All Things Decontamination is proud to have launched our new online learning library with the Safer Space Foundation Certificate, a beginner-friendly crash course in environmental decontamination that anyone with responsibility for cleaning duties will find invaluable. But what is Safer Space, and what is the larger mission behind the Safer Space Marker? Roy Winters, Chairman of Safer Space, unpacks the idea behind the game-changing movement.
What is Safer Space?
Safer Space is the world’s only independent public health standards body that is all-encompassing. Our mission is simple: to ensure healthier environments that restore public confidence and keep people safe. Simply put, we accredit spaces so that anyone using them, be they staff, patients, customers or the general public, knows that they are in a “Safer Space.” To achieve this accreditation, businesses need to show they are using staff training, products and techniques that meet our high standard.
“Our mission is simple: to ensure healthier environments that restore public confidence and keep people safe.”
The Safer Space standard exists to support the entire cleaning and hygiene industry. We’re not here to compete. We are here to promote continuous education and training, introduce cutting-edge technology and promote higher skill levels across the sector. Therefore, we support a wide range of solutions that help businesses to achieve our, and higher standards of hygiene.
Remember – Clean Is Not Necessarily Safe
A space can be visibly clean and tidy, but we know that is not enough. Last year in the UK alone, 141 million work days were lost to sickness-related absence, costing businesses £100 billion. This isn’t just costing the economy a fortune – a period of sickness has a knock-on effect to our colleagues, our families, and to our mental health and overall wellbeing. So much of this sickness is preventable, caused by germs we encounter in the spaces we use as part of our everyday lives.
As a society, we’re generally aware of the risk of infection, but too often we put our trust in unproven products and unsafe techniques. It’s not enough to see someone spraying a substance from an unmarked bottle – we need to know the substance they are using is proven to protect against microorganisms. We should not be satisfied when we see objects being given a cursory wipe when their touchpoints should be getting regularly and thoroughly disinfected. We need to recognise that a lot of cleaning work is invisible, and that a visual inspection is not sufficient evidence that we are in a clean, safe space. We have to collectively ask more of the businesses where we work, shop, eat and play, that we trust to keep us safe through their cleaning practices.
“We need trained and certified cleaning professionals using proven products…”
If we want to break the cycle of infection, stopping the spread of superbugs and ultimately preventing future pandemics, we need spaces to be scientifically proven to be safer. That means cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting to the highest standard. To do this, we need trained and certified cleaning professionals using proven products and technology that squeezes the maximum results out of them. Safer Space exists to provide that assurance. Our training is best-in-class, as are the products we approve and the technology we promote.
Making the Invisible Visible
One of the things I love about the course All Things Decontamination have built for us is the ways they show how anyone can take the invisible world of germs and chemical solutions, and make it visible so we can see exactly what is going on in our spaces. Our unique Prove It Indicators are a perfect example of this concept in action. They are small stickers that you add to an object you need to keep clean and make safer. If the object is cleaned with a chemical that works properly, the indicator turns blue. If the chemical doesn’t do what it is supposed to, the indicator will stay white. There are simple, cost-effective ways of evidencing great cleaning and hygiene practices in action, but so many businesses are missing the opportunity to celebrate just how safe their spaces are because they don’t know about them! If you can show people visiting your space that it is scientifically proven to be safe from pathogens, imagine the impact this has on how those people view your space.
An Evolving Standard
Unlike most static certifications, Safer Space is a ‘rising tide’ accreditation standard—constantly evolving to incorporate the latest best practices and technologies. The purpose of our accreditation is to provide a high level of assurance, so when something comes along that can do that, we embrace it and we champion it. We’ve already got a wide family of innovative solutions and we’re always expanding, bringing the best in training, technology and technique under a single banner that everybody can recognise and trust. We are giving people confidence that accredited spaces are consistently safer and more hygienic, and that is something that can be achieved with a wide range of approved products.
Redefining the Cleaning Industry
It’s time to change the narrative. Cleaning and hygiene are not just a business cost—they are a critical investment in public health. Cleaning professionals are skilled workers performing essential tasks in challenging environments. Their work reduces workplace illness, increases productivity, and creates safer spaces for everyone. At Safer Space we absolutely believe that anyone with cleaning duties as part of their role at work deserves access to the best tools and training to succeed and excel. Why should such valuable workers accept tired old training methods that have been abandoned in education and other sectors as proven to be ineffective? Why not provide these key workers with the best that technology and experience can offer? Cleaning staff keep the public safe in much the same way that our emergency services and armed forces do – the only key difference is that their enemy is invisible and constantly encroaching on all of the spaces we as a society use in our everyday lives. Safer Space exists to champion and support anyone who wants to provide a high standard of cleanliness and hygiene. We are confident that the Safer Space Foundation Certificate is just the first step in a programme of study that businesses can adopt to invest in their cleaning staff and it forms a fundamental requirement for anyone wishing to attain the Safer Space accreditation. As we look to the future and to the ever-increasing importance of environmental hygiene and decontamination, my hope is that Safer Space can play a significant part in keeping people safe and improving public confidence.
You can find out more about the Safer Space mission by visiting their website https://saferspace.org.uk/
