BCC Adds Suppliers and Support Staff to Key Worker Pledge

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15 March 2021

The British Cleaning Council has expanded on its initiative to achieve “key and essential worker” status for all support employees in the cleaning and hygiene sector.

In February, the British Cleaning Council (BCC) helped to establish an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the sector. The BCC stated that they wanted the APPG to put the status of the sector’s operatives as key and essential workers, and their priority for COVID-19 vaccination, at the top of its agenda, in recognition of their role fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

BCC Chair Paul Thrupp has now extended this call to all support staff involved in ensuring cleaning staff can carry out their work.

He said: “As everyone is now aware, the BCC has been very keen to get government recognition of the significant contribution that the cleaning and hygiene sector makes to the current fight against COVID-19 and for cleaning operatives to be recognised as key and essential workers.

“By definition, cleaning and hygiene operatives are consistently at the sharp end of ensuring buildings are clean and safe.

“However, in addition, there are many other sectors of the industry represented by the BCC that are absolutely essential and equally important in ensuring that people who also work on the frontline have high standards of health and safety during the current pandemic and are also fully deserving of key and essential worker status.

Suppliers, Delivery Drivers and Engineers

“For example, this includes drivers who deliver janitorial supplies of cleaning and hygiene products, machinery maintenance engineers, personal hygiene services, washroom and hygiene services, specialist services supplying disinfection services that involves specialist equipment and our colleagues who deal with the safe and hygienic disposal of waste.

“The personnel involved are vital in the supply of fundamental services which are required throughout the cleaning process and so should also be given key and essential workers status.

“The members of our teams involved and their businesses in these areas are all represented by member groups of the BCC and should be recognised as key and essential workers, which has always been implicit in our campaign so far.”

ThisWeekinFM’s editorial team discussed the key worker debate in their February FM review, and you can watch the video here.

Picture: a photograph of a delivery driver carrying some boxes from the back of a van, the driver is wearing full PPE

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 15 March 2021

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