When people with disabilities help with the cleaning


16.10.2019

In June 2018, the Barbara Keller Institution moved into its new building in Binz, near Maur, Zurich. There it offers accommodation and jobs to people with disabilities. Instead of transferring the old cleaning processes to the new location, it commissioned Wetrok to develop a new cleaning concept. In the following interview, Beat Stark, Managing Director, explains how this resulted in a whole new service division.

When you first step through the sliding doors of the new building, you will see the inviting Café Gütsch on your right. The spotlessly clean tables are decorated with pink floral arrangements, while delicious baked goods wait for hungry visitors in the display case, and dispensers hold flyers with information about the services of the Barbara Keller Institution. Although this is an organisation with many protected jobs and a small share of regular jobs, it feels like being in a small, self-sufficient economy. A very hard-working one too: the floral arrangements are made in its own studio by people with more severe disabilities, the tables are cleaned by clients who are working in the daily upkeep, the baked goods are made by apprentices doing a two-year practical apprenticeship and the flyers are printed in-house by clients and employees, and are subsequently folded in the production area.

Giving disabled people something to do
Originally founded as a home for disabled people by founder, Barbara Keller, the institution has since developed into a place of residence, work and training for people with disabilities. “Society used to treat disabled people differently. In particular, it tried to protect them by taking away all their agency – and in doing so, ultimately, excluded them.  Today, we do things differently. Disabled people can try to do things themselves, help out, learn and make mistakes. Here we give them space to do that,” explains Managing Director, Beat Stark.

Simple colour coding lets clients help out with the cleaning
On the first floor, Irma* stands in front of the cleaning cart looking somewhat lost – she seems to be searching for something. A few seconds later, she confidently grabs a foam bottle with a yellow stripe on it – a sanitary cleaner. The yellow stripe indicates that a yellow microfibre cloth is needed for cleaning. “All Wetrok cleaning products come with a stripe of colour to indicate areas of use and match the colour coding system for cleaning cloths. This system minimises cross-contamination, increases control and makes it possible for people with disabilities to help with the cleaning in institutions like this one,” explains Wetrok cleaning specialist Walter Utzinger, adding: “What also helps clients is the different-coloured buckets on the cleaning cart.” When Irma* unsuccessfully pushes down the bottle cap, housekeeping team leader, Ruedi Näf, comes to the rescue. He explains that she doesn’t need to push down the cap, but only needs to gently squeeze the bottle to get the cleaning foam out. She understands and cleans the sink of the disabled bathroom on her own, while Ruedi Näf cleans the bathtub fittings to a brilliant sheen.

The cleaning team is always accompanied by clients and trainees
The cleaning team is small. It consists of two qualified cleaning managers, one cleaning assistant, three trainees and a few changing clients. As part of the new cleaning concept, all regular employees were trained by Wetrok specialists, who instructed them in the new cleaning methods. They now pass on this knowledge to the clients helping them. Clients like Irma* are allowed to help with anything: from maintenance cleaning to window cleaning. Ruedi Näf gives a little insight into how the work is allocated: “It’s best to assign clearly defined, recurring subtasks. For example, one client is responsible for disinfecting all the door handles in the building every day and can spread the work out across the day as she pleases.” But there are also clients who have to be brought along on the cleaning rounds and need the work explained to them and supervised every step of the way, acknowledges the housekeeping team leader. He is extremely impressed by the new cleaning methods, like the dust-binding wiping and manual foam cleaning techniques. “Since I’m always accompanied by a trainee or a client when I work, the pace is very moderate. That’s why I’m grateful that now, thanks to more efficient methods like cleaning with foam, we can finish quicker than we would have,” he reports of his positive experiences. He is also glad that, since switching to cleaning foam, the cleaning staff is no longer at risk from breathing in potentially hazardous aerosol sprays.

