Citywide Cleaning Company Policies
Since 2004, Citywide Cleaning Company UK (Company No. 11103733) has built its reputation on one simple principle: a clean site is the visible result of an invisible system, properly planned, properly supervised, and properly documented. Over more than two decades in commercial cleaning, we have learned that good intentions are not a policy. A policy is a written commitment, tested against real sites, real risks, and real people.
The framework below governs how we plan cleaning work, manage risk, handle cleaning products, recruit and support our operatives, protect confidential information, and maintain consistent standards across every contract we hold. It is not a marketing statement. It is how we operate, whether you are watching or not.
Our Core Commitments
- Safe working practices at every client site
- Suitable risk assessments and cleaning procedures
- Responsible use and storage of cleaning products
- Trained, supervised, and properly equipped cleaning operatives
- Respectful and fair treatment of employees and clients
- Documented quality checks and corrective action
- Responsible waste, water, and energy management
- Honest communication and continuous improvement
These are contractual minimums, not aspirations. Every client is supported by a named account manager who conducts on-site visits, provides written QA inspection reports, and arranges same-day absence cover as standard.
Health and Safety Policy
Our Commitment
Citywide Cleaning Company UK gives health and safety a high priority in every cleaning contract, without exception. We aim to protect:
- Employees and cleaning operatives
- Clients and their employees
- Contractors and site visitors
- Members of the public
- Anyone who may reasonably be affected by our work
We take all reasonably practicable steps to provide safe working conditions and reduce the risks associated with cleaning activity, in line with an employer’s duty to assess workplace risks, provide suitable information and training, consult with workers, and maintain appropriate health and safety arrangements throughout the UK.
How We Manage Health and Safety
- Carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments before work begins
- Prepare safe systems of work for every cleaning activity
- Assess manual handling, slips, trips, working at height, and equipment-related risks
- Provide appropriate information, instruction, training, and supervision
- Supply suitable personal protective equipment where required
- Ensure cleaning machinery and equipment are fit for their intended purpose
- Investigate accidents, incidents, near misses, and health concerns without delay
- Review site procedures whenever conditions or requirements change
- Cooperate fully with each client’s own health and safety arrangements
- Consult employees and cleaners on matters affecting their safety
Risk assessments are never limited to our own workforce. They account for clients, visitors, and anyone else who may be affected by the work we carry out.
Management Responsibilities
Managers and supervisors are responsible for:
- Identifying foreseeable workplace hazards
- Ensuring appropriate risk assessments are completed
- Providing cleaners with relevant, site-specific instructions
- Confirming that control measures are being followed in practice, not just on paper
- Providing training and refresher instruction where required
- Making sure faults and safety concerns are addressed promptly
- Recording and escalating accidents and serious incidents
Cleaner Responsibilities
Every cleaner must:
- Follow their training and site instructions
- Use cleaning equipment and products correctly
- Wear required personal protective equipment
- Report defective equipment immediately
- Report accidents, near misses, spillages, and unsafe conditions
- Avoid using equipment or chemicals they have not been trained to use
- Take reasonable care of their own safety and the safety of others
COSHH and Chemical Safety Policy
Our Commitment
Citywide Cleaning Company UK manages cleaning chemicals and other hazardous substances in accordance with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, as amended. COSHH requires employers to assess risk, prevent exposure wherever reasonably practicable, and adequately control exposure where prevention is not possible. Our operatives are COSHH-trained as a matter of course, not an afterthought.
COSHH Assessments
Before any hazardous product is introduced into a cleaning programme, we consider:
- The hazards associated with the product
- Where and how the product will be used
- Who may be exposed
- The duration and frequency of use
- Product storage and transportation
- Required dilution and application methods
- Ventilation requirements
- Personal protective equipment
- Emergency and first-aid arrangements
- Spill, disposal, and incident procedures
Safety Data Sheets and COSHH assessments are made available wherever relevant to the cleaning work being carried out.
