Service
TAFE needed a reliable organization committed to regularly servicing their 11 campuses across a large landscape. One that would communicate well, do a great job and was capable of picking up extra cleaning as required.
OCS was awarded the contract and successfully mobilized all 11 sites simultaneously. Due to our efficient performance on the original 11 sites, we had an opportunity to improve the price and time allowed on site.
TAFE was impressed by the breadth and speed of OCS’ mobilization, health and safety, and the implemented processes and policies. This enabled the OCS team to also take on the Esperance site when the incumbent contractor retired, recruiting staff from within the local community.
The OCS solution
OCS cleans the TAFE sites, including public and administration areas on a daily, weekly, monthly, and periodical basis.
Cleaning the workshops can be challenging – particularly those used by the trades courses that deal with metal work or carpentry. The bathrooms in these areas get particularly dirty, making them harder to clean. Specialized equipment is used so the team can work faster, which is cost-effective and not as labour intensive. OCS has a reoccurring schedule that keeps each space clean throughout the day.
Periodical work includes carpet cleaning, window and glass cleaning (internal and external), stripping and sealing of hard floors (including vinyl surfaces), scrubbing of ceramic floors, extraction cleaning on furniture and pressure/steam cleaning of all outdoor tables, chairs and paving in the student areas.
The periodical team is highly trained and mobilized from within the existing cleaning teams. The team come together and move from one site to the next, often being away from their home base for a week at a time (noting their everyday positions are backfilled while they’re gone). They take exceptional pride in their work and are each highly trained specialists.
Health and Safety
All staff are required to do a site induction before working on the site. OCS has training protocols to ensure competence. While it was challenging to get staff during the peak of COVID, ramping up and suspending work enabled OCS to flex the workforce, moving staff from closed sites to other open sites, not just within the TAFE contract, but across all contracts – an advantage of the size of the OCS team.
New and existing staff are buddied up together to cover two areas until they’re confident enough to work independently. Due to health and safety requirements, staff are never allowed to work alone on a site.
Safety is an integral part of what we do – all OCS staff require police checks and are supplied with personal protective equipment (PPE) and rapid antigen tests. They participate in health and safety training such as fire drills, workshops, and site training to ensure every team member knows what to do in an emergency.
Partnership
Since the contract began in 2019, OCS has built a strong relationship with South Regional TAFE.
All cleaning metrics are in Power BI, providing important customer insights (such as frequency of cleaning, products used, etc). The Bunbury and Albany sites have weekly onsite audits and a monthly meeting with the regional manager or will send 2IC.
Our staff respond quickly and efficiently to a changing environment. For example, after receiving a call about a COVID outbreak at one of the sites, the regional manager and onsite team ensured the site was cleaned thoroughly and promptly, upholding our OCS values and ensuring it was safe for students to return.
The relationship between TAFE and OCS is based on great communication and trust. OCS provides stability, exceptional safety protocols, and all the auditable documentation TAFE requires. Both parties can speak openly about any issues that may arise, and TAFE has confidence in knowing OCS will deliver.
South Regional TAFE entered into a contract with OCS Services Australia Pty Ltd in January 2019 for cleaning services to our 11 Regional Campuses throughout the Southwest and Great Southern regions of Western Australia, later to include the Esperance Campus. OCS provides daily and periodical cleaning services to classrooms, offices, workshops, kitchens, and rooms with specialized/individual requirements. During this contract term, OCS has been quick to respond and resolve issues and the standard of work overall has been of a good standard.
— Megan Smith
South Regional TAFE Senior Finance Officer
