What INSTA 800 means?
INSTA 800 standard describes the method for establishing and assessing cleaning quality. The standard provides two main principles of measurement: visual inspection and inspection using measuring instruments.
INSTA 800 can be used in all types of buildings and localities, eg, office buildings, hospitals, schools, nursery schools, shopping centres, production halls, ships, buses, trains, aircraft, airports, universities, hotels and restaurants, irrespective of the cleaning methods, frequency or system used.
‘Visual Cleaning Inspection’, is the basic idea behind the Nordic cleaning standard INSTA 800. The standard was introduced in Nordic Countries a decade ago and it works really well. INSTA 800 is a new way of working and has resulted in improved cleaning quality and higher employee motivation.
For many years most of cleaners used to clean according to a fixed programme. For example: on Monday mopping the floors, on Wednesday cleaning the walls, and so on. That meant that a coffee stain on the wall caused on Monday, stayed there until the next Friday.
With INSTA 800 cleaners can assess each room before they start to clean and then focus on the agreed quality level for that room or space.
Instead of focusing on cleaning frequency and fixed programme, the INSTA 800 Cleaning Standard focuses on the results, by describing clear and objective expectations.
The INSTA 800 standard describes in detail how to measure the cleaning quality and how many ‘impurities’ are allowed in each room after the cleaning. This way cleaning companies and organisations can prove their ability to deliver quality.
INSTA 800 applies six quality levels (0,1,2,3,4,5)
Level five is the highest: for a hospital operating room, “clean rooms”. That makes it easy to understand for the owner of an office building that level five is unrealistic. And that a toilet should have a higher level than a corridor or storage room.
Most cleaning control methods remain subjective because most clients have difficulties explaining what exactly they want. They simply miss a common definition of “Clean”.
With the INSTA 800 standard everyone speaks the same language: tolerance levels or the amount of soiling allowed for every room component in each service level. Room is divided into: floor, equipment, walls, ceilings for cleaning and for assessment.
INSTA 800 standard defines four types of ‘impurity’: waste and loose dirt, dust, stains and surface dirt. “Surface dirt’ covers in fact ‘method flaws’, like stripes of soap on the floor or lime scale in the sink.
Measure results
The cleaning quality can then be measured by counting all impurities that are left in one room and by simply counting them and registering on forms or QUALYTICK™ Apps (for more details: www.qualitasprimum.com).
The quantity and designation of the rooms to be controlled is organised upon an AQL. Counting the impurities, a room will be result in approving or rejecting that rooms.
AQL level provides an indication on how many rooms can be “rejected” during the inspection. Ideally each controlled room should pass the requested service level.
The customer sets these tolerances or acceptance levels for how clean each separate room should be. Choosing the right levels for each room is important because this relates directly to the amount of cleaning work and thus costs. Cleaning tasks can now be judged from a professional point of view, reality versus tolerance levels taking out the subjective assessment.
QUALITAS PRIMUM is the leader in inspection, training & certification services for a cleaning services industry.
If you are willing to have same language about cleaning and if you are interested in your cleaning staff motivation – don’t be shy to contact QUALITAS PRIMUM we are here to help and support you and your business.
© QUALITY CLEANLINESS™
‘Visual Cleaning Inspection’, is the basic idea behind the Nordic cleaning standard INSTA 800. The standard was introduced in Nordic Countries a decade ago and it works really well. INSTA 800 is a new way of working and has resulted in improved cleaning quality and higher employee motivation.
For many years most of cleaners used to clean according to a fixed programme. For example: on Monday mopping the floors, on Wednesday cleaning the walls, and so on. That meant that a coffee stain on the wall caused on Monday, stayed there until the next Friday.
With INSTA 800 cleaners can assess each room before they start to clean and then focus on the agreed quality level for that room or space.
Instead of focusing on cleaning frequency and fixed programme, the INSTA 800 Cleaning Standard focuses on the results, by describing clear and objective expectations.
The INSTA 800 standard describes in detail how to measure the cleaning quality and how many ‘impurities’ are allowed in each room after the cleaning. This way cleaning companies and organisations can prove their ability to deliver quality.
INSTA 800 applies six quality levels (0,1,2,3,4,5)
Level five is the highest: for a hospital operating room, “clean rooms”. That makes it easy to understand for the owner of an office building that level five is unrealistic. And that a toilet should have a higher level than a corridor or storage room.
Most cleaning control methods remain subjective because most clients have difficulties explaining what exactly they want. They simply miss a common definition of “Clean”.
With the INSTA 800 standard everyone speaks the same language: tolerance levels or the amount of soiling allowed for every room component in each service level. Room is divided into: floor, equipment, walls, ceilings for cleaning and for assessment.
INSTA 800 standard defines four types of ‘impurity’: waste and loose dirt, dust, stains and surface dirt. “Surface dirt’ covers in fact ‘method flaws’, like stripes of soap on the floor or lime scale in the sink.
Measure results
The cleaning quality can then be measured by counting all impurities that are left in one room and by simply counting them and registering on forms or QUALYTICK™ Apps (for more details: www.qualitasprimum.com).
The quantity and designation of the rooms to be controlled is organised upon an AQL. Counting the impurities, a room will be result in approving or rejecting that rooms.
AQL level provides an indication on how many rooms can be “rejected” during the inspection. Ideally each controlled room should pass the requested service level.
The customer sets these tolerances or acceptance levels for how clean each separate room should be. Choosing the right levels for each room is important because this relates directly to the amount of cleaning work and thus costs. Cleaning tasks can now be judged from a professional point of view, reality versus tolerance levels taking out the subjective assessment.
QUALITAS PRIMUM is the leader in inspection, training & certification services for a cleaning services industry.
Certification and trainings to internationally recognized standards enable your organization and you as a person and employee to continuously improve for a better result. Our services are provided internationally (EU, Nordic Countries, USA, Australia, Asia, UEA, Africa, etc.).
One of our services is certification for INSTA 800 Standard. QUALITAS PRIMUM Certification services provided to persons (Knowledge levels 1, 2, 3, 4) and for Cleaning and Facilities management companies. We provide training services for INSTA 800 also.
