Today Tonight: Stain Removal

Jenny Boymal and Charlie Lodge appeared on Channel 7′s Today Tonight on Wednesday 15th February 2012 discussing the importance of using professional carpet cleaners to get rid of those difficult stains.

Rug Cleaning Webinar – Monday 19th March 2012

What is rug cleaning? Why should I add it to my services? Do I really want to invest the time and money in developping a new service? All of these questions plus more will be answered in the free Rug Cleaning Webinar taking place on Monday 19th March at 6pm AEST.

Low cost & large profit: How Rug Cleaning will make a difference to your business
6pm AEST (Melbourne/Sydney)
Monday 19th March
**Not in melbourne or Sydney? See below for a list of more times**
Click here to register now

Not too sure what a webinar is? Click here to find out more.

This interactive, online seminar will give you the opportunity to learn more about rug cleaning, what you should expect from offering this service, and how you can make money from it. The webinar will feature Ruth Travis and Dusty Roberts, who will both share their expert advise in the field of rug cleaning.

Ruth and Dusty’s presentations will include information about the importance of knowledge in rug cleaning, the value that addint a rug cleaning arm to your existing carpet cleaning business could give you, and some quick and easy ways to make money with rug cleaning.

There will be an opportunity for attendees to ask questions and participate in discussion – all from the comfort of your own home or office!

Click here to register now

Ruth Travis will be heading out to Australia to take the IICRC Rug Cleaning Course on the 18th, 19th, 20th & 21st April. Registrations are still open – call the Jena Dyco office on 130 192 968 or email admin@jenadyco.com for more information.

Webinar Times

Melbourne/Sydney (AEST) – Monday 19th March, 6pm
Brisbane – Monday 19th March, 5pm
Perth – Monday 19th March, 3pm
Auckland – Monday 19th March, 8pm
Los Angeles – Sunday, 18th March, 11pm
New York – Monday 19th March, 2am

How can we promote industry professionalism?

Media coverage like the story featuring Charlie Lodge and Jenny Boymal about stain removal that was shown on Today Tonight this week  does a great job of promoting the professionalism of the industry, but we all need to continue to work at promoting our image, so that the consumer understands the importance of hiring professionals to do a quality job.

Advancing the professionalism of the carpet cleaning industry is an important endeavour and something that everyone needs to work towards. Below are a few easy ways to help promote the professionalism of the industry:

Join and support the industry association

The Specialised Cleaning and Restoration Industry Association (SCRIA)* represents the carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning, restoration and related industries. The association is active all around the country, with local branches in each state. Each branch holds regular meetings, both in person and online, so you can discuss your issues, compare notes about jobs, or even just have a chat with like-minded professionals.

Industry associations are also a great way to have your voice heard. Not happy about a certain rule or regulation? Industry Associations have the power to lobby the government, so bring your concern to SCRIA, discuss it with other members, and organise to get something done about it!

The point of an industry association is to present a unified perspective to the rest of the world (a.k.a. the consumer) – if we have one organisation to present a unified opinion it makes the message a lot clearer. Click here to become a SCRIA member

*Formally known as NUCCRA

Educate your customers

Let’s face it, if we didn’t have customers we wouldn’t be able to work. And seeing as its the customers who pay us, what they think and what they believe is pretty important. However, many customers simply don’t understand the difference between a good carpet cleaning job and a bad one. This ultimately turns all of our customers into price-shoppers, because price is the only part of the job that they can compare.

This means that you have to educate your customers – including those you already have and those you want to have – about what makes a quality job. Write up a couple of articles about what makes a good carpet cleaning job (and why you’re the best technician to deliver a good job) and put them on your webiste. You can even contact your local newspaper and send them one of your articles and a photo of you standing in front of your van (local papers love it when people send them content like this). If you’re don’t like the idea of writing your own articles, scour the web and find some good articles that other people have written and share them with your customers on your Facebook page.

