The current standard does not clearly state that PPE must fit each affected employee properly, yet the general industry and maritime standards of the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) do. The proposed change would require that PPE fit each employee properly to protect them from occupational hazards.

The failure of standard-sized PPE to protect physically smaller construction workers properly, as well as problems with access to properly fitting PPE, have long been safety and health concerns in the construction industry, especially for some women. The proposed rule clarifies the existing requirement, and OSHA does not expect the change will increase employers’ costs or compliance burdens. The proposed revision would align the language in OSHA’s PPE standard for construction with standards for general industry and maritime.

“If personal protective equipment does not fit properly, an employee may be unprotected or dangerously exposed to hazards and face tragic consequences,” said Doug Parker, assistant secretary for occupational safety and health. “We look forward to hearing from stakeholders on this important issue as we work together to ensure that construction workers of all genders and sizes are fitted properly with safety gear.”

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In its final rule, OSHA requires certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness data that they are already required to record on their onsite OSHA Injury and Illness forms. These employers include establishments with 250 or more employees that are currently required to keep OSHA injury and illness records, as well as establishments with 20–249 employees that are classified in a number of specific industries—including construction; businesses that provide services to buildings and dwellings; and waste collection, treatment, and storage companies—that must electronically submit their Form 300A Summary data to OSHA.

The agency states that it is collecting this information to improve its ability to identify establishments that experience high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses. OSHA intends to use the data to interact with these establishments, through both outreach and enforcement initiatives, with the goal of reducing injuries and illnesses. On its website, OSHA claims that this regulation will improve the accuracy of this data by ensuring that workers will not fear retaliation for reporting injuries or illnesses.

The rule also prohibits employers from discouraging workers from reporting an injury or illness. The final rule requires employers to inform employees of their right to report work-related injuries and illnesses free from retaliation, which can be satisfied by posting the already-required OSHA workplace poster. It also clarifies the existing implicit requirement that an employer’s procedure for reporting work-related injuries and illnesses must be reasonable and not deter or discourage employees from reporting, and incorporates the existing statutory prohibition on retaliating against employees for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses.

After the publication of the final rule, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), a national construction industry trade association with more than 22,000 members, voiced its opposition via a press release.

“Unfortunately, the Biden administration is moving forward with a final rule that does nothing to achieve OSHA’s stated goal of reducing injuries and illnesses,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. “Instead, the final rule will force employers to disclose sensitive information to the public that can easily be manipulated, mischaracterized, and misused for reasons wholly unrelated to safety, as well as subject employers to illegitimate attacks and employees to violations of their privacy.”

“Smaller companies will also be negatively impacted by expanding the mandate to establishments with 100 or more employees,” Brubeck continued. “The recorded information can easily be backtracked to identify specific injuries and illnesses, and thereby the medical information of individuals in the workplace, violating their privacy.”

The final rule becomes effective on January 1, 2024.

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It’s always been an arduous task to staff companies with people who fit the culture and have the right skills, experience, and character to become valuable members of the team. COVID-19 simply added a multiplier onto the difficulty factor of finding employees. The “good old days” haven’t returned and possibly never will. So, what can we do about this? Let’s examine why we even need to be adding employees in the first place.

Violand Management’s Sustained Profitable Growth (SPG) model is separated into three distinct dynamics—business, executive, and personnel. The SPG model operates on the theory that the three dynamics are self-leveling, and we cannot expect sustained profitable growth in a company unless all three dynamics grow in unison. For example, if a company has a good leader who has assembled and trained a good team, but has archaic business practices, the growth of the company will be stalled by the failure of the business dynamic to keep pace with the executive and personnel. The same holds true for the other two dynamics.

