KINGFISHER CLEAN BLOG
Your Ultimate Warehouse Cleaning Checklist
For industrial managers, keeping on top of warehouse cleaning can be a challenge, whether it be emergency cleans for audits, balancing budgets or avoiding production disruptions. Read on to discover how a thought out, tailored warehouse cleaning plan and checklist can save you time, effort and money.
The importance of warehouse cleaning – and why you need a tailored cleaning plan
In the busy world of industry, manufacturing and warehouse operations, warehouse cleaning can often get overlooked until it is too late. This isn’t necessarily out of neglect or incompetence, but is a result of having to balance many different priorities, where cleaning may land at the bottom of the pile. However, an unkempt warehouse can accumulate significant dust and grime over time, which can either contaminate products, impact indoor air quality or become a combustion risk.
Another consequence of not keeping on top of cleaning is that industrial managers can find themselves unstuck when an unexpected audit is announced and your cleaning ducks aren’t in order. Emergency or last minute cleaning definitely comprises a significant portion of warehouse cleaning enquiries, usually made by a stressed manager who is trying to juggle many tasks at once.
Industrial managers can make their lives a whole lot easier by compiling a warehouse cleaning schedule or having a warehouse cleaning checklist that is tailored to the specific needs of their facility. This doesn’t need to be overcomplicated or take up a lot of your time; but trust us, planning ahead is bound to save you effort, hassle, time and money down the line. Ensuring that the right cleaning tasks are done at the right time will mean that your warehouse stays audit prepared and operating at maximum efficiency. Regular cleaning will keep hygiene standards high, improving for the safety and wellbeing of your employees.
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The difference between commercial warehouse cleaning and industrial warehouse cleaning
It’s important to recognise the difference between everyday, general cleaning tasks and more specialised yet less frequently required cleaning needs, which are better tackled by an industrial cleaning contractor.
Daily or weekly cleaning tasks such as washroom cleaning, WC cleaning and general disinfection can easily be completed by a more general commercial cleaning company, for instance suited to office spaces, schools, etc. Less frequent cleaning needs may include; high level mezzanines, racking, ceiling panel cleaning, external fascia cleaning, hazardous spill cleans, large floor space cleaning, industrial degreasing and more.
Some cleaning tasks could even be completed in-house. However, it’s important to realise that some deep cleaning needs must be completed by experienced and appropriately trained operatives who can complete tasks safely and efficiently. This could include MEWP trained teams, companies experienced with industrial degreasing chemicals or teams who demonstrate strong attention to detail with their cleaning projects.
Putting together a warehouse cleaning checklist and schedule
Having a warehouse cleaning checklist or schedule that appropriately ticks all the boxes for your specific site is an absolute game changer for saving you time, effort and money.
Again, this isn’t something that needs overthinking; just having an awareness of the best time of year to complete certain tasks will mean that you don’t have to play catch up.
Daily cleaning
- Staff rooms
- Restrooms
- WCs
- High traffic and high touch surfaces
- Sweep and mop high traffic floors and walkways
Weekly cleaning
- Offices
- Floors
Use stronger industrial degreasers to remove carbon dust, oil, dust and debris from equipment, control boxes, packing and production lines.
Full floor scrubber floor cleaning should be done once or twice weekly. Move pallets and moveable equipment so the whole area can be reached. Manually mop under racking or production line where large scrubber driers can’t reach. For extremely large areas, it may be a good idea to split your area into manageable sections.
Monthly cleaning
- Low level walls
- Packing or production machinery
Capitalise on slower periods to plan shorter cleans to keep on top of any oil, dust or residue build up. Use specialist products and equipment for the most effective results.
Get a fresh pair of eyes to see if any ‘in-your-eyeline’ machinery or infrastructure is getting missed during regular routine cleaning.
Annual/twice annual cleaning
- Rackings
- Mezzanines
- High level walls
- Ceilings
- Heating/cooling ducts
- Lighting
Move high to low with deep cleaning in order to systematically cover all areas.
Capitalise on planned shutdown maintenance, i.e. over Christmas, to book specialist cleaning services to restore racking, mezzanines, high-level and machinery to a high standard of cleanliness before production restarts.
Clean high level infrastructure, ceiling panels, pipework and equipment for dust, oil and contaminants. MEWPs and other specialist training is required for this work, so it’s important to use trained professionals. High-level cleaning greatly reduces risk of fires and fire spreading.
The importance of booking warehouse cleaning in advance
Industrial managers and warehouse managers are under pressure to achieve their product or shipping quotas, all the while keeping their facilities safe and clean while keeping to their allocated budget. A busy schedule can mean that cleaning needs become a low priority, and don’t get kept on top of regularly.
This can mean that a warehouse facility falls short of regulation standards when it comes to audits or customer visits. Short notice audits can leave industrial managers scrambling to find a quick solution. While a good industrial cleaning company may be able to conduct last minute emergency cleaning, if left neglected, for too long this may not be enough time to bring the warehouse up to standard.
Booking deep cleaning or regular tailored cleans in advance will allow managers to rest easy that warehouse cleaning issues are being addressed thoroughly at the right time, so unannounced audits do not pose an issue in relation to cleaning.
Questions to ask yourself which may impact your warehouse cleaning schedule:
Is your warehouse empty or full? What in-situ obstacles do you need to work around?
For instance, if you know that you’ll be emptying the warehouse for a renovation project or similar, then booking a deep clean when it’s empty would be best. Or, if racking is permanently in place, then booking high-level cleaning during low inventory periods and slow times would be best.
Do you produce food, beverage or organic products?
You may require cleaning that is appropriate and safe for food environments, which may need to be factored to a cleaning plan.
Does your production process produce combustible dust?
Whether it be carbon, flour, fine dust or other small particles, then a build up on high level girders, ceiling panels, pipes, or other surfaces can become a combustion risk and cause an explosion. Keeping on top of high level cleaning in these cases is extremely important.
What are your production quota obligations?
If you’re expected to produce or ship a certain amount of product in a given time, then planning cleaning services around that will be a high priority. It would be helpful to find an industrial cleaning contractor with flexible availability.
Does your warehouse experience planned downtime or maintenance periods?
Planned downtime, maintenance periods, slow sales seasons or low inventory periods are the best opportunity to book in deep cleans with as little disruption to your business as possible.
Does your floor experience heavy traffic, forklifts, or oil spillages?
A heavy traffic floor may require more frequent cleaning with stronger detergents.
Industrial Cleaning and Painting that works for you.
Get in touch for a free site consultation and project plan.
0330 043 3174
info@kingfisher-ss.co.uk
Our team here at Kingfisher have been in the industrial cleaning business for over 40 years. In that time we’ve built a reputation of being able to solve industrial cleaning problems where other companies have fallen short.
That’s because we will always source the highest quality equipment, materials and training to complete the project, often developing bespoke solutions for the trickiest of tasks.
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