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St. Olaf College

Custodial Services

Policy and Procedures Manual

• Academic and Administrative Buildings
• Academic Buildings
• Residence Halls
• Personal Conduct and Appearance
• Inspection Plan

• A. ACADEMIC BUILDINGS
  
  
  • 1. DAILY TASKS
    
    
    • a. Dry clean chalkboards and damp wipe chalk trays
      
      
    • b. Empty waste and trash receptacles, ash trays, pencil sharpeners and spot clean receptacles
      
      
    • c. Resupply paper products and soap dispensers
      
      
    • d. Clean and disinfect drinking fountains
      
      
    • e. Clean and disinfect lavatories, urinals and stools
      
      
    • f. Dust mop hard surface floors
      
      
    • g. Sweep wet or rough uncarpeted floors
      
      
    • h. Spot mop spills or lightly soiled hard surface floors
      
      
    • i. Damp clean and disinfect exercise mats
      
      
    • j. Spot clean spills and stains on carpeted floors
      
      
    • k. Vacuum traffic patterns on carpeted floors
      
      
    • l. Arrange furniture to its original position and turn out the lights
      
      
    • m. Replace any burnt out lights
      
      
    • n. Report any damage or vandalism to the Plant Office
      
      
    • o. Thoroughly clean all entrance glass, including sidelights
      
      
    • p. All aspects of the entries should be done first thing each day, the first impression we make lasts longest
      
      
    • q. Clean all assigned tools and equipment at the end of each shift
  
  
  
  
  • 2. TWICE WEEKLY TASKS
    
    
    • a. Spot clean interior, smooth surfaces such as partitions, mirrors and window glass
      
      
    • b. Spot clean horizontal and vertical surfaces of buildings, fixtures and furnishings, remove graffiti
      
      
    • c. Dust exposed horizontal surfaces of buildings, fixtures and furnishings; all ledges, window sills door casings and bases
      
      
    • d. Damp wipe telephone base and receiver
      
      
    • e. Clean and polish bright metal surfaces, use no acid based products on bright metals
  
  
  
  
  • 3. WEEKLY TASKS
    
    
    • a. Completely damp mop, or automatically scrub, uncarpeted floors; on wood floors, spot mop with a well wrung mop head. Do not use scrubber or large amounts of water on wood floors
      
      
    • b. Vacuum carpeted floors completely
  
  
  
  
  • 4. MONTHLY TASKS
    
    
    • a. Vacuum HVAC grills and register surfaces
      
      
    • b. Vacuum upholstered furniture, drapes, blinds and shades
  
  
  
  
  • 5. TASKS TO BE PERFORMED AS NEEDED
    
    
    • a. Spray buff floors treated with finish
      
      
    • b. Damp clean desk tops, table tops, and other working surfaces in offices if occupants have completely cleared surfaces
  
  
  
  
  • 6. SUMMARY
    
    These tasks are very important to the impression we make on our customers, the building occupants. The first image they get in the morning remains with them a long time. It is sad, but a fact, that a spotless building tends to disappear into the background, while a dirty building jumps out at the customer. A dirty space detracts from the educational and business environment, while a spotless area will enhance it.
    
    The best contribution we can make is to present a facility, for the use of faculty, staff and students, that facilitates rather than detracts from the mission of the college.

• B. RESIDENCE HALLS
  
  
  • 1. CLEANING ROUTINE
    
    
    
    • a. Each of the halls is somewhat unique. They are not only different structurally, the group of residents and staff combine to give each a different character. You are a vital component of the mix that characterizes each hall.
      
      
    • b. Our goal must be to maintain a clean, safe, comfortable atmosphere, so that the student residents have the best possible opportunity to learn at the college. The living and social areas on campus contribute as much to this as the pure academic spaces.
      
      
    • c. If you go about your tasks professionally, and make an effort to be a positive member of the group, residence hall work can be very rewarding. However, if your work is not getting done properly and/or you convey a negative image to the residents, few places are more frustrating to work in.
      
      
    • d. The building evaluation form attached is the same as that used in the academic buildings.
      
      
    • e. There are few things on the sheet that are not applicable to one situation or the other.
      
      
    • f. You will work out with your supervisor the areas that will be evaluated in your building.
      
      
    • g. The buildings will be toured on an unannounced schedule, and the result will be discussed with you by the evaluator. The point totals should not be compared to those of other buildings. Some places will start out considerably higher than others, the goal of all this is to get all of our buildings operating at a consistently high level.
      
      
    • h. We are hoping that you will use this process as a tool. In this way you will always know how you are doing in relation to our expectations. If we all use this plan, there should be no surprising, low personal evaluations at the end of the year. More important than that even, problems should be able to be resolved quickly, as they happen.
  
  
  
  
  • 2. DAILY TASKS
    
    
    • a. All areas of the building entries should be done first thing each day, first impressions last longest
      
      
    • b. Stairwells should be done daily
      
      
    • c. Empty waste and trash receptacles, spot clean receptacles
      
      
    • d. Resupply paper products and soap dispensers
      
      
    • e. Clean and disinfect drinking fountains
      
      
    • f. Clean and disinfect lavatories, urinals and stools
      
      
    • g. Clean and disinfect toilet stalls, doors and urinal partitions
      
      
    • h. Clean and sanitize shower rooms
      
      
    • i. Damp mop and sanitize bathroom floors
      
      
    • j. Dust mop smooth and dry hard surface floors
      
      
    • k. Sweep wet or rough hard surface floors
      
      
    • l. Spot mop spills and lightly soiled hard surface floors
      
      
    • m. Spot clean spills and stains on carpet
      
      
    • n. Arrange lounge and lobby furniture to its original
      
      
    • o. Replace burnt out lights
      
      
    • p. Report damage or vandalism to the plant office, #3280
      
      
    • q. Clean all assigned equipment at the end of each shift
  
  
  
