cleaning program that I have been asked to oversee in Provo City School District is having such a profound impact on one of our teachers’ lives. Stories like these make all of the hard work worth it and are a true testament to the positive results of the (OS1) cleaning program.

Letter to Jeff Hawkins from a Teacher at Dixon Middle School

“I have been recently diagnosed with severe migraine headaches and my neurologist has been trying to help me discover and eliminate
things that may trigger them. She told me to try eliminating household cleaners with heavy chemical smells from my home as they may be one of the possible triggers. I have been cleaning with “natural” cleaners in my house for a few weeks now. I am also taking medication and trying to eliminate a few other things but I have not had a migraine or blackout incident since I switched cleaning routines. I have also had less allergy trouble.

I don’t know if the lack of exposure to heavy chemical cleaners at home and at school are the only reason I feel better but I have noticed that when I go into other schools and businesses and smell the chemicals from cleaners that I sometimes get the nauseous/lightheaded feeling I was getting before I was having my migraine/blackout incidents. I can’t stand to walk down the cleaner aisle at the store any more because it just gags me.

So anyway, I just want to thank you for being willing to pilot this new cleaning program at Dixon and for using safer cleaning products. I appreciate what an awesome job you do keeping our school clean and safe. It does make a difference!”

~Ms. Giblon
Dixon Middle School

 

REMINDER: Outstanding Cleaning Worker of the Year Nominations

/in /by

For the last couple of years, the (OS1) Users Symposium has been conducting a “Outstanding Cleaning Worker of the Year” recognition ceremony for cleaning workers, who have been nominated by someone within their organization. 2.5 million people earn their living in the U.S. as janitors, custodians and housekeepers. Most toil through their shift, day after day with little recognition for their contribution to the orderly operation of every business.

Once again, the Simon Institute is planning on conducting this ceremony during this year’s (OS1) Awards Banquet, July 11, 2011 at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City.

This a a friendly reminder, to all (OS1) organizations, that we are currently accepting your nominations for Outstanding Cleaning Worker of the Year. For you convenience, we are accepting your nominations online. Just click the button below to nominate a cleaning worker from your organization:

[button link=”http://managemen.com/os1/os1-users/os1-users-symposium/outstanding-cleaning-worker-of-the-year/” window=”yes”] Nominate My Cleaning Worker [/button]

We encourage all (OS1) organizations that nominate a cleaning worker and bring them along with you to the annual (OS1) Users Symposium. If they are in attendance, they will be presented with their medal of honor at the (OS1) Awards Banquet.

All medals are $50.00 per nominee. Payments should me made to the Simon Institute, a non-profit corporation.

Microbiology for Cleaning Workers Simplified – 2011 Edition

/in /by

The Microbiology for Cleaning Workers Simplified book has been revised, re-editied and updated with new information. Co-written by John Walker and Dr. Jeffery Campbell, the newest version of this book offers 260 pages of information that was designed for the professional cleaning world.

All professional cleaners work in a jungle. An invisible jungle. A jungle of billions of microorganisms. Some are friendly, some are hostile, some are trying to (and eventually will) kill us. We are part of the jungle and home to millions of the micro-creatures who live on us, in us and around us in every nook and cranny we attempt to clean. The invisible jungle resides in the most pristine kitchen, the shiniest restroom and the cleanest smelling hospital or school. In these spotless environments, bad bugs ranging from MRSA to E. coli to coliform to salmonella are actively spreading from surface to surface, like chimpanzees swinging from bough to infected bough.

They are colonizing the plumbing, thriving on shelves and inhabiting the corners of counters. This book is not designed to be a medical manual. It’s is not a hospital reference book. It is not a technical scientific tome. It is a book designed to help cleaning workers. Housekeepers, janitors, custodians, trainers and their management who are concerned with the broad area of dealing with the problems of microorganisms, wherever they are found in the workplace. This book attempts to bridge the gap between science and common sense when it comes to cleaning facilities. Here are the sanitation basics, the vocabulary and the history of cleaning for health. It’s compiled to equip you to deal in a practical way with everyday cleaning and sanitation problems of facility operations. Once you master the basic knowledge, you can act professionally to provide the necessary health service to those who work in these facilities.

You can order your very on copy from the ManageMen online store, by clicking here.