During Violand’s annual business planning programs, it’s not unusual to see company owners make some interesting forecasting statements. For example, a company that’s currently producing $2 million in annual revenue might make the statement that they intend to grow to $3 million in the coming year. While I applaud the optimism and enthusiasm, sometimes those statements aren’t completely thought through before being made. Here’s what I mean:

A company currently has six technicians who are managed by one project manager. Each technician produces about $30,000 per month in revenue. However, the project manager is working at capacity; to produce another $1 million in annual revenue, the company will need another project manager along with three more technicians. That’s four additional employees to recruit, hire, and train in order to hit the million-dollar increase. The number of necessary employees will continue to increase over the year if there’s any attrition. That’s a tall order! It’s certainly attainable, but when looking back at how long it probably took to recruit, hire, and train the team already in place, the question arises of whether the goal is realistic.

The point here is that if we fall short of our recruiting goals, then the personnel dynamic is holding back the proposed growth of the business. Without some out-of-the-box thinking, the growth of the company will be restricted to our ability to recruit, hire, and train those we need to help us attain our goals.

Frequently, business owners believe that staffing is finite, meaning many think staffing is a box we can check off after making that next hire. Unfortunately, this is just not the case. Staffing is the second function of management: planning, staffing, organizing, directing, and controlling.  As a manager, you never stop doing any of these five functions if you intend to be successful—so, recruiting, hiring, and training simply never ends.

I previously mentioned attrition, which is simply a fact of life in business. It’s frequently heartbreaking to lose those people we’ve worked so hard to recruit, hire, and train. However, attrition can be drastically limited when we make a conscious effort to create a company culture that people don’t want to leave. By extension, we become “the employer of choice” in our region, which then attracts good people. Let’s face it—a company run by a maniacal totalitarian with a terrible company culture and bad morale doesn’t attract the best and the brightest. Those people go to well-managed companies full of happy employees.

Putting this altogether, we know it’s harder than ever to find good people, but you should now understand that recruiting, hiring, and training never ends. If you plan on being successful, you can’t just throw your hands in the air and give up. To attract and retain top people, you need to become “the employer of choice” in your area. But you should also know that the effort put forth will yield huge dividends and help you reach those lofty goals you’ve established. And let’s face it—a company full of happy, competent people is just downright fun to operate!

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So you know that investing in effective marketing is critical for your business’s growth, but knowing what you “should” be doing and “how” to do it—while keeping up with the constant and never-ending changes—is another thing altogether. Outsourcing has become an essential tool for businesses looking to level up their marketing efforts. By delegating specific tasks to external experts, you can focus on your core competencies and achieve better growth and success in a shorter time frame.

Ultimately, outsourcing the tactical marketing functions from paid ad campaigns, online rankings, website optimization, listing management, conversion optimization, and all the other work needed to produce new leads and customers, enables you and your staff to focus on your core operations of delivering great services by great, well-trained staff, while benefiting from specialized knowledge and resources that might not be available in-house. By streamlining your marketing efforts through effective outsourcing, you can gain a competitive edge, expand your customer base, and increase your revenue growth.

Understanding Your Service Business’s Marketing Needs

One common question when deciding to outsource marketing activities is, “How do I determine which tasks should be outsourced?” If you lack expertise or experience in certain areas such as digital advertising or social media management, then outsourcing those tasks will help. You’ll also want to consider the time and resources required to learn, implement, monitor, and keep up with the scope of effective marketing activities. Learning new skills can be fun, but if it takes you away from the core focus of your business, then outsourcing can shorten your path to growth and success.

Another important question is knowing when it’s the right time to outsource marketing efforts. One sign that indicates outsourcing might be necessary is when a business is wanting to grow, but its current marketing efforts are just not producing the necessary leads. This could result in missed opportunities and a decline in overall business performance. Other signs include struggling to keep up with new trends, platforms, and technologies available to gain new customers. In these cases, outsourcing can provide access to specialized skills and knowledge that can drive better outcomes for your business.

Benefits of Outsourcing Marketing Efforts

Access to specialized expertise and industry knowledge is one of the main advantages of outsourcing marketing efforts for small- and medium-sized cleaning industry businesses. By working with a niche-specific marketing agency, these businesses can tap into a wealth of experience and knowledge that they might not have in-house. This allows them to benefit from proven strategies and techniques that have been successful in similar industries, ultimately helping them to achieve better results.

