About:
SSP is a global travel food expert, designing, creating and operating restaurants, bars, cafés, lounges and convenience retail outlets in locations where people are ‘on the move’. In the UK, SSP is responsible for hundreds of catering facilities at airports across the nation, including Gatwick, Heathrow, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Working together:
Swiftclean has worked with SSP since 1992, over which time our relationship has evolved. While we initially focussed on SSP’s railway portfolio, today we are responsible for the kitchen extract cleaning and safety of all catering sites across the 20 airports, some of which require cleaning twice a week.

SSP is such an important customer that the relationship has influenced the way Swiftclean’s business has developed – ensuring all on site engineers meet the highest security standards, for example. Airports are highly sensitive environments and workers attending these sites must meet stringent security checks. All Swiftclean field engineers are put through a security clearance process, which includes passing an enhanced DBS Screening and any site-specific security requirements to gain an Airside Pass.

With the same team returning to the same sites, week in, week out, personal relationships have been forged which helps with communication as well as a thorough understanding of the specific challenges and requirements of each location.

Thanks to our expert knowledge of TR19® Grease, the BESA specification that is co-authored by Swiftclean’s MD, Gary Nicholls, we now take a much more active role in SSP’s compliance objectives, managing SSP’s compliance team.

An industry-wide specification, TR19® Grease focuses on controlling fire risk from grease build-up. Each time a kitchen extract clean is carried out Swiftclean contractors register on the Vent Hygiene Register (VHR) portal, which details where and when the clean completed and if the system was fully or partially cleaned. Cleaning frequencies are regularly reviewed to ensure that grease can be controlled at safe levels, not exceeding a mean average of 200 microns between scheduled cleans.

A fire in an airport setting has potentially catastrophic consequences, and SSP and Swiftclean have worked together over the years to ensure this risk is kept to an absolute minimum through the following measures:

• Robust documentation and reporting, with clear KPIs
• Monthly auditing of a certain % of SSP sites
• Online portal for each SSP site where non-conformities are flagged, some of which can be directly addressed by SSP. The portal also details job scheduling, including who will be attending a site and when.
• Frequent visits to high-risk sites (fast food establishments, for example, that produce larger volumes of grease)
• Use of the TR19 Grease compliant reports, which include a ‘predictive accumulation assessment table’ to track micron levels, ensuring cleaning takes place when needed, rather than reactively or to rigid schedules, facilitating a proactive, predictive approach to maintenance to ensure issues are prevented where possible.
• Feedback process, to ensure customer satisfaction
• Ensuring all ductwork is accessible for cleaning, 100% of the time – when Swiftclean first took on the account this wasn’t the case.
• Improved service and safety – Swiftclean has developed techniques specifically to combat access issues, including brushing equipment, extendable poles and magnetic scrapers that also reduce man entry, therefore reducing risk for its maintenance teams without compromising cleaning outcomes.

Client satisfaction:
Tobias Evans, SSP Maintenance Manager UK Airports
“The Swiftclean team are extremely professional and good at their job. I personally have a great relationship with Chloe Nicholls (Director of Operations), who I can ring anytime, quickly sorting any issues should they arise.
“The crucial point here is that issues rarely do arise; in fact, the Swiftclean onsite teams go largely under the radar, doing a great job at keeping our airport portfolio safe and compliant.
“Our clients like them too and their service delivery operatives have excellent relationships with the staff on the ground, built thanks to the same faces going to the same locations so regularly. These guys know our sites inside and out. Airports can be tricky places to work, but we never get any complaints about Swiftclean.
“One of the standout things that Swiftclean offers is the reporting, it’s second to none. SSP gets audited by the airports all the time, but the resulting reports don’t compare to Swiftclean’s, which are far more detailed and clear. We send these reports straight onto our clients, who also find them really useful, comprehensive and understandable. Swiftclean’s approach has helped us to manage PPM costs throughout the year.
“The fact they are unrivalled experts in their field is also a big plus for us. They now take the lead on compliance; having the advice of the authors of TR19 is a huge bonus. We really value their guidance.”