Chemical Controls
- Select the least hazardous suitable product wherever reasonably practicable
- Purchase products from recognised commercial suppliers
- Follow manufacturer labels and dilution instructions precisely
- Keep products in their original or properly labelled containers
- Store chemicals securely and away from unauthorised persons
- Prevent incompatible products from being mixed
- Provide suitable gloves, eye protection, aprons, or other protection when required
- Maintain adequate ventilation during relevant cleaning activities
- Provide spill-response instructions where necessary
- Review products whenever safer or more effective alternatives become available
Chemical classification and labelling in Great Britain now fall under GB CLP. Our procedures reflect current regulation, not the legacy CHIP framework it replaced in 2015.
Cleaner Responsibilities
Cleaners must:
- Read and follow product labels without exception
- Follow the applicable COSHH assessment
- Use only approved products
- Never mix cleaning chemicals unless specifically authorised
- Never transfer chemicals into unlabelled drink or food containers
- Use the specified dilution and application method
- Wear the required personal protective equipment
- Report damaged containers, spillages, or adverse reactions immediately
Environmental Policy
Our Commitment
Citywide Cleaning Company UK is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its cleaning operations while continuing to meet each client’s hygiene and service requirements in full. We comply with our environmental and waste-management responsibilities, and we look for practical, evidenced improvements in how we purchase products, use resources, and manage waste, including ensuring commercial waste is transferred only to an authorised carrier or disposal facility.
Our Environmental Priorities
- Reduce unnecessary chemical use through controlled dosing
- Use concentrated products where suitable and safely managed
- Consider lower-impact products where they meet the required cleaning standard
- Avoid unnecessary single-use materials
- Use reusable microfibre systems where appropriate
- Reduce unnecessary water consumption
- Switch off equipment and lighting when no longer required
- Plan cleaning schedules and travel efficiently
- Reduce paper use through digital communication and reporting
- Reuse packaging where safe and practical
- Separate recyclable materials where suitable arrangements exist
- Dispose of chemicals and contaminated materials responsibly
- Work with clients to support their own recycling and environmental objectives
We follow the waste hierarchy, giving priority to prevention, reuse, and recycling before disposal, wherever this is reasonably practicable.
Environmental Improvement
Environmental performance is reviewed through:
- Product and supplier reviews
- Cleaner training
- Client feedback
- Waste-management arrangements
- Equipment and energy-use reviews
- Changes in legislation and recognised good practice
We will never advertise an ISO certification, carbon-neutral claim, or environmental accreditation unless it is current and supported by valid evidence.
Quality Management Policy
Our Commitment
Citywide Cleaning Company UK is committed to providing reliable cleaning services that meet the agreed specification for every client site. Quality is managed through clear instructions, suitable supervision, regular communication, and documented corrective action, backed by written QA inspection reports as standard practice, not a value-added extra.
How We Manage Service Quality
- Agree the cleaning scope before service commencement
- Prepare a site-specific cleaning schedule
- Record important access, security, and safety instructions
- Assign suitably trained cleaning operatives
- Provide appropriate equipment and products
- Explain service standards clearly to cleaners and supervisors
- Carry out scheduled quality inspections
- Record identified deficiencies
- Assign corrective actions to responsible team members
- Confirm when corrective work has been completed
- Review recurring problems and adjust procedures where necessary
- Maintain regular communication with the client
Dedicated Account Support
Where included within the contract, every client is supported by a named account manager or designated management contact, responsible for:
- Service mobilisation
- Client communication
- Quality reviews and on-site visits
- Cleaner attendance and continuity, including same-day absence cover
- Complaint escalation
- Corrective-action follow-up
- Changes to the cleaning specification
Complaints and Corrective Action
Where a client raises a service concern, we will:
- Acknowledge the issue promptly
- Review the relevant cleaning requirement
- Investigate what happened
- Arrange corrective work where appropriate
- Record significant or recurring problems
- Identify measures to reduce the risk of recurrence
- Keep the client informed of the outcome throughout
Feedback is used, deliberately and consistently, to improve cleaning schedules, training, and supervision.