Outsourcing your marketing efforts can be a cost-effective solution for you as well. Instead of hiring full-time employees or investing in expensive software, training, and tools, outsourcing allows you to access the necessary expertise on an as-needed basis. Working with professionals who already have the required resources and infrastructure in place will save you both time and money.

If you are like most smaller businesses, you likely have limited resources, so delegating your marketing tasks to external experts can free up valuable time and energy that can be directed toward other important aspects of your operations. This enables you to prioritize activities such as nurturing customer satisfaction, developing new products, or expanding your service offerings while still paying attention to your marketing needs.

Types of Marketing Activities to Consider Outsourcing

Website development and optimization: Having a well-designed and user-friendly website is crucial for any business, including service businesses. A professional website will enhance your credibility and increase customer lead conversions (i.e., more calls), while a properly optimized and maintained website will rank higher in search results, increasing visibility and attracting more organic traffic.

Search engine optimization (SEO) and local search: The vast majority of people turn to search engines like Google to find local businesses, including cleaning and restoration services. But SEO is a constantly moving target, and having skilled and knowledgeable professionals working to rank your business can mean the difference between your website generating tons of traffic and leads…or hearing crickets.

Content marketing and blogging: By creating informative blog posts, articles, and videos related to cleaning and restoration advice, cleaning businesses can establish themselves as a local industry authority and generate much more traffic to their website. Sharing this content through social media platforms and email will drive traffic to your website and help build trust with potential clients and referral partners.

Social media: Leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram is an excellent way for cleaning and restoration service businesses to connect with their target audience on a more personal level. By engaging with potential clients in a friendly and informative manner, cleaning and restoration service businesses can establish themselves as trusted authorities in the industry.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: Placing ads on search engine pages or websites that have the attention of your ideal customer will allow you to reach new customers who are actively searching for the services you offer. However, managing paid ad campaigns requires expertise and time, which could be better spent focusing on other aspects of your business.

Email marketing: Building an email list of interested prospects and existing customers to send them regular updates, promotions, and valuable content will keep your cleaning and restoration service top of mind. Email marketing builds trust and loyalty with your audience over time but creating compelling email campaigns and managing subscriber lists can be time-consuming tasks that might benefit from outsourcing to an experienced marketing agency.

Online reputation management: For your cleaning and restoration service business to succeed, it’s essential to maintain a positive online reputation by monitoring reviews on platforms like a Google Business Profile (formally, Google My Business) or Yelp. Outsourcing this task ensures timely responses to customer feedback and helps mitigate any negative impact on your brand image. Additionally, professional reputation management services can implement strategies to encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews and boost overall ratings.

Marketing analytics and reporting: By leveraging data analysis and reporting tools effectively, businesses can optimize their campaigns and focus on what is working best, while eliminating ineffective or outdated strategies more quickly. Ultimately, this leads to increased customer acquisition and retention rates, as well as improved overall business growth.

Types of Marketing Activities to Consider Doing In-House

When running a service business, it’s important to decide which marketing activities can be handled in-house. Here are some key areas to focus on:

Social media management: Engaging with followers and responding to comments is crucial for building a strong online community and fostering trust. By actively interacting with your audience, you show that you value their opinions and concerns. Sharing valuable content and participating in local online groups relevant to your ideal customers can establish you as an expert and directly connect you with potential customers who are already interested in the services you offer.

Customer relationship management (CRM): Maintaining strong relationships with your customers is essential. Personalized emails, phone calls, service reminders, follow-ups, and targeted personal outreach campaigns play a crucial role in this. Implementing a robust CRM strategy allows you to stay connected with your customers and provide exceptional service.

Local partnerships and collaborations: Forming partnerships with complementary service providers in your area is a powerful tool for growing your local business. By partnering with other local businesses for cross-promotion and referrals, co-hosting events or workshops, and pooling resources and expertise, you can showcase your services while gaining more visibility and a valuable endorsement.

