NSW school cleaners perform 650 “regular” cleaning tasks daily, or a separate task every 45 seconds, according to United Workers Union (UWU), which is calling for the state government to end the privatisation of public school cleaning.

“With cleaners expected to complete 650 tasks in a day it’s no wonder half of NSW school cleaners report being unable to complete their cleaning work,” United Workers Union property services co-ordinator, Linda Revill said.

“A stopwatch approach to school cleaning is placing unsafe workloads on NSW school cleaners and it’s got to stop.

“The demoralising truth is NSW public school cleaners have the highest injury rates in NSW from more than 500 different professions^*, with injury rates equalled only by saw millers,” Revill said.

The cleaning tasks are drawn from a 12-page “contract specification summary” obtained by United Workers Union setting out 179 separate “regular” tasks that school cleaners are required to complete daily in different areas across schools.

According to the union, when applied to a real-life cleaner’s daily work schedule^**, regular tasks expected in areas including classrooms, canteens, offices, school grounds and corridors number 650, or 45 seconds a task.

“This contract specification document clearly shows cleaners being exposed to unsafe workloads daily. The privatised approach where cleaners are treated as robots rather than human beings has to stop,” Revill said.

Last month, UWU released the findings from its large-scale survey of more than 400 NSW school cleaners.  The survey found half of respondents said they did not have enough time to complete the necessary cleaning and a quarter said they had not been properly paid by private contractors.

In a statement issued to INCLEAN, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said a new whole-of-government facilities management (cleaning services) contract was implemented in 2019 worth $1.7 billion.

“The new contract incorporated the cleaning quality standards that have been applied to all NSW schools,” the spokesperson said.

“The contract is performance-based. The specification describes the standards of quality that a facility is to be cleaned to, generally at the start of each working day. A range of services is available under the contract.

“Each cleaning contractor is required to manage their staff including identifying risks and controlling those risks to ensure their health, wellbeing, and safety. If injuries occur the cleaning contractors are required under NSW legislation to provide the necessary coverage and support for their staff.”

^{*The workplace injury rate is based on NSW school cleaners having the highest workers’ compensation premium of 9.46 per cent, equal only to sawmillers: https://www.icare.nsw.gov.au/employers/premiums/calculating-the-cost-of-your-premium/wics-and-premium-rates}

^{** Based on the daily tasks of multiple real-life school cleaners’ workloads, each cleaning an average of 11 classrooms, 1 woodwork room}