Equality, Fair Treatment and Safer Recruitment Policy
Citywide Cleaning Company UK is committed to fair treatment, dignity, and respect for every person we employ and every client we serve. Employment and work-related decisions are made according to legitimate business requirements, experience, conduct, capability, and suitability for the role. We will not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
As a London Living Wage employer, fair treatment for us begins with fair pay.
Recruitment Controls
Our recruitment process may include:
- Confirmation of identity
- Right-to-work verification
- Employment history
- References where appropriate
- Relevant experience and training checks
- Role-specific competency assessment
- DBS checks where the role is eligible and the check is lawful and appropriate
- Confidentiality and conduct requirements
DBS checks are administered by the Disclosure and Barring Service, and the level of check available depends on the role in question. Standard or enhanced checks can only be requested for eligible positions, and we do not claim a blanket standard beyond what can be demonstrated for each individual operative and role.
Respectful Behaviour
Employees, cleaners, managers, clients, and contractors are all expected to:
- Communicate respectfully
- Avoid harassment, bullying, or intimidation
- Respect cultural, religious, and individual differences
- Report inappropriate behaviour
- Cooperate with reasonable workplace adjustments
- Maintain professional boundaries at client premises
Confidentiality, Keys and Client Security
Our cleaners routinely work in offices and premises containing confidential information, personal possessions, sensitive equipment, and restricted areas. Trust, once granted, is not treated lightly. All employees and cleaners are expected to:
- Treat client information as confidential, always
- Avoid reading or removing documents unrelated to their duties
- Protect keys, access cards, alarm codes, and entry instructions
- Avoid sharing access information with unauthorised persons
- Follow photography and mobile-phone restrictions
- Report lost keys or access devices immediately
- Secure the premises in accordance with client instructions
- Report suspicious activity or security concerns without delay
Confidential client information is only accessed or used where necessary for legitimate operational purposes. Detailed key-management and data-protection arrangements may be set out further within the client’s contract or site instructions.
Policy Responsibilities
Senior Management
Senior management is responsible for:
- Approving the company’s policies
- Providing suitable resources
- Assigning management responsibilities
- Reviewing significant incidents and recurring problems
- Making sure policies remain appropriate to the business as it grows
Managers and Supervisors
Managers and supervisors are responsible for:
- Implementing policies at client sites
- Communicating requirements to cleaners
- Monitoring compliance
- Providing instruction and support
- Escalating serious concerns
Employees and Cleaners
Employees and cleaners are responsible for:
- Following approved procedures
- Attending required training
- Using equipment and products safely
- Reporting concerns promptly
- Cooperating with investigations and corrective action
Reporting a Concern
Health and safety, environmental, quality, conduct, or confidentiality concerns should be reported to the cleaner’s supervisor, account manager, or Citywide Cleaning Company UK management directly. Urgent risks should be reported immediately, and the affected activity stopped where continuing would create a serious or immediate danger.
Concerns may include:
- Unsafe equipment
- Chemical spillages
- Missing or incorrect product labels
- Accidents and near misses
- Inadequate personal protective equipment
- Security breaches
- Harassment or inappropriate behaviour
- Repeated service-quality failures
- Environmental incidents
Policy Review
These policies are reviewed:
- At least annually
- Following a significant incident
- When relevant legislation changes
- When new services, equipment, or products are introduced
- When monitoring identifies that existing controls are no longer sufficient
This page sets out Citywide Cleaning Company UK’s operational policies. It does not replace the contractual terms agreed with a client. For information concerning quotations, contracts, payments, cancellations, access arrangements, liability, and service changes, please refer to our Terms and Conditions.
Approved by: Charles Alabi, Chief Operating Officer Last reviewed: July 2026 Next scheduled review: July 2027