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Learning from the pandemic
2nd of December 2021 Article by Anna Garbagna
Anna Garbagna reports for ECJ from Italy on the formation of the Cleaning and Services Interassociative Team (TIPS) - a new body bringing together the main associations representing Italy's professional cleaning sector.
Don't waste the experience of this health crisis: that is the message which underlined the fundamental role which the whole professional cleaning sector has been called upon to deliver, to guarantee a high standard of hygiene for environments and of the decontamination of spaces in order to protect public health, especially since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The professional cleaning sector in Italy has over 23,000 companies and 526,000 workers which generate a turnover of more than €21 billion: respectable numbers for an extremely dynamic sector which is "a social ladder to access a profession, to guarantee public health and whose attention to cleanliness has often been compared to a health service", as pointed out by AFIDAMP board member Andrea Loro Piana during the conference.
An ever increasing importance led the main associations of the sector coming together to create TIPS - Team Interassociativo Pulizie e Servizi (Inter-associative Team for Cleaning and Services). The organisations involved include those representing cleaning companies as well as those representing suppliers, such as manufacturers and distributors of equipment for professional cleaning.
TIPS is made up of the following organisations:
• AFIDAMP
• Confartigianato Cleaning Companies
• CNA Cleaning Companies
• Casartigiani Cleaning Companies
• Confcooperative Lavoro e Servizi
• FNIP Confcommercio
• National School Services Foundation
• ISSA EMEA
• Legacoop Production and Services
• Unionservizi Confapi
Besides AFIDAMP board member Andrea Loro Piana, the following were also present at the meeting: Alvaro Giovannini, president of Confartigianato Imprese di Pulizia; Angelo Cornacchione, president of CNA Imprese di pulizia; Paolo Melfa, delegate to the Presidency of Casartigiani Imprese di Pulizia; Milena Cannizzaro, administrative manager of Confcooperative Lavoro e Servizi; Carmine Esposito, president of FNIP Confcommercio; Toni D'Andrea, director of ISSA Emea; Andrea Laguardia, responsible for cleaning, integrated services, FM, environmental hygiene and catering at Legacoop Produzione e Servizi; Franco Tumino, president of Fondazione Scuola Nazionale Servizi; Vincenzo Elifani, president of Unionservizi Confapi.TIPS will immediately set up a control room, composed of representatives of all the member organizations, which will structure a set of proposals to bring to the attention of the Legislator and the Government, as well as awareness-raising actions towards stakeholders and public opinion.
Its main objectives include:
• Enhancement of the sector and its operators
• The standardisation of cleaning processes and protocols, including the preparation of a price list that takes into account the actual execution times and methods
• The regulatory clarification of the concept of sanitation and of which subjects are qualified for this professional service, as agreed in the definitions indicated in the memorandum of intent signed between the parties
• The fight against contractual dumping, forms of unfair competition and the total exit from the logic of the maximum discount for the purchases of services by the public administration
• The recognition and enhancement of professional skills voluntarily obtained on the job also through qualification courses for cleaning company operators
• A renewed pact between public and private based on increasing the quality of services.
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