Singapore – certainly also clean inside
Singapore is
world famous for its clean streets, high penalties for littering and the
environmentally friendly policy. But if you go to Singapore, when you enter the
Changi International Airport, it immediately strikes you that cleanliness in
Singapore is certainly an indoors concern there as well. The airport looks as
though no one is using the floors or facilities - and as though it has just been
given proper cleaning.
Indeed, when you walk from the new underground
train station into the Raffles Link Station's shopping facilities, it is more
than clear that the 450 metres of shopping mall are more than well kept by the
cleaning service supplier.
The airport's terminal 2 (Arrival Hall) and
Terminal 1 (Departure Hall) and the shiny Raffles Link shopping area are cleaned
by ISS Singapore, whose standards for cleanliness may be among the best in the
world. ISS Singapore uses the most modern and environmentally friendly cleaning
equipment, chemicals and methods to serve their demanding Singapore
customers.
"First of all, managing demanding customer expectations means
understanding the customer's requirements and needs. When I come here early in
the morning, I have to ensure that all areas are attended to and cleaned before
my client arrives. The result at the end of the day matters a lot to me,"
explains Project Manager Jason Foo (photo) of ISS Singapore.
Jason
heads the 60 employees in the shopping and office area connected to the Raffles
Link Station. They have more than 300,000 square metres to clean.
The
work to be done at Raffles Link Station is not only cleaning. Jason and his
staff also segregate the waste, look for security breaches and watch out for
building defects to be reported to the customer, Hongkong Land, a major property
owner.
"When I first worked with this client, he used a white
handkerchief to check the cleanliness of surfaces. As time has passed, he found
less and less dirt on his handkerchief. In the past year, we managed to gain his
trust and confidence, and he no longer uses his handkerchief when inspecting our
work," explains Jason.
At National University Hospital in Singapore, the
demand for quality is also high. To manage the expectations of their customer is
a full-time job, and it is hardly a joke when Project Manager Peter Sim Aik Khia
of ISS Singapore calls the hospital his second home.
Peter manages 150 employees who
clean about 180,000 square metres every day in order to maintain a healthy and
clean environment at the 935-bed National University Hospital.
Every day, ISS inspectors use a laptop computer to check whether the
customer's standards are being met. Like Jason, Peter emphasised the necessity
of earning the confidence of the customer by doing a quality job - and this
takes staff motivation, which is also a major concern for Jason.
"Many of
the ISS employees have worked here for many years. To motivate our staff, we
have regular parties every three months to celebrate their birthdays, give an
award to best cleaned ward nominated by end-users and issue certificates to
staff who successfully complete national certified training programmes," says
Peter.
Also read how
ISS Singapore strengthens its pest control service
package.