Online review management: Monitoring and responding to online reviews and feedback is crucial for managing your online reputation. Addressing both negative and positive reviews promptly and professionally is important for mitigating their impact. A positive online reputation is vital for attracting new customers and maintaining trust with existing ones.

Targeted email marketing campaigns: Designing and sending targeted emails and offers allows you to directly reach past and potential customers. Taking the time to segment your email lists based on demographics, interests, or past interactions and then tailoring your emails to each segment’s needs and preferences will capture the attention of recipients and better encourage them to take action.

Event planning and local community involvement: Organizing or participating in local community and charity events allows you to create brand awareness and build trust, and credibility with potential customers. Setting up booths at trade shows or expos, and networking with potential customers and other businesses in your community is key to long-term success. Building relationships through outreach and community involvement establishes trust and increases the likelihood of referrals.

Photography and visual content creation: Quality photos play a crucial role in showcasing the transformative impact of your cleaning and restoration services. Potential customers want to hire a cleaning service that takes pride in their work. Consistently sharing well-curated photos captures attention and builds trust.

Customer testimonials and case Studies: Featuring testimonials and case studies from satisfied clients provides social proof of your company’s reliability and effectiveness. Potential customers are more likely to trust a business recommended by others who have had a positive experience and case studies showcase your expertise in handling different types of cleaning challenges and the results you achieved.

By focusing on these marketing activities in-house, you can strengthen your brand, foster customer relationships, and differentiate yourself from competitors. Remember, marketing is an ongoing process, so continually refine your strategies and adapt to changing trends to unlock success for your cleaning and restoration service business.

Evaluating the Right Time to Outsource

One important aspect of assessing your business’s marketing needs is analyzing your current marketing performance and return on investment (ROI). How effective your marketing strategies have been in attracting new customers, increasing brand awareness, and generating revenue? By examining key metrics such as customer acquisition cost, conversion rates, and overall revenue generated through each marketing effort, you can gain valuable insights into which aspects of your marketing strategy are working well and which ones need improvement.

By identifying bottlenecks early on, you can take proactive measures to address them and ensure smooth growth for your service business. It’s crucial to assess whether you have sufficient resources allocated to your marketing activities such as budget, personnel, and tools. Taking stock of any limitations in these areas will help you make informed decisions about outsourcing certain aspects of your marketing efforts for optimal results.

Selecting the Right Marketing Agency or Freelancer

When it comes to outsourcing marketing efforts one of the first decisions you need to make is whether to hire a marketing agency or a freelancer. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to define your requirements and desired outcomes before making a choice.

If your cleaning and restoration service business has specific marketing goals and requires a comprehensive strategy, hiring a marketing agency that specializes in working with your industry might be the best option. Agencies typically have teams of professionals with diverse skill sets who can handle integrating all aspects of your marketing campaigns.

On the other hand, if you have a very specific project that requires specialized skills, hiring a freelancer might be more suitable for your needs. Freelancers can often focus solely on the tasks you assign them; they are usually experts in a specific field and can deliver high-quality work within shorter timeframes. However, freelancers may lack the resources and support that agencies provide.

Regardless of which option you choose, thorough research is essential before making any decisions. Look for reputable agencies or freelancers with relevant experience in the home cleaning service industry. Check their portfolio or ask for references to assess their previous work quality and client satisfaction levels.

Overall, outsourcing your marketing efforts can significantly contribute to the speed at which you grow and scale your cleaning and restoration service business. By leveraging specialized skills, you can save time and maximize your resources toward delivering a great customer experience.

The post Unlocking Success: Deciding How and When to Outsource Your Marketing Efforts appeared first on Cleanfax.

My sister-in-law was highly allergic to perfumes, specifically women’s perfumes. When a heavily perfumed elderly lady sat down in front of her at church, my sister-in-law had to move to avoid getting a headache. On the other hand, her husband never noticed that the elderly lady sat down.