Decentralised cleaning rooms for short walking distances
The material concept has been applied throughout the building and is designed with both aesthetics and simple cleaning in mind: the corridor floors are made from a mixture of Jurassic limestone and Solnhofen limestone. They are non-sealed to allow for thorough cleaning and prevent a greasy layer of dirt from forming. First, loose dirt is removed with a dust-binding wiping technique, followed by occasional wet cleaning with a scrubber-dryer. Only the qualified cleaners operate the machines. Here, too, clients have the perfect opportunity to get involved: during scrub drying, they are responsible for cleaning the edges and corners with the mop or the edge cleaning tool. In order to keep the walking distances as short as possible – particularly important in this case to ensure clients are not left working alone for too long – there is a decentralised cleaning room on every floor.

Residents clean their own rooms
On the walls, the wood panelling on the doors and in the areas between give the modern, light grey concrete aesthetic a touch of warmth. There are a total of 24 people with their own rooms on the property. Their rooms are floored with oiled wood parquet. Here, too, slightly higher cleaning standards have been applied for the wellbeing of the residents. The floors need to be regularly oiled with the single-brush machine. “It was important to us to provide our residents with a warm and natural material underfoot,” explains Beat Stark. The wet rooms are decorated in a warm blackberry tone and are made of easy-to-clean polyurethane. The residents are responsible for maintenance cleaning of their own wet rooms – within the limits of their disability. Wetrok has found a simple solution for this as well: a mop is soaked in the cleaning solution and clamped onto the mopping device. This can then be used to clean both the floors and the walls of the wet rooms. Efficient, with a single product – and ergonomic too.

“Living community” – that is the guiding principle of the Barbara Keller Institution. When you see how proudly Irma* presents the sparkling clean sink to her supervisor, you know: this guiding principle is a reality.

*Name has been changed to protect identity


Short interview with Managing Director, Beat Stark


“We were looking for a consultant with foresight, rather than a supplier”


How did you start working with Wetrok?
We originally got in touch with Wetrok because we were planning a new training course on home economics for our clients. Our goal was to create the cleaning module of this course together with Wetrok. When doing so, however, we realised that we had another more important matter to attend to: the professional cleaning processes in our new building.

What role did Wetrok play in the design of the new building?
Wetrok helped us to plan professional cleaning processes. As a result, we already had a cleaning concept tailored to our requirements before the last brick was even laid in the new building. By switching to new cleaning methods, we now save a lot of time – and maintain higher hygiene standards. For example: At our other location in Küsnacht, we were still working with vacuum cleaners. In the corridors of the new building, we have now switched to a dust-binding wiping technique on the floors. The dust cloths pick up pollen and residual construction dust much better than a vacuum cleaner could. Our cleaning processes have to be simple, because our clients help with the work. The Wetrok specialists understood that immediately and implemented suitable cleaning plans. For example, we were able to reduce the number of cleaning products to only a few, versatile products, compared with the previous site – particularly in sanitary cleaning. First the consultation, then the products – that’s how we got to know and learned to appreciate Wetrok’s way of working. It’s also why the new building was not our last project with Wetrok.

What other projects have you worked on with Wetrok?
At the Küsnacht site, we had already gained initial experience offering housekeeping services to neighbouring properties. We now wanted to take it to a more professional level. Conveniently, the two neighbouring properties belong to the community and to the Maur housing cooperative – and an ongoing call for tenders of the housekeeping and cleaning gave our project more urgency.  We needed precise cleaning plans to submit our bid. That’s where Wetrok came in again. The Wetrok specialists performed all the necessary calculations based on area in square meters, floor type, cleaning frequency and the specified hygiene standards. As a result, we knew exactly how long the cleaning work would take and how many staff would be needed. Once again, it was evident: we chose a consultant with expertise and foresight, rather than just a supplier of cleaning products.


About the Barbara Keller Institution
The Barbara Keller Institution supports people with learning disabilities or mental disabilities in their development, independence and quality of life. To achieve this, they provide accommodation, jobs and opportunities for education and training. By offering practical apprenticeships, in particular, some clients are even able to enter the mainstream job market in the long term.