Cosy up to your competitors

No matter what industry you’re in, the thought of working with your competitors always makes people anxious. What if they undercut me? What if they steal my customers? What if they move in on my area?

As the old adage goes, two heads work better than one, and establishing a trusting professional relationship with a nearby competitor can make your life a lot more easier and more profitable. This menas you have somebody to call to give you a hand if the work gets too much. If a client from their area calls you, you can refer them onto your ‘trusted competitor’, and he can do the same for you. If you ever come across any tricky jobs that you aren’t too sure how to tackle, you’ve got someone to call to help you nut it out.

Trust us – working together often gives you better results than working against one another. John Nash (remember the genius from A Beautiful Mind?) even won a Nobel Prize after he pointed this out to the world. Click here to read more about it.

Cosy up to your competitors

For anyone who’s seen the movie A Beautiful Mind, you’d know that John Nash was a brilliant economist and mathematician who struggled with paranoid schizophrenia. For anyone who’s an economist, you’d know that he also won a Nobel Prize for a brilliant, yet equally simple, economic theory.

In 1994, John Nash, alongside John C Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten won the Nobel Prize for Economics for ‘their pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games’.  Or in layman’s terms, working together.

In A Beautiful Mind, there is a scene where Nash and his college friends are sitting in a bar admiring a girl. Four guys, one beautiful girl – the odds are stacked against them. If everyone tries to go for her, no one wins. Nash decides, however, that if all four of them go for the beautiful girl’s friends, they all get to go home with a girl. As Nash says, ‘the best result for the group will come from everyone doing what’s best for himself and for the group.’

Networking is integral to running a business. It’s not about finding out how much your competitor charges so you can charge $5 less than them. Networking is about getting to know your competitors and helping each other out. Networking is about finding out what works best for the industry as a whole, and trying to achieve that common goal with your peers.

Networking and collaboration helps to strengthen the industry and an industry needs to be strong to grow and progress. Therefore, a strong industry benefits everyone who is involved.  You’re more likely to win if you work with people, rather than against them.

There are a number of different associations and platforms which make it easy for you to network with other people in your industry, as well as other people in your local community which may benefit your service.

Charlie Lodge – Jena Dyco International

Charlie Lodge will be presenting at the Jena Dyco Meth Lab Cleanup Seminar taking place on Friday 23rd March.

Charlie has had extensive experience in the remediation of Clandestine Drug Laboratories. He has personally decontaminated over twenty laboratories. Charlie has received extensive training in both New Zealand and the USA.

Charlie has worked in close liaison with a leading New Zealand Forensic Scientist, who specialises in Methamphetamine residual testing.

Charlie has formal qualifications in Carpet cleaning, Odour control, Carpet repair and installation, Floor care technician, Upholstery and fabric cleaning, Occupational Health and Safety, Mould remediation, Rug cleaning, Leather Care, Fire and Smoke, Water damage restoration and Colour repair. He has also completed specialized training in adult education and achieved a qualification in Workplace Training and Assessment in both New Zealand and Australia.

Charlie also teaches Certificate II and III in Asset Maintenance (Carpet Cleaning) and Certificate IV in Asset Maintenance (Cleaning Management)

Charlie is originally from an engineering background, and has over twenty years of practical experience in the industry. He is a IICRC Master Cleaner, IICRC Master Fire and Smoke Restorer, IICRC Regional Supervisor for New Zealand. He is Chairman of the IICRC Sub-Council in New Zealand. Charlie is a founder member of the Carpet Cleaners Association of New Zealand.

Now that you’re in the know…
There are few people who really understand the significance of the role that clandestine drug labs play in the community. Charlie will talk about how we, as those who are aware of the risks, can go about raising awareness and educating others about the issue.

Jena Dyco International
http://www.jenadyco.com

Luke Mitton – Horsham Rural City Council

Luke Mitton will be presenting at the Jena Dyco Meth Lab Cleanup Seminar taking place on Friday 23rd March.

