ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Axis Group, which provides facilities services in the UK, has been instrumental in one of its shopping centre clients gaining Autism Friendly accreditation from the National Autistic Society (NAS). This aims to make shopping more accessible for people with autism spectrum conditions.

Axis provides cleaning, security, customer services training and support services at The Mercury shopping centre in the south of England. Deputy contracts manager Brad Halfacre completed a training course to become an Autism Champion and went on to train other staff members on site on how to manage a customer with autism in situations of distress, along with simple ways to communicate and improve their shopping experience.

Every Tuesday is a ‘sensory day' at The Mercury, where the lights are turned down, the music is switched off or lowered and the hand dryers are replaced with paper towels to create a calmer and more peaceful environment. The centre has also published sensory visual guides and information for autistic visitors on its website.

Staff have been trained to direct customers to calmer, quieter areas of the shopping centre that have been identified should they require somewhere with fewer sensory triggers.