Why Cleanliness Matters in Pubs and Clubs

Customers often judge a business by its cleanliness, such as the state of its restrooms. A clean, well-maintained venue fosters a positive experience, encourages repeat business, and protects your reputation. More importantly, regular and thorough cleaning helps ensure compliance with health and safety regulations, reducing the risk of illness, injury, and potential insurance claims.

Professional cleaning staff bring essential skills and equipment to the job. When paired with technology like UniGuardX, their efficiency and accountability reach a new level.

Know Where Your Staff Are: Smarter Tracking, Better Workflows

One of the core features of UniGuardX is its real-time staff tracking system. By placing checkpoints around your venue, cleaners use either a recorder or mobile app to scan in as they complete their tasks. This time- and location-stamped data gives managers a clear picture of where staff are, what tasks have been completed, and how efficiently work is progressing.

This transparency not only ensures duties are completed on time but also allows supervisors to streamline workflows, quickly resolve issues, and reallocate resources where they’re needed most. The result? A cleaner venue, fewer missed tasks, and improved staff performance.

Say Goodbye to Paperwork: Embrace Digital Smart Forms

While many businesses still rely on traditional paperwork, it’s often inefficient and difficult to manage. Physical records can be misplaced, hard to retrieve, and prone to errors. UniGuardX’s digital smart forms offer a modern alternative.

These forms allow cleaners to submit real-time information from the site, including:

• Customised checklists
• Comments and observations
• Photos for visual evidence
• Digital signatures
• Timestamps and geolocations

The benefits are enormous. Smart forms reduce manual data entry errors, ensure legally binding documentation, and enable rich data capture. They also automate reporting, triggering notifications and follow-ups while onsite. Fully customisable, these forms adapt to your specific workflows and team structures.

Better Staff Management Through Data and Automation

Staff-related issues can hinder productivity and increase operational risks. UniGuardX addresses this by improving attendance tracking, performance monitoring, and accountability.

Every interaction with a checkpoint logs valuable data like when and where a task was performed, by whom, and how long it took. This data not only improves real-time decision-making but also builds a reliable history of performance that managers can use to:

• Track KPIs
• Analyse trends
• Allocate resources effectively
• Respond faster to onsite issues via alerts and notifications

Scheduled reports can be automatically generated and shared with managers and clients, providing full visibility without extra administrative burden.

The Bottom Line

In the high-paced environment of pubs and clubs, keeping your venue clean and compliant is non-negotiable. UniGuardX is more than just a tracking tool, it’s a complete staff management and compliance solution that modernises how cleaning businesses operate. With real-time visibility, digital documentation, and performance analytics, your cleaning team can deliver higher standards, reduce risk, and support your business growth.

Ready to elevate your cleaning operations? UniGuardX makes it easy to build a better business through better performance. Contact our sales team today.

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The Indestructible Robust

Many guards didn’t like the Robust iButton wand, as it finally gave managers a way of seeing whether they were doing their rounds properly. Over the years guards have tried all sorts of things to damage the wands, including:

• Repeatedly bashing the wands as they do their rounds
• Dropping the wands off tall buildings
• Crushing and squeezing them
• Driving over the wands
• Throwing them into the sea. 
• Cooking and microwaving them
• Hooking them up to a car battery
• And a few things we’d prefer not to mention!

During all this, the recorders survived to live another day; they just kept going and going! Which is why some are still in use today. Watch for yourself:

The Evolution of UniGuard

Since this time, the UniGuard software and hardware offering has evolved over the years as technology has improved and customer needs developed.

The original software that worked with the Robust iButton Wand was designed as a stand-alone system, with a server-based system coming later. The system works by guards physically touching the Robust wands to an iButton checkpoint. The time and checkpoint number is recorded. At the end of a shift the information is manually downloaded onto the computer where the data can be viewed.

Over time it was recognised that connectivity would help streamline business operations and enable growth. With improving technology, our first web-based platform, UniGuard 12 was created in 2011. UniGuard 12 was designed to work with our Real-Time Recorders that use mobile phone cell-tower connectivity to deliver tracking information in real-time to a central computer. An added benefit was that Real-Time Recorders can work with RFID checkpoints, which don’t need physical contact with the recorder to work.

Smartphone Apps, Bluetooth and NFC

The emergence of smartphones has widened the opportunities for what could be achieved with our attendance verification systems. From this we have developed the UniGuardX app and Dashboard.
The UniGuardX smartphone app works in a similar way to real-time recorders but using NFC checkpoints and Bluetooth beacons instead of RFID. Like Real-Time Recorders, apps do not require the phone to physically touch the checkpoint, and send the data in real-time across the phone networks.

Why Use Phone Apps Over iButton Recorders?

