Flick of switch cuts down wild bird fatalities, improves security

By Joy Gregory - Business Edge
Published: 07/06/2006 - Vol. 2, No. 14

What does the daytime cleaning of urban office towers have to do with environmental conservation?
Lots, if you're concerned about the consumption of electricity and the continent's dwindling wild bird population.
Michael Mesure knows you can't solve environmental problems with the flick of a switch. But he also knows that simple action, when applied to multiple floors of office towers, cuts energy consumption and saves the lives of countless wild songbirds and other avian species whose fatal attraction to the bright night lights of urban centres across the continent makes collisions with buildings one part, if not the leading cause, of bird decline in North America.
Mesure is the executive director of Toronto's Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP), a kind of street-level ministry that sees volunteers work day and night shifts taking injured birds to rehab centres away from where they've fallen into the urban core.
A switch to daytime janitorial service by workers such as Rosario Mayuga has Daylight Cleaning Systems president Randy Burke, left, and Oxford Properties GM Guy Priddle smiling.
His job puts him squarely on the side of a company that helps commercial building owners and managers, including several in Toronto and Ottawa, transition from nighttime to daytime cleaning operations.
The change is being driven by corporate demand for reduced energy consumption and increased security, says Kevin Smylie, a senior consultant with Daylight Cleaning Systems Inc. (DCS) in Toronto. Still, he likes knowing there's a wildlife angle to helping companies wean themselves from night-time cleaning.
"And it's not just a few birds," says Smylie, citing FLAP statistics that show bird collisions with buildings account for between one hundred million and one billion bird deaths across North America each year.
Many of the fatal collisions occur during the day, after the birds have been attracted to the urban landscape at night. "Unbeknownst to them, the very tree that they're flying into next is a reflection of the tree they just left and they end up hitting a window," explains Mesure.
Randy Burke, president of DCS, launched his company in 1998. Since then, he and consultants across Canada have helped convert more than 20 buildings - covering 12 million sq. ft. of office space - to daytime cleaning hours.
"We've gone market to market and we're now getting them in Vancouver, Ottawa, (the Greater Toronto Area) and Calgary," says Burke, whose own experience as a contract cleaner inspired the decision to focus his firm on daytime cleaning.
Current interest is spiked by rising concerns over environmental stewardship and the need to cut energy consumption, particularly in Ontario, where there's frequent talk of power outages this summer, notes Smylie.
Burke says the change can cut electricity costs by up to eight per cent a year. It also eases security concerns regarding theft and corporate espionage, since tenants get to know the cleaners assigned to their office space.
Tenants tend to have two concerns about janitorial services, says Guy Priddle, general manager of Oxford Properties Group in Calgary.
First, they don't see the cleaning being done, so they question its regularity and thoroughness. The second concern is about nighttime security "and by going to day cleaning (in the Ernst & Young Tower and Shell Centre, two Oxford properties located in Calgary), we took care of both those concerns."
So what keeps more building owners and managers from making the switch? A corporate culture that assumes a janitorial industry valued at $8 billion across Canada doesn't need to change.
Which is precisely why Burke says DCS exists.
Both Priddle and Mesure agree Burke's company plays a critical role in making the transition to daytime cleaning successful.
"When you do convert a building from night cleaning to day cleaning, you need to do a lot of lead work with the tenants and you need to make sure that you're getting to all the right tenants and all the right people within each tenant's company," says Priddle, whose company is looking at converting another 800,000-sq.-ft. building in downtown Calgary.
Early concerns about having to work around the cleaners prove unfounded once the system is in place. In reality, tenants get to know their cleaners, resulting in a "much more personalized cleaning service," says Priddle.
That's what Fred Edwards likes to hear. The owner and acting president of Servpro Cleaning (Calgary) Inc., a commercial and residential cleaning firm that includes one of Calgary's largest janitorial services divisions, his company employs about 600 cleaners, more than 150 of whom work full-time day jobs.
Edwards started advocating for day-cleaning contracts soon after buying the company about three years ago. As most night cleaning occurs from 5 to 10 p.m. and is typically done by people who have other jobs, the move means he now competes for a different labour pool - and pays up to 15 per cent more for those employees.
But the change is worth it. Like Burke and Smylie, Edwards has done contract cleaning himself, and knows employees often work while their families are at home.
Although the transition takes some time, tenants like the energy savings, report fewer security issues and appreciate what they soon perceive as "extra service," a fact that leads to previously unknown cleaners now getting bonuses from tenant firms, says Edwards.
Some cleaners have even moved into other positions with the tenants, including one hired to assist with translation.
With the pool for part-time cleaners who want to work at night drying up in the summer heat of a national labour shortage, the move to daytime hours also affords a competitive edge, says Smylie.
Innovation is key, adds Edwards. With some jobs, such as thorough vacuuming, still needing to be done on Saturdays, he's got his eye on a labour pool that only wants part-time hours, including high school and post-secondary students.
For Oxford, the transition to day cleaning "ended up being more or less of a wash for us financially. It's costing us more for janitorial but it's costing us less for energy," says Priddle.
Still, he admits he's a fan of the new approach.
"If we build another building and I'm involved in it ... I will be recommending that we go day cleaning right from up front."
And when it comes to energy efficiency, that's not just for the birds.

(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)