Safety Matters!

At SMS, our multi-pronged safety approach is a daily priority

Everyone benefits from a safe work environment. Although it’s a never-ending responsibility – don’t we all shudder at the ancient Greek myth about the eternal task of pushing the boulder up the hill – we know how important it is to maximize safety in your public facility. You may never get to the top and be able to declare "mission accomplished," but with a consistent commitment and constant effort, you’ll certainly realize that your mission has purpose.

Employees who aren’t trained on how to work safely and don’t know how to take the necessary precautions will not be able to maximize safety for themselves, their co-workers, and the people in your facility. We believe that workers who use janitorial chemicals, paint, any tools, scissor lifts, or many other supplies or equipment during routine or special project work in housekeeping and maintenance duties should do so in a safety-first training protocol and environment.

At SMS, we not only preach safety. We also teach it, live it, and look for the dangerous spots in your facility. Every day.

SafePersonnel Training Platform

From new hires to old hands, our SafePersonnel Training Platform ensures that initial training happens and re-training continues at your facility. At SMS, the only time we cut a corner is when our maintenance crew is painting inside your facility.

SafePersonnel can be accessed from any of our company-issued smart devices, allowing our management to keep staff up-to-date by utilizing a straightforward training platform (videos, training modules, and tests).

We are continuously creating customized training videos for both New Hire Training and Annual Recurring Training that will amplify the training process we already have in place. These training courses can be completed in a group setting to maximize feedback, interaction, and team-building, or assigned individually.

Employees must pass all required training courses within a specific timeframe (see screenshots below).

Safety Matters! Program

Our Safety Matters! Program was built around training our Facility Managers on the building blocks of workplace safety, and structured as an ongoing training program that we roll out to our entire team at every location. We believe the proper safety tools are as important as the physical tools we use to clean and maintain your public facility.

As a starting point, each SMS facility must have a Safety Committee in place to lead our Safety Matters! Program, which is centered around the slogan, "See it. Own it. Fix it." The committee must include employees from both facility managers/supervisors and housekeeping employees. Our goal is to create a safety culture for everyone involved in the organization. This program teaches our employees to get back to the basics of safety training. It promotes a smarter way of working by pausing to consider the hazards of each task and then acting in a way to avoid those hazards.

A key component of this committee’s responsibility centers on our Monthly Safety Talk meeting and follow-up actions. Each Facility Manager conducts a mandatory Safety Talk meeting, covering a different Safety Talk topic every month, that has been prepared by our Director of Training and Culture. The entire SMS team at every site will review the monthly Safety Talk topic at each meeting. Our Facility Manager on duty delivers the training materials provided and discusses the safety topic in detail. Team members are encouraged to ask questions, discuss scenarios, and find solutions to common workplace safety issues. SMS employees must then sign off that they have participated and understand the material.

Examples of recent Safety Matters! topics include:

• Bloodborne Pathogens (BBP)
• Fire Safety
• Heat Exhaustion/Illness Prevention
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls
• Proper Lifting and Trash Handling Procedures
• Safety Data Sheets
• Severe Weather/Emergency Preparedness
• Workplace Injuries and Reporting

Safety Inspection Checklist

Our Facility Manager must conduct a quarterly inspection of their entire property(s) within the first 15 days of each quarter. This careful and in-depth inspection must be completed with a critical eye using a procedure built into our custom-designed OPS360 Quality Assurance (QA)/Quality Control (QC) technology platform. If requested, this report can be passed on to you, our customer. At SMS, we believe that safety and QA/QC protocols work hand-in-hand. To learn more about the importance of a quality QA/QC program, check out our blog here.

We look beyond "how to clean" and have established and proven programs on Safety, Emergency Preparedness, Indoor Air Quality, and more.

We might never be able to reach the top of the hill and proclaim "mission accomplished," but we can make sure we are doing everything possible to work safely and prevent injuries or loss of life. And at SMS, that’s not just word scrabble. That’s who we are.