The main reason is the technological improvements; smartphone apps can do so much more than the Robust iButtton Wands. The benefits of using an app include:

• A clean fresh design that works on the latest operating system and multiple devices such as tablets in the field, with updated data security features.
• The software is continually being improved with feature updates that align with the current trends within the industry.
• Data is collected, sent to the dashboard, viewed, analysed and reported on in real-time, allowing for timely responses and better resource management.
• Integrated workflows using in-app forms, which can be set up to collect additional data to time and location, such as text, photos and signatures. Great potential uses include task checklists and incident forms.
• Digital form data is easier to store, retrieve and analyse than paper forms. Idea for both legal and business performance uses.
• Customisable and flexible to fit your business requirements and those of your clients.
• Doesn’t require specialist hardware, and is easy to set up and start using.
• Can be used on any phone so a new staff member can download the app on the way to a job, negating the need to go to the office first to collect the Robust wand.
• For staff safety and compliance, UniGuardX apps offer man-down alerts in real time. When pressed, an alert pops up on the dashboard map, and can also be sent as a text or email.

The industry has gone a long way in the past 25 years, and UniGuard has been there for every step of the journey. Something we will continue into the future.

Want to know more about how UniGuardX can improve your business outcomes? Contact our sales team today.

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The statistics can be viewed in our Slips, Trips, and Falls infographic.

When personal injury claims are also considered, preventing accidents is good for business as well. In fact, many businesses that are open to the public are now expected to not just take preventative measures, but also collect an irrefutable record of the measures if they want to be able to access Public Liability Insurance.

The UniGuardX staff tracking software creates an electronic record of staff activities, such as showing 20-minute cleaning rotation compliance. As well, the unique tracking form builder can replace paper forms, creating a permanent record of all tasks, incidents and audits that is unalterable and easily accessible.

Want to learn more about how UniGuardX can prevent injuries and reduce the risk of costly insurance claims, contact our sales team today.

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Various factors such as COVID-19 have resulted in an economic downturn, particularly in the retail, hospitality and travel sectors. Business that service these sectors are also being challenged by the changes that have resulted from the downturn.

With this in mind, many business owners and operators are looking for any way possible, not just to make money, but to also save money.

A major cost for many businesses is Public Liability Insurance, with insurance costs rising dramatically in recent years. In fact, insurance companies are now refusing to insure some operators they consider too risky, such as companies that clean shopping centres. Unfortunately, Public Liability Insurance is a necessity for businesses that have interactions with members of the general public.

The reason for the escalating insurance cost is the number of successful claims for injuries due to negligence that have been made against many companies. Some of these payouts have been for significant sums of money. This is an increasing burden for insurance companies and too much for an uninsured company to wear by themselves.

The solution to this problem is detailed in our white paper “The Solution to Cheaper Public Liability Insurance for Cleaning and Building Services”. This paper details the causes for the rising costs and then goes through the steps that can be taken to help your business minimise risks and obtain access to better value Public Liability Insurance.

To get your copy of “The Solution to Cheaper Public Liability Insurance for Cleaning and Building Services” click here.

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Often the general public looks down on the idea of tracking people which they regard as always being a negative thing. But what if there are actual benefits for the people being tracked? Recently there has been a bit of debate over the Australian Government’s COVIDSafe tracing app, with many people saying it’s a terrible intrusion while other people are happy to download the app as they can see the potential public health benefits.

Could there possibly be other circumstances where the tracking of people may be considered desirable by the people being tracked?

Staff tracking software is widely used in some industries such as security and cleaning as a way of providing undisputable proof of service. There are many other benefits for using this software, particularly if the system allows for some level of flexibility and scope.

Electronic or digital employee tracking systems work by recording every time a device (for example, a mobile phone with the employee tracking app installed), interacts with beacons that have been placed around the employee’s worksite. This information can then be uploaded to a central computer where a manager can monitor their workforce. But it can also provide benefits to the staff.

How can it give cleaners more piece of mind?

One of the biggest issues facing cleaners and cleaning companies are injuries that happen when a slip, trip and fall accident occurs in the area for which they are responsible. Knowing the potential for big payouts of public liability insurance, some people will lodge fraudulent claims in the hope of easy money. This comes at the expense of the cleaner diligently doing their job. Staff tracking software helps protect the cleaner, as the software allows them to prove in a court of law that they did do the cleaning as required.

What about the security industry then?

Recently, the Australian Security Industry Association (ASIAL) has stipulated in its Code of Practice for Mobile Security Patrols; that security operator use some form of Guard Tour Management System (GTMS), in other words a staff tracking system. This was so that security companies can provide digital proof of service for their mobile security patrols.

Additionally, security guards must, as part of their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), carry some sort of communication device such as a radio or phone. This is for added safety of the guards who might come under attack while investigating a disturbance. The UniGuard staff tracking software can be used with both Push To Talk (PTT) radios and mobile phones and incorporates request call-back features amongst other things. If a security guard is injured and unable to get help, the tracking software will tell the supervisor exactly where they are.

Can staff tracking systems be of benefit to other industries?

