The three-day seminar sessions were uniquely designed to bring forth cleanliness as a subject to be prioritised in all sectors ranging from hospitals to municipal corporations. Experts deliberated on subjects like hospital hygiene, waste recycling, industrial cleaning, professionalism in Building Service Contracting and laundry.
Hospital Hygiene
The panel comprising Dr B N Gokul, Senior Infection Control Officer, Fortis Hospital; Dr A Mohan, Professor, Department of Urology and Head Quality Control Department, St. John’s Medical College Hospital; Dr Shalini Naik, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, M S Ramaiah Medical College & Hospital; and Vijay Rajagopal, Sr Area Sales Manager, Southern Region, Diversey Inc, discussed the relevance of various hygienic practices followed in a hospital to control hospital associated infections for better patient safety and quality healthcare. Personal hygiene, hand hygiene and staff education are of prime importance.
The speakers advocated the need for modern engineering treatments and renewal of old fixtures and furniture for better hospital maintenance. It was also emphasized that proper waste management practices need to be adopted in hospitals. It was and that implementation and training are the major challenge areas that need to be addressed for accreditation in hospitals. On the subject of accreditation, experts concluded that healthcare institutions should implement policies and procedures laid down in the infection control manual for high risk areas, hand hygiene, sterilization, injection & infusion safety, antibiotic policy, laundry, kitchen and housekeeping.
Concepts like segregating at the source of generation and myths about biomedical waste were clarified during the seminar session. There is a need for monitoring infection control policies, hospital hygiene, quality control, hospital infection control programme, paramedical waste management and hand hygiene.
Waste Management and Recycling
This session was designed with a view to share successful models of waste management implemented by a few municipal bodies and waste recycling technologies. In an attempt to provide solutions to Municipal Corporations on city cleaning & waste recycling, an exclusive seminar session on Waste Recycling was organised. Experts deliberated on the various aspects of waste recycling and waste to energy conversion solutions.
Dr M Madhusudanan, Sr Scientist, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Bangalore, said that the Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2000. Lay emphasis on seeking participation of citizens in waste segregation, prohibiting littering, proper storage and efficient transportation of waste for processing and final disposal. He concluded that specifications need to be followed for land filling to protect environmental pollution and adoption of appropriate waste processing technologies.
Janardhan Reddy, Commissioner and Director Municipal Administration, Government of Andhra Pradesh, highlighted the various innovative initiatives in Andhra Pradesh in terms of waste management. There are many success stories in collection of dry and wet waste at Suryapet through the introduction of two bin system; conversion of dump yard into municipal resource park in Bobilli & implementation of 100% door step services with ban on plastics; and implementation of 100% door step services with segregation reducing dumping by nearly 70% at Pullivendulla and Saluru.
Suresh Jagtap, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Dr Kalpana Baliwant, Divisional Medical Officer, PMC; and Dr Ketaki Ghatge, Divisional Medical Officer, PMC, gave presentations on the various successful models adopted by PMC with the coming of MSW Rules, 2000.
G. Poyyamoli, Associate Professor, Department of Ecology & Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry University gave a presentation on Existing Solid Waste Management Practices in Puducherry Region. There is lack of collection and segregation at source due to operational inefficiencies and inappropriate technologies. He suggested that appropriate systems and infrastructure facilities need to be undertaken for scientific collection, management, processing and disposal of MSW.
Rauappa, Chief Officer, and Indu M, Health Inspector from Moodubidire Town Municipal Council gave the presentation on Municipal Waste Management in Moodubidire Town.
Industrial Cleaning
Seminar on Industrial Cleaning solutions saw participation from production managers, operation heads, facility heads and the like from various manufacturing industries, automobile, pharma, textile, food processing, airports, railways, etc. Experts from various cleaning companies spoke on industry specific topics including, Sunil Kapoor, National Sales Manager, Karcher Cleaning Systems Pvt Ltd on High pressure water jet cleaning and Dry Ice Blasting; Andrea Moro, Owner/Entrepreneur, TSM on Industrial Sweeping; Deepak Baluja, Managing Director, Final Technologies Pvt Ltd and Sachin Surie, Director, Surie Polex on Concrete floor polishing and maintenance; Amrut Badal, National head Manufacturing & Special application, Eureka Forbes Ltd on Material Recovery/ Dust Extraction; Stefano Salducco, Product Manager, General Vapeur & Menikini Companies on Dry Steam Cleaning; Christopher Blessing, Managing Director, Caere Pvt Ltd on Indoor Air Quality; C S Chandavarkar, Managing, Director, Caere Pvt Ltd on Pest Management and N Sri Kumar, CEO, LEO Engineers on Ultrasonic Cleaning.