  
  • 3. TWICE WEEKLY TASKS (Minimum - or as needed)
    
    
    • a. Vacuum elevator door tracks
      
      
    • b. Spot clean interior glass, such as mirrors, door lites and side lites
      
      
    • c. Dust exposed horizontal surfaces of the building. All ledges, window sills, door casings and bases etc., pay special attention to stairwells
      
      
    • d. Spot clean horizontal and vertical surfaces of buildings, fixtures and furnishings, remove graffiti
      
      
    • e. Clean and polish bright metal surfaces. No acid based materials should be used on bright metals
      
      
    • f. Vacuum carpeted surfaces completely
      
      
    • g. Completely damp mop, or use an automatic scrubber on hard surface floors
      
      
    • h. Spray buff hard surface floors
  
  
  
  
  • 4. MONTHLY TASKS (Minimum - or as needed)
    
    
    • a. Vacuum HVAC grills, register surfaces and door grills
  
  
  
  
  • 5. SUMMARY
    
    These tasks are very important to the impression we make on our customers, the building residents. It is sad, but a fact, that a spotless building tends to disappear into the background, while a dirty building jumps out at the customer. A dirty space detracts from the environment, while a spotless area will enhance it.
    
    The best contribution we can make to the mission of the college, is to make the students living environment the best that it can be.

• C. PERSONAL CONDUCT AND APPEARANCE
  
  Because we are all in such close contact with our customers and coworkers, it is vital that we present a professional image while going about our business. One of the worst things we can do is give the impression we do not care about our job, a particular task, the customer, or ourselves. As most of you have discovered by now, if the customer perceives that you are involved and care about what you do, they see your work in a better light. If you react negatively to people, are wearing dirty or torn clothing, or are unwashed or unshaven, they are likely to see all of your work as poor, when it may be excellent. Each of us needs to be responsible for "selling" ourselves a little.
  
  The staff handbook addresses big issues, so we will not go into them here. We should talk about personal interaction within your building. Most of the other staff of the college would not think about holding themselves up as being "above" us. However, we can help to foster this sort of thing by acting as if we are in some way inferior. Feel free to interact with the staff in your building. "Good morning", "How are you today?", and so forth go a long way toward breaking ice if it is present. Do not give up on this easily, it takes some people a while before they become comfortable with someone they do not know. If you keep it up in a relaxed manner, eventually people will have to loosen up. "Kill them with kindness" if that is what it takes. It is difficult for somebody to complain about you to their fellow workers if everyone else thinks you are the greatest person that ever lived.
  
  While it is not pleasant to talk about, personal hygiene is an issue that can drastically affect how you are perceived on campus. It is a fact that some people just need to wash more than others. If you tend to develop body odor during the day, plan ahead. You may have to shower at noon, or bring a clean shirt or blouse to change into during the day. This is easy to joke about, but can have a great effect on the way people perceive a person and their work. You are not doing a coworker any favors by putting up with this problem, it is much more fair to bring it up in an open and forthright manner, so that they can deal with it. This is just a fact of life, and should be dealt with as such.
  
  Our campus is smoke free for practical purposes. Whether this is good or bad, or even fair is not as important as the fact that smoking on the job looks bad, and actually fights your cleaning efforts. Smoking is only allowed during approved break periods, in designated spaces. "Ducking outside" for a quick cigarette or pipe during your shift is not allowed.
  
  While there is no question that drinking during the work day or break periods will not be tolerated, we should also be aware of the effects that alchohol tinged breath from the previous evenings activities may have. It really does not matter that the drinking may have occurred the previous evening, the impression may be that you have been drinking on the job if alchohol can be smelled on your breath. Please give this careful consideration. Confrontive behavior in the work place should always be avoided. If you are placed in a difficult position by a staff person, student or faculty member, please just walk away from the situation and call your supervisor, the other custodial supervisor, the custodial manager, the assistant director, building services or the director of facilities at once.
  
  Your supervisor will always want to hear these things as soon as possible, and from you, before the other person calls. If we do not know what is going on, there is no way we can respond to a caller until we find you. Even if you have really messed up, it is best to get a hold of us as soon as possible so that we can work to remedy the situation.

• D. INSPECTION PLAN
  
  This program has been developed so that we can regularly evaluate your building. The form tracks the status of your areas at regular intervals. We are intending this charting to be a tool for you, as well as the college. It is our hope that you will use these evaluations to see which areas need help so that they can rank as highly as your good areas. At the end of the year, there will be a record of your performance that can be used to our mutual benefit when it comes time for your yearly review. This form is certainly not the sole basis for your review, but it can be a very useful component. All of the forms will be kept on file in the custodial manager's office, and can be viewed at any time.
  
  The form itself is relatively easy to understand. it consists of a variety of items that will be checked. The frequencies of the tasks necessary to keep these items in good shape is noted earlier in this manual. These frequencies are not locked in stone, and may have to adjusted from time to time in order to keep things sharp. It is possible that you might have an item that is consistently good the first evaluation of the year, and not so good the second time through. In a case like this, the frequency should be adjusted so that the task is performed more often. If the problem continues, we will look at your method. If problems are recurring, the Custodial Supervisor, Assistant Director or Director may certainly elect to do the evaluation more often. Each item on the form will be reviwed.
  
  The reviewer will provide a written comment for each area. Items that need attention should be discussed with the reviewer as soon as possible. It is our hope that this will be a cooperative process.
  
  Progress will be noted from one evaluation to the next. If you are having particular trouble with an area, the supervisor will work with you on frequency and so on, and may finally get right in and go through your process with you. In any case, please look at this as an effort on all of our parts to prepare the best product possible for our customers.