Yes, the Uniguard software can be adapted to other areas when the movement of staff needs to be tracked and managed, and this can be done in a way that benefits the whole workforce. More efficient allocation of staff means less stress. Being able to see when remote or mobile staff are missing encourages managers to check if they are safe and well. Having electronic boundaries on where staff can, and cannot go, warns managers when people might unintentionally stray into an area that is unsafe. There are many more potential benefits.

If you think the UniGuard software can help you, click here to see a demo of UniGuard in action.

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So how do you prevent accidents when you can’t rely on the public to do the right thing?

In Australia, the standard for cleaning rotations of publicly used spaces such as shopping centres is 15-20 minutes. This standard was set by the High Court of Australia during the Strong v Woolworths Limited case of 2012. The case is summarised below.

At around 12.30 pm on Friday the 24th of September 2004 Mrs Strong, along with her daughter and a friend, were walking into the Big W store within the Centro Taree Shopping Centre. Outside Big W, Woolworths had exclusive rights to conduct “sidewalk sales” in a roughly square area that extended 11 metres out into the food court area located between the Big W and Woolworths stores.

As Mr Strong was walking into through this area into Big W, she moved to the right to examine some pot plants on a display stand. The tip of her crutch landed on a chip, or the grease from the chip and slipped from under Mr Strong causing her to fall and badly injured her back.

A cleaning company had been contracted to clean the common area so that the “floors are to be free of any rubbish and or spillages”, at intervals of 15 minutes or less. This common area didn’t include the sidewalk sales area. Despite the contract stipulating a 15 minute cleaning rotation, the cleaners serviced this area every 20 minutes. Centro employed security guards to patrol the area and report spills to the cleaners, while Woolworths employed a “people greeter” who kept an eye out for incidents in the sidewalk sales area. On the day of the incident, the common area had not been cleaned for longer than 20 minutes and the sidewalk sales area hadn’t been cleaned at all.

Mr Strong went to court and after numerous appeals a decision was made by the High Court of Australia to award Mr Strong $580,299.12 as Woolworths had failed “to implement and/or maintain a proper cleaning system”. The cleaning contract didn’t require the floors inside the sidewalk sales area to be cleaned. As an outcome of the case it was also agreed that,

1. the avoidance of negligence did not require “the continuous presence of someone always on the lookout for potential slippery substances”,
2. and a system of inspection and cleaning at 15 to 20 minute intervals, would have sufficed to avoid negligence.

Many cleaning contracts now require cleaning rotations of less than 15 minutes, particularly in high use areas where spills are more common such as food courts. Although this case helped to define exactly what is, and is not acceptable, it doesn’t solve the problem of staff not following instructions such as the cleaners at Centro Taree who hadn’t cleaned the floor for more than the contracted time.

For this reason, it is now common for contracts to require indisputable proof that areas have been cleaned according to the cleaning rotation. In fact, law courts, and many insurance companies also expect this proof of service. The only way to provide indisputable proof of service is through an electronic staff tracking software system, and the most reliable on the market and most frequently chosen for this task is the UniGuard system. UniGuard specifically addresses this area with its rotation features, specifically designed for cleaning at monitored intervals.

If you want to learn more about how UniGuard can improve contract compliance, minimise Public Liability Insurance and the risk of accidents and Personal Injury Claims, then access our white paper “The Solution to Cheaper Public Liability Insurance for Cleaning and Building Services” here.

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In Australia in 2020 many businesses are finding themselves in an increasingly difficult environment in which to operate. The list of challenges is long, with some hurdles seemingly impossible to move beyond. In such a situation, the correct advice can make a big difference to whether a business stays viable or not.

For businesses that manage the cleanliness and maintenance of buildings such as shopping centres, hospitals, offices, airports, and any other publicly accessible location, a significant burden is Public Liability Insurance and associate Personal Injury Claims. Insurance costs for such business are rising dramatically every year, with some insurance companies now refusing to insure many businesses. Going without insurance is not an option due to the costs of many Personal Injury Claims, besides insurance is needed to secure contracts.

So, in an increasingly challenging business environment how do such companies protect themselves from these unwanted liabilities?

The best way is to avoid claims and keep insurance cost down is by ensuring that the buildings are cleaned and maintained in way that creates the safest environment that is reasonably possible. This can be achieved through having a comprehensive maintenance and cleaning program which includes training staff on the correct procedures to minimise risks. Unfortunately, this is not always enough, as managers also need to prove that premises have been cleaned and maintained to an appropriate standard. This is where rotation compliance comes in.

Australian courts have mandated that companies show proof that building spaces that are used by the public have been cleaned on an interval of 20 minutes. Some cleaning contracts now require a cleaning interval less than this. Rotation compliance or contract compliance is simply the act of keeping staff to these cleaning schedules and can be achieved using a staff tracking system to monitor and organise when and where cleaning takes place.

More information about how rotation compliance can improve your business outcomes can be found in our white paper “The Solution to Cheaper Public Liability Insurance for Cleaning and Building Services”, which can be accessed here.

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