Often one employee will complain about “sick building syndrome” (SBS), but until there are several people who complain about the same area of the building, the employer won’t acknowledge that it could be a problem. It’s time to take all employee complaints seriously.

One of the reasons why government agencies have yet to set standards for mold contamination levels in indoor air environments is because everyone responds differently to the issue. Why is that true? Here are three reasons:

1. We have different immune systems. Frankly, some of us are healthier than others, and if our immune system is suppressed, we might react to IAQ contaminants when a healthier person might not.
2. We have different levels of sensitivity. Women are typically more sensitive to their environment than men. That sounds biased, but it’s simply a fact. While my sister-in-law could not go into her basement because of the mold, her husband and four boys played ping-pong down there with no apparent reaction. When I talk with women who are experiencing IAQ problems while their husbands are “oblivious,” I tell them that’s the reason we marry each other—because we’re different, not because we’re the same.
3. Some molds are more toxic than others. Mold is ubiquitous, even in indoor environments, so we are seldom in an environment where mold is not present. So, why don’t all of us react? Some folks react to specific molds, while others won’t react at all. Some molds produce elevated levels of mycotoxins, while others do not. A lot of mold can be problematic to some, whereas a little might not. So, in this discussion, the type of mold, the amount of mold, and the environment in which it is growing are all factors influencing a person’s reaction.

As employers, we should take employee complaints about IAQ and mold problems seriously. If we are proactive about dealing with environmental issues we are not personally experiencing, it will validate the concerns of those who might be more sensitive and establish confidence that we are concerned about the health and safety of our fellow workers.

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Currently, OSHA is developing a potential standard for workplaces in which it would have jurisdiction to prevent heat illness and injury in outdoor and indoor environments, including the construction, maritime, and agriculture industries. As part of the development process, OSHA will host a series of Small Business Advocacy Review Panel meetings to gain input from small business stakeholders on the potential effects of a heat standard.

OSHA’s panel welcomes participants from any industry but is particularly interested in hearing from those in agriculture, construction, landscaping, manufacturing, oil and gas, warehousing, waste management, utilities, and foodservice, specifically in restaurant kitchens. The meetings will be held in teleconferences and will be open to the public.

For more information on these meetings and how you can participate, visit OSHA’s website.

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Related studies on germ transport

Work clothes can transport germs. Germs can accumulate on your work clothes in high numbers. They can spread through contact with soft, porous materials and can be resuspended into the air. Yet, to my knowledge, this has not been studied in work environments and the work clothes of professionals in the cleaning industry.

However, it is well-established that germs can accumulate on hospital uniforms, as reviewed by Haun et al. (2016).¹ Another study showed the accumulation of bacteria on sterilized uniforms worn by nurses and that 70% were positive for antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (Sanon and Watkins, 2012).² Also, high concentrations of germs were found on the work clothes of waste collection workers after they had finished their shifts (Park et al., 2011).³ But none of these studies investigated the movement of germs on work clothes to other environments. Nevertheless, these types of studies do highlight the importance of infection control, hygiene, and laundry in relation to work clothes.

“Take-home” exposure, by bringing home contaminated work clothes, has been reported for chemicals such as lead, pesticides, asbestos, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Exposure to biological particles that cause allergies from clothes has been studied for cat allergens, dog allergens, and dust mites, where these allergens were shown to be transported on clothes between homes, schools, and workplaces. Pollen has been shown to accumulate and be transported on clothes. One study showed that fungi and fungal spores in farmers’ homes can be up to 1,000 times higher when compared to apartments where non-farming families live, indicating fungi transport on clothes to the home (Pasanen et al., 1989).⁴

Cleaning professionals work to clean dirty environments and can be exposed to a wide range of germs, pollutants, and contaminants. Several studies have been conducted on exposure to biological risks and how workers could transport fungi and bacteria to vehicles and other non-workplaces through contaminated work clothes, skin, or hair (Møller and Madsen et al., 2022).⁵ They identified 275 fungal species and 54 different species of bacteria on the work clothes of waste collection workers. A series of studies found that workers who work with waste:

