The Uniform
May 14, 2010
Picture this: An office worker returns to his building late at
night to retrieve some additional files. The facility is largely
deserted, and mostly dark. Suddenly, the occupant unexpectedly sees
an unfamiliar person onsite. The occupant is nervous at first, but
soon relaxes when he notices the stranger is wearing a janitorial
uniform clearly identifying him from the local cleaning company. He
is actually not a stranger at all, but a member of the team hired
to clean the building. A uniform not only makes janitors
recognizable, but it can make them more productive and professional
as well.
Since janitorial work involves not only the dirtiest and
greasiest of environments as well as chemicals that can stain or
ruin clothing, practicality suggest that material for janitorial
uniforms should be stain-resistant and easy to clean. As cleaning
is strenuous work, uniforms also need to be comfortable, breathable
and durable.
At Cardinal, our uniforms vary depending on the type of work the
employees will be doing. For example, all day porters and day
cleaning personnel as well as Area Managers wear Cardinal's
signature white polo with the logo embroidered on. Members of
our Special Project Crew and Night Custodians wear clearly marked
Cardinal t-shirts, either in grey or blue. When selecting
pants, we like to utilize a durable, comfortable, and
stain-resistant black pant that matches our company colors. The
rest of our line ranges from vests to aprons to winter jackets and
hats. Our outfit has many outfits.
The right combination of uniform clothing delivers comfort, work
utility, security, good customer relations and a constant
promotional element. That's a lot of value coming from a simple
collection of fabric.
Sustainable Education
April 01, 2010
Cardinal Building Maintenance, Inc. recent award "Best of
Alsip" doesn't happen without hard work and continued
improvement from all aspects of our organization. Being awarded as
a two-time winner proves that a consistent approach to better our
business practices and the service we provide will pay off.
Our ongoing efforts as an environmentally friendly organization
have provided us many opportunities to educate our customers with
that knowledge we accumulate. One of our more recent
education seminars that we attended was the USGBC's LEED Core
Concepts and Strategies event held here in Chicago. The two
individuals who we sent are also in the process of obtaining their
LEED Green Associate Certification.
Award Season
March 29, 2010
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cardinal Building
Maintenance Receives 2010 Best of Alsip Award
U.S. Commerce Association's Award Plaque Honors the
Achievement
NEW YORK, NY, March 16, 2010 -- For the second consecutive year,
Cardinal Building Maintenance has been selected for the 2010 Best
of Alsip Award in the Industrial & Commercial Cleaning Service
category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).
The USCA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes
outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the
USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved
exceptional marketing success in their local community and business
category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image
of small business through service to their customers and
community.
Nationwide, only 1 in 70 (1.4%) 2009 Award recipients qualified
as two-time Award Winners. Various sources of information were
gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The
2010 USCA Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners
are determined based on the information gathered both internally by
the USCA and data provided by third parties.
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to
choose the winners in each category. The 2010 USCA Award Program
focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on
the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data
provided by third parties.
About U.S. Commerce Association (USCA)
U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a New York City based
organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large
and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local
business through public relations, marketing and advertising.
The USCA was established to recognize the best of local
businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively
with local business owners, trade groups, professional
associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising
and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small
and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across
America.
SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association
Safety Training Meeting
February 10, 2010
It was an exciting morning for the group
of Area Managers and Site Supervisors as they
gathered January 30th for the first quarterly safety
training meeting of 2010. They all knew that there was plenty
on the agenda to look forward to and that they would all have a
chance to chime in. So, with coffee and doughnuts in hand,
the Cardinal Training Center was opened for business.
We were lucky enough to have John Paul-Surdo of JohnsonDiversey
in our presence that morning for a refreshing take on the updated
Healthy High Performance Cleaning Procedures. After a general
review of the program, which has gotten a great response from both
our customers and employees, John took us on an in-depth look into
the specific HHPC requirements that we will be implementing to our
current customers.
Continuing on with the "Green Theme", President Jim DeGrado
introduced Cardinal's newest member to the family, The Ionator from
Activeion. The updated Activeion product delivers portable,
on-demand, safe and sustainable cleaning by converting tap water
into a powerful cleaner. After a brief training and
demonstration session, the Area Managers and Site Supervisors were
both impressed and excited going forward with this piece of
equipment in their arsenal.
Finally, as a yearly reminder for all Area Managers we reviewed
in detail Cardinal's Employee Training Checklist. This review
is a reminder for all Trainers to pay special attention to the
little things at each building we service, and re-emphasizes the
importance of their initial training process.
It's Getting Hot in Here
January 15, 2010
Hot Spot Cleaning
I think that we all could have assumed that children are more
susceptible to infection by microbial pathogens picked up from
their environments than adults exposed to the same pathogens, now
there is substantial evidence that leads us to that same
conclusion. There are many reasons for this increased risk, but the
major factor is that children's immune systems and the natural
protection against pathogens don't fully develop until adulthood.
With the increased risk, crowding in schools, the fact that
children have frequent hand-to-mouth and object-to-mouth contact,
etc., make it very important to understand what environmental
sources present the most important risks for infection.
A surprisingly inefficient way of transferring diseases is
direct person-to-person transfer from sneezes and coughs.
Conversely, the transfer of human microbial pathogens to a surface
or material that is touched by many other individuals, known as
highly touched objects (HTO's), in the course of their daily lives
and to allow each individual's touch-to-mouth or
touch-to-hand-to-mouth practice spread the infection is highly
efficient.
The big questions are (1) whether or not microbial
pathogens can survive on these surfaces, (2) which surfaces have
the highest probability of holding microbial contamination and (3)
how can they be best removed? Within the last few years these
questions have been addressed through studies and highly touted
papers.
1. It was determined that common pathogens may persist on
surfaces for times ranging from two hours to more than four
years.
2. With a wide variety of data recovery methods, results of
these studies are difficult to determine, however a number of
general conclusions can be made. Restroom floors and walls do not
rank at the top of the list, most directly related to the idea that
most cleaning efforts are focused there. Highly ranked HTO surfaces
include the following: Children's playground equipment, faucets,
armrests, phones and importantly computer keyboards. In schools,
the previously mentioned HTO's were most contaminated with
bacteria, while desktops, faucet handles and paper towel dispensers
were most contaminated with viruses. Most importantly, the study
showed that contamination levels had a strong positive correlation
with student absenteeism due to illness. So in the case of schools,
HTO's can be efficient in spreading person-to-person and
person-to-home microbial contamination.
3. While creating the best method for disinfection of HTO's is
ideal, it is not easily obtained. A good example is the common
method of applying a disinfectant as a liquid from a wiper. It has
been determined that wipers vary greatly in their ability to
release disinfectants to surfaces. In particular, microfiber-based
wipers have shown to release far more disinfectants than their
cheaper less effective cotton rag counterpart.
HTO's can be an efficient way of spreading infections within
schools and from schools to homes. The physical and organizational
tools that can be used to clean and disinfect HTO's and to monitor
the effectiveness of the cleaning and disinfection are well known
and available. What is required is the knowledge that to implement
and use these tools.
For more information on Cardinal Building Maintenance, Inc.
contact us at 708.385.3575 or info@cardbldgmnt.com