After his 12th standard, Santosh Ingle, presently working as a Supervisor at Sumeet Facilities Pvt Ltd, had only two options either continuing his education or look out for a job. He chose the latter. Since then, it has been eight years and he hasn’t looked back. Janitor turned supervisor, he now handles 35 janitors, trains them, teaches them and takes care of them. Awarded as the best Janitor at Aditya Birla Hospital in 2011, Santosh shares his thoughts and experience with Clean India Journal.
Your Story
I belong to Kalewadi, Pimpri, Pune. The poor economic condition of the family led me to search a job immediately. As per my education I could have found better job options, but ended up joining as a janitor at All services Global Pvt Ltd. The company provided 15 days rigorous training and thereafter periodic guidance. After working almost for four years at All Services Global, I joined Sumeet Facility for a change.
The company has a separate department for training. Earlier, training managers used to train the janitors directly for the first fifteen days, but now supervisors have the responsibility of training their subordinates. However, trainers do provide the necessary assistance to the supervisors.
I have been handling healthcare sites – Aditya Birla Hospital and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) – where we used to receive complaints regarding unclean toilets and now my team received compliments for solving the issues.
As a supervisor, I lead by example, that’s how I inspire my subordinates. I do take care of their salaries/bonuses so as to keep them fully motivated and focussed towards work.
The janitorial profession which came by chance has actually improved our lifestyle quite a lot. Normally ladies do the cleaning at home. But at times, I do it myself and show them the better way of cleaning things. When compared to others, I am able to pass the cleanliness and hygiene information to my family more efficiently.
Maintaining PCMC
Recently assigned for the cleaning and maintenance of the PCMC’s four storey building, I take care of two of its floors while the rest by another supervisor. After briefing all the janitors in the morning, I do check the entire cleaning schedule myself. If some janitors don’t do their work properly, I show them by doing the task myself.
The cleaning & maintenance primarily involves cleaning floors, glass & windows and elevator maintenance. The chemicals used are R2 for floor cleaning, D7 for lift cleaning, R6 for toilet cleaning and R5 as air freshener. Maintaining the Corporation’s rooms of General Body department is an important task. The rooms have to be thoroughly vacuumed at regular intervals.
The PCMC contract has come to us as the Corporation was not satisfied with its previous service provider. We are giving good sanitary solutions and the Corporation is happy with that.
Facility management then and now
FM industry has changed a lot in terms of equipment, training and work culture. When I joined this profession, only single disc machines were available. Most of the cleaning was manual, cumbersome and hectic. The quality thus was not so good.
Now-a-days, there is a machine, tool or accessory for each application. This has changed the scenario. Work is now faster with less manpower involved. Quality too has improved a lot. The machines that I have handled so far are single disc machines, ride-on scrubber drier, high pressure cleaning, etc.
While dealing with waste management, health & hygiene of workers does matter. First-aid boxes are made available at the worksite. Workers have also been given hepatitis B/swine flu injections in advance. Apart from the yearly check-ups such as blood-test, urine test etc., in case of health related issues, management is informed and necessary action taken.
