BUILDING DIVISION | HYGIENE & SANITATION AUDIT
Hygiene and Sanitation Quality Control
From auditing to master planning, ValkarTech provides the keys to success, expertise, and innovation in transforming all aspects of hygiene and sanitation.
In addition, ValkarTech assists and advises on the deployment of the most suitable digital solutions for quality control through user-friendly software that delivers real-time reports to managers.
Our quality control program ensures consistent service delivery:
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Organizational Analysis
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Inventory Control
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Plan and Specification Qualification and Validation
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Process Design and Improvement
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Productivity Enhancement
Quality controls, or audits, in commercial cleaning are an essential component of contract management or employee supervision. In fact, it is the only way to objectively verify that the service provided meets the specifications or task descriptions. Sanitation quality is an inherently variable outcome, so periodic verification is crucial. Visual inspections should be conducted regularly throughout the year. Anyone can walk through a building and give an opinion on cleanliness based on their personal standards. However, a true audit—a proper evaluation of cleanliness according to established, measurable criteria—must be conducted by a certified and experienced auditor who uses a structured checklist or software to provide a quantitative, non-subjective assessment.
To carry out our quality controls, we use a state-of-the-art tablet-based system. This allows us to collect and record more data per hour. With this data, we can generate robust statistics for each building, as we have relevant and precise information. This transforms a subjective notion into an objective, measurable one.
An expert auditor, accredited by the Mouvement Québécois de la Qualité, will be assigned to your building evaluation project. The expert will gather information, compile it into a report, and provide their findings for your property. With the results in hand, you can truly understand the cleanliness of your building and make the necessary corrections.
In short, a sanitation audit provides a clear picture of the actual quality and services delivered. It is an excellent starting point for continuous improvement in cleaning operations. It serves as tangible proof to negotiate contracts, correct workflows, justify training or new equipment purchases, or simply demonstrate to your Board of Directors that everything is under control and that invested funds are benefiting the users.
FLASH CONTROL
Flash Control allows you to quickly obtain a standardized quality index to support the continuous improvement of your processes. The results are tamper-proof. Reports are stored and accessible at any time to authorized personnel. By conducting regular audits, you will have access to historical records, results, evaluations of cleanliness quality, and comments or complaints for each property individually.
Detailed Flash Control reports can be generated in French, English, or Spanish.
Flash Control is a tool that allows ValkarTech to stand out and excel when helping clients achieve—or even surpass—benchmark standards in hygiene and sanitation.
With Flash Control, we can provide in-depth audit reports that highlight strengths and weaknesses in sanitation operations, aligned with the latest industry best practices. The resulting findings enable us to advise you on maintaining high hygiene and sanitation standards within your facilities.
In accordance with the NF EN 13549 standard
To ensure objectivity and reproducibility in quality control, it is essential that audits are based on a defined standard. For cleaning quality control, this is the European EN 13549 standard.
This standard is based on a series of requirements regarding:
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Objects of control: Items must be clearly defined.
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Criteria: Qualitative criteria must be clearly defined for each item.
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Measurement of criteria: How each criterion is measured must be defined.
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Sampling: Must comply with the international ISO 2859 sampling standard.
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Description of Acceptable Quality Levels (AQLs): In accordance with client requirements.
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Timing of control: Criteria may be adapted if the audit is not conducted immediately after cleaning services.
The report:
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Must conclude compliance or non-compliance of the results.
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Must allow precise identification of non-compliances.
Different Types of Audits
Visual Auditing
The cleanliness of your building is critical for the overall health of your employees and tenants. Employees are more productive in a clean environment, as supported by scientific evidence. Customers, in turn, prefer to frequent clean establishments. Client satisfaction largely depends on the first impression created by the visual appearance of your spaces.
Download a sample visual audit report
Fluorescent Marker Auditing
The cleanliness of your building is crucial for the health and well-being of employees and tenants. Employees are more productive in a clean environment, and customers prefer to visit clean commercial spaces.
Download a sample fluorescence audit report
Organizational Auditing
"The pursuit of quality naturally leads to higher productivity, whereas the pursuit of productivity does not lead to better quality," – W. Edwards Deming, American professor, author, and consultant.
A key part of a manager’s role is establishing quality indicators to achieve desired results. Developing a quality control tool to assess sanitation status is therefore essential. Each staff member must know their area thoroughly and have a work plan outlining spaces to be maintained and tasks to be performed daily, weekly, and monthly. All staff must be trained and qualified to perform assigned tasks, understand potential hazards, and know how to work safely with hazardous products.
Download a sample report
Snow Removal Assessment
Snow removal and de-icing operations are crucial for site safety. These are hazardous and costly tasks requiring specialized equipment and proper techniques to minimize worker injuries. Snow removal is also time-consuming and difficult to schedule accurately, as it depends on weather conditions. Building owners are responsible for clearing all building entrances, emergency exits, sidewalks, stairs, ramps, parking areas, hydrants, assembly points, waste container access, roofs, balconies, and walkways.
Whether outsourced or performed in-house, rigorous supervision and follow-up of snow removal operations are essential. Snow or ice accumulation can cause serious injuries, property damage, and potential legal liability. Snow removal reports provide documentation of actual work performed and efforts made, and are valuable tools for confirming needs during annual contract renegotiations.
Download a sample snow removal assessment
Remedial Action Plan
In completely unacceptable situations, where non-compliance poses serious risks to occupant health or premature deterioration of surfaces or tools, an official intervention is required in the form of a corrective action report.
When a contract agreement exists between two parties, it is natural to expect results and enforce commitments. The corrective action report justifies discrepancies by highlighting gaps between client expectations and actual results and provides guidance for resolving issues while reaffirming operational frameworks and required standards.
Download a sample Remedial Action Plan