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As healthcare systems worldwide continue to battle the novel coronavirus pandemic, doctors and nurses are deservedly seen as heroes. But hospital cleaners, who also serve on the frontlines, don’t get nearly as much acclaim.
While cleaners suited up in surgical masks, medical gowns and gloves may look indistinguishable from other medical staff — and indeed resemble a “Ghostbusters”-esque cleanup crew — few grew up aspiring to become professional germ hunters. “They’re hardworking people and generally not agoraphobic,” says Charles Gough, president of No More Dirt, a cleaning company in the San Francisco Bay Area that services medical facilities. “But for a lot of folks, it’s their first step into the economy in terms of a job.”
‘The nurses and doctors here are phenomenal. They’re exhausted but keep working because they want to do the best for their patients. So do I.’
“I like the way a space looks beautiful when I’m done cleaning but I’ve never really thought about [hunting] germs,” says Don LeBlanc, Jr., a cleaner at Southlake Regional Health Centre, which is located about 35 miles north of Toronto and serves as a COVID-19 assessment center.
Hospital cleaners can get better training and compensation than other janitors
Cleaning a hospital can offer better compensation than comparable janitorial work in a non-medical setting.
The median wage for a janitor in the U.S. in 2018 was $12.55 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employees trained to disinfect a medical facility to Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards, which can involve learning how to deal with bloodborne pathogens and biohazards, generally get a higher rate, says Gough.
LeBlanc makes about $25 Canadian dollars, roughly $17.30, an hour — which he says is about one or two dollars more than he would earn working as a school janitor. He also gets a pension through his hospital worker’s union. “I’m not going to be rich but I can manage to live, no problem,” says LeBlanc.
Hospital cleaners are often trained to a higher degree than other janitors. Southlake trained LeBlanc on proper use of personal protection equipment and on the specifications of certain chemicals for about six weeks before he started his job two years ago. There are also regular online refresher courses.
Some of No More Dirt’s staff are taught how to use electrostatic sprayers. (The equipment adds an electric charge to liquid chemical droplets, which manufacturers say leads to more efficient cleaning.) “It’s a more comprehensive sanitization as compared to just wiping down a surface,” explains Gough.
While the shutdown of many businesses globally has led to mass layoffs of cleaning staff, skilled sanitation engineers have fared better as hospitals prepare for a deluge of COVID-19 cases. “I’m working a lot more,” says LeBlanc, who cleans everything from operating theaters to patient wards during his usual 6 p.m.-to-2 a.m. shift. “Now, it’s sometimes 10 hours or 12 hours.”
On top of its regular hospital service, No More Dirt is getting numerous calls from offices seeking professional sanitization. It also expects to see more work when hotels and restaurants start reopening. “The majority of our business is on pause,” says Gough. “But we think professional sanitizing is going to be an expanding vertical going forwards, as most businesses consider using us on an on-going basis during the regular flu season.”
Mitigating risks for workers in harm’s way
Before cleaning firms can ramp up hospital services, they will need to address the shortfall of personal protection equipment. The Trump administration has been under heavy pressure from first responders and mayors to use the Defense Production Act to compel U.S. factories to make masks and gloves. (President Donald Trump announced Friday he would invoke the act to require General Motors GM, -1.40% make ventilators, but has not said he would use the act to produce protective equipment.)
“Our biggest challenge right now is securing the PPEs necessary for us to perform the work,” Gough says. “Our management is very busy trying to secure supplies.”
And while doctors and white-collar healthcare professionals are likely to have good health insurance and other benefits, that isn’t necessarily the case for hospital cleaners. As a part-timer, LeBlanc only gets benefits if he pays into a specific scheme. “That kind of scares me,” he says.
No More Dirt would not specify its provisions for employees that might need to self-isolate upon suspected exposure to the coronavirus. “Many of our janitors have very good healthcare and other benefits like vacation. We’re making sure everyone knows their options, whether they want to use sick days or vacation… There’s different options that are available to them,” says Gough. California offers unemployment insurance for some workers who choose to stay home due to fears about the virus.
LeBlanc sometimes thinks about his daughter, who he lost to cancer, while cleaning the hospital. “I have two boys and I don’t want them to get sick. That’s why I do what I do,” he says. “The nurses and doctors here are phenomenal. They’re exhausted but keep working because they want to do the best for their patients. So do I.”
