What to Ask a Cleaning Contractor Before Engaging Them

A scope of works should name your areas and the tasks in each, rather than describe cleaning in general. A generic task list is not a scope.

Check that frequency is stated per area, and that exclusions are written down. What is left out matters as much as what is included — that is usually where expectations diverge later.

A Certificate of Currency names the insured party, the type of cover and the expiry date. A line on a website is not the same thing.

Check that the name on the certificate matches the entity you would be contracting with, and that the cover is current at the date your service would start.

You can request a list of the products a contractor intends to use, and the Safety Data Sheets for them.

This is worth doing in a clinical setting, because it is your premises and your staff who share the space with whatever is stored and used there.

Ask what is recorded at each visit, and whether you receive it. A record listing areas serviced and tasks completed gives you a dated history. An assurance that the work happened does not.

A document shows what is intended, not what occurred. Records are useful because they can be checked against what you observe — not because they remove the need to look.

Where accreditation applies, responsibility for the practice's own policies, governance and accreditation remains with the practice. A cleaning contractor can provide cleaning records and procedures that support the practice's own systems.

A written Scope of Works records the areas covered, the tasks in each and the agreed frequency, and a completion record is produced for each visit.

A chemical register and Safety Data Sheets for the products used at your site are available for review on request, as are OXTON's written cleaning and infection control procedures.

OXTON is police-checked, with confidentiality obligations that continue after any service agreement ends. A Certificate of Currency is available on request.