Building Service Industry
Seminar on Building Service Industry discussed procedures of making Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Key Performance Indicator (KPI) models, Service Quality & Contract Retention and making Benchmarking Standards. The speakers included Vinay Deshmukh, CEO, Fobes Facility; Julian Harrison, Strategic Projects Director, OCS and Ravi Manchandani, Managing Director, Afoozo Pvt Ltd. SLAs form an important part of any service contract, as it provides the basis for managing the relationship between the service provider and the customer for the level of service to be delivered.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) need to be client driven, realistic, credible and measurable and should be based on inputs or outcomes. To move up the value chain, service providers need to demonstrate and measure the impact of their services upon the success of the core business. Presentation on Service Quality and Contract Retention concluded that customers should be treated with care, courtesy and efficiency by following established systems and procedures effectively.
Delegates Speak
Dr Ashishkumar V. Doshi, Chief Medical Administrator (Operations)-Noble Hospital, Pune: “The seminar was very beneficial in terms of the subject that touched upon many topics providing with insights on sterilizers and modern infection control.”
Aarti Oberoi, AGM-Dishman Pharmaceutical & Chemical Ltd: “The seminar was very interesting and gave insights into the new equipment and cleaning products available in India. Demonstrations of machines enabled us to gain first-hand knowledge on their efficiency and capability. It would have been more useful if industrial waste management and recycling were also included in the Seminar topics. The show was good with upcoming machines on display and also the specialized laundry pavilion was very helpful.”
Mithun Singh, Manager – Soft Services, BMS Services India Pvt Ltd: “The seminar showed methods on how the service provider could address customer expectations. The show was also really helpful as it provided with a platform to interact with other vendors and know their cleaning requirement. The display of many innovative and technologically advanced equipment was also very beneficial.”
G A Arun C, Plant Manager, Noni Bio-Tech Pvt Ltd: “The seminar as well as the show was very useful and it fulfilled our requirements. The show was particularly beneficial as it helped us to develop business contacts to further our business interests. Coming to the show as well as the seminar was worthwhile.”
Bipin P Varghes, Manager, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology: “Medical practitioners who are in contact with the patients are at a high risk of getting infections. The topics covered in the seminar were greatly helpful as it showed modes to prevent or lower these kind of instances.”
Hareesh Parandhaman, Head – Business Development, Resil Chemicals Pvt Ltd: “The seminar and the show were very informative. Many companies had participated and displayed a number of equipment. Our company is planning on entering the cleaning industry; this visit was primarily to gain information on the same. It was a very profitable experience for us and we are contemplating on participating in the forthcoming show.”
Rajlaxmi K Naik, Housekeeper, Tata Memorial Hospital: “Seminars were immensely beneficial in terms of the information they provided. The session on hospital hygiene showcased new equipment and techniques in maintaining sanitation in the hospitals, the session on waste management was also very informative. This was the first time I had attended the show and was very impressed by it. After seeing all the equipment on display and live demos, our hospital has even short listed companies to source out cleaning machines. I hope to attend the forthcoming show as well.”
Miti Sinha, Chief Operating Officer, Chaque Jour Outsourcing Solutions Pvt Ltd: “The seminar was very educative and informative, especially the one on hospital hygiene, where the service providers were given insights on the requirements and expectations pertaining to cleaning by the hospital management. I attended all the seminars in the last two shows but this year’s show was on a larger scale. The equipment displayed by the exhibitors were really interesting and we are in the process of considering some for our company.”
Perumal, Housekeeping Executive, Propcare Mall Management India Pvt Ltd: “The seminar was really useful. It touched upon subjects like Benchmarking, Client Retention and SLAs that are very important aspects of the cleaning industry. The show itself was very beneficial with array of cleaning equipments on display. We are planning to consider some equipment for our use. The overall response of the show was great, it could be better if more exhibitors would have participated to provide the visitors with a range of options”
Ayub Mulla, Housekeeping Trainer, Veejay Facility Management Pvt Ltd: “The seminar was very useful as it displayed new technology in cleaning, especially the machines like dry steam cleaning and high pressure water jet cleaning. The information on waste management and the techniques shown for maintaining hygiene was very helpful. The show was great with many technologically advanced cleaning equipment on display.”
Kaveri Khanna, Manager Operations, Knight Frank India Pvt Ltd: “The sessions were very informative, as the participants were a mix of new players and industry veterans. It would be very helpful for the amateur service providers as it will help them to understand working of the industry in a better and professional manner. The show itself was very good with many exhibitors displaying their technologically advanced equipment. We are also considering some of the machines for our usage. It would have been better if more global companies had participated in the show. It would have been an opportunity to learn about global standards and practices in the industry.”