• Are exposed to a wide range of fungal and bacterial species, including those that are known to cause hypersensitivity pneumonitis and gastrointestinal infections.
• Waste collection has been associated with health symptoms related to exposure to elevated concentrations of germs.
• Workers that handle and sort waste cardboard have high at-work exposure to germs.
• Work clothes can be contaminated by germs from surface-to-surface contact.
• Shoes can spread germs.
• Germs can be aerosolized from the floor.
• Emptying of trash and waste containers can spill germs on the ground or aerosolize them onto clothes.
• Germs generally exhibit lower survival on porous surfaces than on non-porous surfaces. However, they can survive on textiles for days to weeks.
• Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Escherichia faecium survive on cotton for 21 days.
• Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia faecium survive on polyester for up to seven days.
• Fecal coliforms can survive for 120 days on cotton and blended textiles.
• Clostridium difficile spores have been reported to persist on dry surfaces for five months.
• Candida, Aspergillus spp., Fusarium sp., Mucor sp., and Paecilomyces sp. survived from one to more than 30 days on cotton, terry, blended textile, polyester, and spandex.
• SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, persisted on cloth (unspecified material type) for two days, compared to four days on glass and banknotes, and up to seven days on surgical masks, stainless steel, and plastic.
• Poliovirus survives at room temperature for 84–140 days on wool and 42–84 days on cotton.

The verdict

Work clothes can transport germs to places outside the work environment, such as your home. The current assumption that there is a low risk of infection from soft, porous materials and textiles like work clothes, is due to a lack of studies and direct epidemiological evidence. Therefore, there is less emphasis on worker safety and the risk of infection from work clothes, textiles, and soft surfaces.

Germs do survive on textiles for hours, days, and weeks and can transfer onto skin and other surfaces. It is biologically plausible that infectious diseases can be transmitted directly through contact with contaminated textiles. There are a number of case studies that link infection with inadequate laundering of bed linen, towels, and work clothes in hospitals and hotels. I am very concerned due to the lack of control and monitoring of decontamination for those cleaning professionals that are required to wash and dry their work clothes at home.

What can be done?

Germs, just like allergens, pollutants, and contaminants, can accumulate on work clothes, including shoes, throughout a workday and can lead to exposure. These germs can lead to infections and make people sick.

For the cleaning industry, understanding that germs can be transported and resuspended from work clothes is important for everyone, not just those that are immunocompromised, have allergies, or have open wounds and cuts. This knowledge should change workers’ behavior and actions for washing hands with soap and water, donning and doffing and wearing appropriate personal protection equipment, changing out of work clothes at the end of their workday, taking a shower after work, and handling of laundry of work clothes.

Again, I am unaware of studies specifically related to cleaning professionals, but I recommend the cleaning industry not ignore but learn from studies from other professions.

References:

¹Haun, N., Hooper-Lane, C., Safdar, N. 2016. Healthcare personnel attire and devices as fomites: a systematic review. Infection Control Hospital Epidemiology, 37 (11), 1367-1373

²Sanon, M.A., Watkins, S. 2012. Nurses’ uniforms: How many bacteria do they carry after one shift? Journal of Public Health Epidemiology, 4, 311-315

³Park, D.U., Ryu, S.H., Kim, S.B., Yoon, C.S., 2011. An assessment of dust, endotoxin, and microorganism exposure during waste collection and sorting. Journal of Air Waste Management Association. 61 (4), 461-468

⁴Pasanen, A.L., Kalliokoski, P., Pasanen, P., Salmi, T., Tossavainen, A., 1989. Fungi carried from farmer’s work into farm homes. American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, Volume 50, Issue 12, 631-633

⁵Møller, S.A, Rasmussen, P.U., Frederiksen, M.W., Madsen, A.M., 2022. Work clothes as a vector for microorganisms: Accumulation, transport, and resuspension of microorganisms as demonstrated for waste collection workers, Environment International, Volume 161, 107112.

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