Luke has been working as an Environmental Health Officer with Horsham Rural City Council for the past 8 years managing the Environmental Health Department which includes Food Safety, Public Health, Communicable Disease Control and Immunisation.

Luke completed his Batchelor of Health Science (Environmental Health Management) at Swinburne University of Technology and graduated in 2005.

Clan labs result in the production of hazardous chemicals that can cause a public health risk and the environmental health department is involved in ensuring that any risks to public health are eliminated, this includes the resulting contamination from meth labs.

Council and Clan Labs: A case study of Horsham Rural City Council
In his presentation, Luke will study the council’s rule in the clean up of meth labs, with a focus on the situation in Victoria. This will include looking at the partnership and cooperation with the state government and police, and how the new national guidelines may have helped in this case study.

Horsham Rural City Council
http://www.hrcc.vic.gov.au

Dr Nicholas Powell – Forensic & Industrial Science

Dr Nicholas Powell will be presenting at the Jena Dyco Meth Lab Cleanup Seminar taking place on Friday 23rd March.

Dr Nicholas Powell is the director of Forensic and Industrial Science Ltd, a company based in Auckland, New Zealand, which specialises in the inspection and testing of suspected clan labs.

Nick holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Geology and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Forensic Science. He is a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He is a Foundation Member and current Secretary of the Independent Forensic Practitioners Institute.

Forensic and Industrial Science has been involved in testing over 300 suspected clan labs since 2004 and Nick Powell has personally inspected over 100.

He regularly gives evidence in court as an independent expert witness and lectures on topics including methamphetamine yield, clandestine laboratory sophistication and capabilities and clan lab contamination.

Nick and his partner Anne live in rural west Auckland and have six children, two horses and a cat. When he is not testing meth labs, Nick can often be found working on old cars attempting to get them to go even faster. He is a competitive rifle shooter and was awarded a Sports Blue for rifle shooting while at university. Nick enjoys the outdoors and whenever possible runs around the hills of Fiordland in the South Island, chasing deer.

Clan labs in Australia and New Zealand: Environmental and Other Issues

Forensic & Industrial Science
http://www.forensicscience.co.nz

Sanin Pasagic – M&K Lawyers

Sanin Pasagic will be presenting at the Jena Dyco Meth Lab Cleanup Seminar taking place on Friday 23rd March.

Sanin Pasagic  is a lawyer within the commercial litigation department at M+K Lawyers.

Sanin specialises in a wide variety of commercial and general civil litigation as well as local government and statutory authority work with a focus on health and food law. He has experience in advising local authorities on a variety of issues including council obligations under various legislation, powers of authorised officers, delegations, food closures and prescribed accommodation.

Sanin also conducts prosecutions for various offences under the Food Act 1984 and Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008.

Meth Labs – legal obligations and responsibilities of third parties

In this presentation, Sanin will discuss the legal role of local authorities and property managers regarding meth labs, and the circumstances under which they have a legal duty to report meth labs and perform other tasks to protect the public from the dangers posed by meth labs. He will discuss how issues such as negligence and duty of care may affect the roles that different parties play in meth lab remediation, and the influence of existing legislation on  the local councils’ duty to investigate meth labs. Sanin’s presentation will be illustrated by examples relating to negligence and duty of care.

 

M&K Lawyers
http://www.mk.com.au

Wayne Barton – The Carpet Cleaning Man

Wayne Barton is the owner and operator of The Carpet Cleaning Man, based in Riverland on the River Murray in south eastern South Australia.

Wayne chose the name of his company, The Carpet Cleaning Man, because it sums up the nature of the job perfectly – Wayne is a single operator, offering services such as carpet and upholstery cleaning, tile and grout cleaning, office cleaning and window washing to companies and locals in his hometown of Berri.

After working in food production for a number of years, Wayne moved into the carpet cleaning industry to fill a hole in the local trade. The industry also appealed to him as it allowed him to stay in the area and run his own business.

