Cleaners Join the List of COVID-19 Heroes

David Whan • 11 March 2021

Cleaners preparing for Coronavirus disinfection

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and championed the role of the cleaner more than ever before. And the cleaning of workplaces and public spaces has never seemed so important. Many professional cleaning companies, such as the team here at It’s Clean, think this is due to the new levels of expectation of customers who are desperate for their premises to be safe to re-open and to be maintained as open. As a result, the previously derided word ‘housekeeping’, once met with an instantaneous rolling of the eyes, has now taken on a renewed significance.

For a long time, cleaners have been the forgotten or unseen cog in the wheels of industry. Largely working out of hours in deserted buildings, they were deemed of secondary importance as a core function by many businesses, but as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic subsides and people prepare to return to work, hopefully for good, housekeeping is the new buzzword, and is seen as critical in maintaining public health in the UK.

A new appreciation of the cleaning industry

Whilst cleaners themselves may lend a cynical view of proceedings, given how housekeeping has been positioned in the list of priorities over the years, the new appreciation of the cleaning discipline is certainly welcomed by the professional cleaning industry.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, cleaning was largely considered to be a convenience service, and whilst employers wanted and needed premises to be clean, it wasn’t critical to the functioning of the organisation. But now businesses face the threat of COVID-19 infection breakouts and premises being shut down again, and cleaners are now deemed to be “guardians of impeccable hygiene”, and new standards and protocols represent the difference between some organisations continuing to function, or not.

Ultimately, employers have a moral duty and employees need to feel safe and comfortable in returning to work and staying there, and many premises and procedures have had to be adapted and changed as a result of the COVID-19 threat. For cleaning companies this has required an element of re-training and researching of new materials and substances.

New COVID-19 cleaning protocols

At It’s Clean Ltd, we are commercial cleaning specialists covering Leeds, Harrogate and York and we have introduced new services such as fogging and touch point cleaning, specifically to combat the spread of the COVID-19 infection. Cleaners have also had to adapt to wearing additional PPE, and as a result are viewed now as more of a professional equal, when considered against other contractors an organisation might employ.

Naturally home working dramatically affected the professional cleaning sector, with man hours and volumes of work disappearing overnight, and continuing in some cases for a full 12 months. Some organisations have implemented bonus schemes and have paid overtime to fairly reflect the upheaval of new procedures and the importance of what is now a key function in an organisation.

Certainly, at It’s Clean we have seen this, and we can also report that work is slowly picking up as businesses prepare their premises for re-opening and put systems in place to ensure they stay open. This has involved a huge amount of cooperation between employers and cleaning contractors and certainly, there is a renewed gratitude for the critical service professional cleaning companies are providing, even if that has always been the case. For now, It’s Clean are available to discuss how intensive cleaning can assist your business in re-opening, and how our routine cleaning procedures can ensure your return to normal remains possible. Contact us for a free quote today or call It’s Clean Ltd on 01423 566785.

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David looks back on his 60th birthday volunteering week in Ghana

by david • 1 March 2026

When I hit 60, I didn't want a party. I wanted to do something that would actually matter. So instead of celebrating at home, I flew to Ghana and spent a week volunteering with a charity called Village by Village getting my hands dirty, sitting in open-air classrooms, and meeting some of the warmest, most resilient people I have ever encountered anywhere in the world. This is what I found there, and why I think you should know about it. The Charity Village by Village was founded by an old school friend of mine and has, over the years, evolved into something beautifully self-sustaining: it is now predominantly run by Ghanaians in Ghana. That is not an accident, it is central to the charity's entire philosophy. The approach is simple and powerful. Before a single brick is laid, the charity asks the village what they need, and what they can contribute. There is no imposition, no outside organisation deciding what is best for communities they don't understand. The result is genuine local ownership, stronger outcomes, and projects that endure long after the volunteers have gone home. The work focuses on two areas: education and healthcare. In the remote villages of Ghana that the government's budget cannot reach, Village by Village builds schools and medical centres from the ground up and then keeps them supported. What a Volunteer Week Actually Looks Like I'll be honest: I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got was a genuinely physical, genuinely meaningful week that I will never forget. Most mornings began on a building site, mixing cement alongside professional local builders, plastering walls, shifting materials. I wore a bright pink polo shirt bearing the logo of my company, It's Clean, which helped fund the trip, and I got absolutely filthy in it. There is something grounding about hard physical labour in service of something real. There were also two young men — just finished their A-levels — who were wrapping up three months of volunteering. In that time they had helped build playgrounds and medical facilities with their own hands. Their energy, their commitment, and what they had achieved at their age was genuinely extraordinary.

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