ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

The release of new figures from the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in New Zealand showing the cleaning industry is costing it NZ$4.5 million (2.6 million euros) further reinforces the need for the introduction of a training standard for commercial cleaners says the country's largest privately owned commercial cleaning company.

"The commercial cleaning industry needs to take some responsibility for these costs and make efforts to reduce their burden on ACC," says Grant McLauchlan, managing director of CrestClean.

"To have an industry lodging almost 2,000 ACC claims, representing more than five claims per day shows not enough is being done on the prevention front," added McLauchlan.

"It would not be surprising to see a majority of the 1,948 new claims made over the past year were the direct result of a lack of training."

New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) 2014 figures showed only 219 people successfully gained an NZQA qualification for undertaking a commercial cleaning job. In addition to this CrestClean put 214 people through its accredited programme - representing 50 per cent of all certification of commercial cleaners in New Zealand.

"CrestClean believes costs to ACC from the cleaning industry could be greatly reduced with the introduction of a Cleaning Industry Training Standard (CITS). In August, the company briefed Parliament's Transport & Industrial Relations Select Committee about the absence of training standards within the cleaning industry," said McLauchlan.