“I originally worked at National Foods (previously Berri Ltd.) for twenty years, until they decided to move the plant equipment to the Eastern Seaboard.

“A redundancy package was offered and I put my hand up for one so that I could pursue my desire to own my own family business.”

Having completed a Certificate IV in Asset Maintenance (Cleaning Management) and a IICRC Water Damage Restoration course with Jena Dyco, Wayne believes that being properly trained is important to gain the skills you need and to give yourself an edge on the competition.

“What can I say about training? You can never have too much knowledge to put into practice.

“As they say, practice makes perfect.”

Wayne lives in Berri with his wife of 24 years, Christine, his 17-year old son, Matthew and his cats, fish, birds and dog.

There is new OH&S Legislation out, and we need your help!

The Jena Dyco Safety Systems contain template policies and procedures for specialised cleaning & restoration businesses.

Did you know that there are new OH&S laws coming out this year?

In fact, the new laws have already been released in Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, and it is only a matter of time before they are implemented in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.

These new laws, known as ‘Harmonisation’, will bring all states and territories under the a federal OH&S legislation. Many of the penalities in the new Harmonisation laws are much harsher than before, and it is important that everybody fully understands their OH&S obligations (as employers, employees, sub-contractors, even volunteers) to avoid getting stung and ensure that everyone is able to work in a safe and healthy environment.

In line with these new OH&S Harmonisation laws we are updating the Jena Dyco Health & Safety Systems. The existing Jena Dyco Health & Safety Systems (otherwise known as the blue folder that Charlie gives you at the Health & Safety course) are available online to help specialised cleaning and restoration businesses implement OH&S policies and procedures. We are working with an independent OH&S consultant, Hazcon, to develop a tailored OH&S product to deliver to the specialised cleaning and restoration industry.

Victorians: We need your help!

The WorkSafe consultations are free and totally independent - none of your information will get back to WorkSafe.

WorkSafe Victoria offers free 3-hour consultations for small businesses. These consultations are undertaken by independent assessors (not inspectors!) and are for your benefit – none of the information will get back to WorkSafe. The independent assessor will walk through your workplace with you and help you to assess potential risks and hazards, and the different processes you can put in place to fix them. They will provide you with a detailed report of what OH&S practices they recommend you implement in your workplace.

(We signed up for our free 3-hour consultation a few weeks ago and had an independent assessor come to visit us at te Jena Dyco Office. It was amazing some of the things he picked up on that we had never even thought could pose a safety risk before! It was definately a hugely valuable experience for us.)

We need small specialised cleaning and restoration businesses (up to 20 employees)  to undertake these free WorkSafe consultations so that we can gain a better overview of the OH&S needs of the industry and develop better Safety Systems for you. We will send your application form for a free OH&S 3-hour consultation off to Hazcon (check them out at www.hazcon.com.au – we are working with us to develop our new Safety Systems product) and they will send out a consultant to assess your workplace with you. Hazcon will not be providing us with any specific information – rather they will provide us with an overview of the OH&S issues in the industry.

We’ll give you a kickback…

Once we have finished developing the new Safety Systems product we are more than happy to give you a free 12-month subscription so that you can update all your policies & procedures in-line with the new ‘Harmonisation’ regulations that are coming into effect this year.

Of course, there is also the added bonus that you will get a free 3-hour safety consultation for your workplace. The information that you will gain from this consultation will be really valuable to ensuring that you provide a safe and healthy workplace to your staff (and yourself!).

How do you get involved?

If you would like to help us out, there are a couple of ways you can let us know:

• Send an email to lucy@jenadyco.com and we will fill out the applicaiton forms for you.
• Give the office a call (03 9815 0175) and have a chat with either Lucy or Jenny.
• Click here to download and fill in the application form yourself and then send it back to us via fax (1800 038 838) or email (lucy@jenadyco.com)