Cleaning Industry

A series of pictorial guides for cleaning have been developed in partnership with Workforce Singapore (WSG), Environmental Management Association of Singapore (EMAS), the Restroom Association of Singapore (RAS), the World Toilet Organisation (WTO), as well as cleaning service providers and Approved Training Organisations (ATOs). With these guidelines, cleaners can gain greater clarity on cleaning procedures and use of equipment, as well as safety measures, enabling them to deliver a higher level of public cleanliness.

Cleaning procedures based on the Environmental Cleaning WSQ modules (such as basic cleaning of hard floors, carpets, and washrooms) are described for specific working environments. The colour-coded visuals are provided in Singapore’s four official languages, with the aim of helping cleaners remember the steps in cleaning a washroom, office, or retail F&B premise.

Pictorial guides available for download:

Pictorial Guide on Office Common Area Cleaning Procedures
- Click to download the guide in English-Chinese \ Malay-Tamil



Pictorial Guide on Office Space Cleaning Procedures
- Click to download the guide in English-Chinese \ Malay-Tamil



Pictorial Guide on Retail F&B Premises Cleaning Procedures
- Click to download the guide in English-Chinese
- For downloading the guide in Malay-Tamil, please contact:
Soh Boon Ping (soh_boon_ping@nea.gov.sg) or Sarah (sarah_ho@nea.gov.sg) 



Pictorial Guide on Washroom Cleaning Procedures
- Click to download the guide in English-Chinese
- For downloading the guide in Malay-Tamil, please contact:
Soh Boon Ping (soh_boon_ping@nea.gov.sg) or Sarah (sarah_ho@nea.gov.sg)  
 

To complement the pictorial guides, activity-based productivity indicators have been developed as a guide for cleaning service providers and buyers to estimate the time taken to complete various cleaning tasks. This enables cleaning service providers and service buyers to determine the productivity level of a WSQ-trained cleaner, and helps with the planning of cleaning operations.

For example, the time taken to clean a washroom with an estimated area of 25 sq metres, with three toilet bowls and four urinal bowls, is 39 minutes and 13 seconds. In an office, it takes 9.03 minutes (542 seconds) to vacuum a floor space of 100 sq metres. Productivity calculators for washroom cleaning [XLSX, 245.44 KB] and office cleaning [XLSX, 62.22 KB] are available to calculate the productivity level of a trained cleaner. The cleaner's productivity level can be compared with the productivity indicator as a measure of performance.

Guide on specifications for cleaning contracts
To help service buyers draft and monitor outcome- or performance-based cleaning contracts, a guide on specifications for cleaning contracts has been developed with input from industry stakeholders. The guide has six sections, and includes sample clauses and guidelines on the tender evaluation approach: