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Rockdale NSW 2216

Checking kitchens and breakout areas after a heavy day in Rockdale

A staff kitchen is the area most likely to generate a complaint and least likely to be inspected properly. On a Rockdale office floor the visible surfaces are usually fine and the problems are behind, beneath and inside things nobody opens.

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In short

Checking a kitchen means looking where staff do not: behind and beneath the fridge, inside the microwave, under the sink, the seals on appliance doors, the back edge of the bench and the underside of cupboard handles. Those are where odour and residue accumulate, and none of them are visible from the doorway.

Clean Best separates what is done every attendance from what belongs on a periodic cycle, so appliance interiors and behind-appliance areas are scheduled rather than done when somebody notices. Clean Best attends Rockdale premises from Seven Hills. Client-owned food and personal items are not disposed of without an agreed arrangement.

Where the problems actually accumulate

Behind and beneath the fridge, where spills run and are never seen. Inside the microwave, particularly the roof, which nobody looks at. The seals on the fridge and dishwasher doors. Under the sink, where a slow leak develops into a smell long before it develops into visible water. The back edge of the bench where it meets the splashback. The undersides of cupboard handles, which are among the most handled surfaces in any building.

None of those are visible to somebody standing in the doorway, which is why a kitchen can look perfectly acceptable and still be the source of a persistent complaint about smell. It is also why an inspection based on how the room looks provides very little assurance. The check has to involve opening and moving things rather than surveying the room. The check has to involve opening and moving things rather than surveying the room from the door.

Separating routine from periodic

Benches, sinks, splashbacks, appliance exteriors, touchpoints, floors and waste belong to every attendance. Interiors of microwaves and fridges, behind and beneath appliances, cupboard interiors and detailed descaling belong on a defined cycle. Mixing the two produces either a routine that cannot be completed or periodic items that only happen when somebody complains, and neither is a working arrangement. Neither outcome is a working arrangement, and both are common where the split was never made.

The periodic items also need an agreement about access. A fridge cannot be cleaned inside without somebody deciding what happens to the contents, and a cupboard interior cannot be cleaned without moving items that belong to staff. Those decisions belong to the client and they are made once at mobilisation rather than negotiated by a cleaner at nine at night. Making those decisions once at mobilisation removes an awkward judgement from every future shift.

Food, personal items and what is not thrown away

The default is that nothing belonging to staff is disposed of. Food left in a fridge, containers on a bench, personal mugs and items in cupboards all stay unless there is an agreed arrangement. That arrangement is common and sensible, typically a clear-out on a stated day with notice given to staff by the client rather than by the cleaning crew. It is a common arrangement and it works because the notice comes from the employer.

Where no arrangement exists, the crew reports rather than acts. A fridge that has become a genuine hygiene problem is raised with the site contact so they can deal with it, which they can do in a way that a contractor cannot. Throwing away somebody's lunch is a small act with a disproportionate capacity to damage a working relationship. Reporting rather than acting is the right instinct in almost every case involving personal property.

Checking a staff kitchen properly

  • Behind and beneath the fridge, not just the visible floor
  • Microwave interior including the roof of the cavity
  • Fridge and dishwasher door seals
  • Under the sink for slow leaks and residue
  • Back edge of the bench and the underside of cupboard handles
  • Appliance interiors on a defined cycle with an agreed access arrangement
Clean Best supervisor inspecting facility cleaning in Blacktown NSW

Working in Rockdale and the St George

Rockdale in the St George area holds retail, offices, healthcare and mixed-use commercial buildings, many of them multi-tenant premises where each tenancy has its own staff kitchen or breakout area. Rooms of that kind generate more complaints per square metre than anywhere else in a building, because they are used heavily, shared by people with different standards, and rarely inspected properly. Clean Best attends Rockdale premises from Seven Hills, and the kitchen check is built around what cannot be seen from the doorway rather than around how the room presents.

Questions about Rockdale

Why does the kitchen smell when it looks clean?

Because the sources are almost always out of sight: behind or beneath the fridge, inside the microwave roof, on appliance door seals, or a slow leak under the sink. None of those are visible from the doorway, which is also why an inspection based on how the room looks provides very little assurance about the actual condition.

Do you clean inside the fridge and microwave?

On a defined cycle rather than every attendance, and with an agreed arrangement about what happens to the contents. A fridge cannot be cleaned inside without somebody deciding about the food in it, and that decision belongs to you. It is made once at mobilisation rather than negotiated by a cleaner during a shift. The cycle and the access arrangement are both recorded in the site instruction.

Will you throw away food left in the fridge?

Not unless you have agreed an arrangement, which is common and sensible: a clear-out on a stated day with notice given to staff by you rather than by the cleaning crew. Without an arrangement, the crew reports a fridge that has become a hygiene problem so you can address it in a way a contractor cannot.

What is done every attendance?

Benches, sinks, splashbacks, appliance exteriors, touchpoints, floors and waste. Interiors, behind-appliance areas, cupboard interiors and detailed descaling sit on a periodic cycle. Mixing the two produces either a routine that cannot be completed in the time available or periodic items that only happen when somebody complains about them. The split between the two is set at the walkthrough and stated in the proposal rather than assumed.

Can we add a daytime kitchen check?

Yes, quoted as a defined attendance. On floors with a busy lunch period a midday reset of benches, sink and waste is often more effective than increasing the overnight work, because the complaints usually concern the state of the room in the afternoon rather than its condition first thing in the morning. Which arrangement suits depends on when your complaints are actually arising.

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