The Cleaning Documents a Childcare Centre Should Be Able to Produce on the Spot
Some visits are announced and some aren't: an authorised officer following up a complaint, an assessor on rating day, an environmental health officer from council, a parent who wants to know which product is used on the cots. In each case the question comes down to "show me". The centre that can open a folder in thirty seconds has a short conversation. The centre that has to email its cleaner and wait has a long one.
These are the documents worth having to hand, and how current each needs to be.
1. The scope of works
What it is: a room-by-room description of what the cleaner does, and how often.
Why it matters: it is the link between your hygiene policy and what actually happens at night. Regulation 168 requires policies on health, hygiene and infection control. If your policy says one thing and the cleaning scope says another, an assessor will notice.
Keep current by: updating it whenever you change a room's use, add a nappy-change area or take feedback from an assessment. A scope that is three years old and mentions rooms you no longer have tells its own story.
2. Safety data sheets for every product
What it is: the manufacturer's SDS for each chemical the cleaner brings onto the premises.
Why it matters: Victoria's OHS Regulations require safety data sheets for hazardous chemicals to be accessible at the workplace. More practically, if a child gets into a product, or an educator reacts to one, the first thing the poisons line or a doctor asks for is the product and its SDS.
Keep current by: checking that each SDS is less than five years old and matches the product actually on the trolley. Cleaners change brands without telling anyone more often than you would think.
3. Cleaner screening records
What it is: for each person who cleans your centre, their name and Working with Children Check number, the issuing state and the expiry date. If your policy requires one, their police check too.
Why it matters: your child safe policy depends on knowing who is in the building. See cleaners and child safety.
Keep current by: checking expiries, and checking the list when cleaners change. This is the record most likely to be out of date, because nobody tells the centre when a relief cleaner starts.
4. The labour hire licence
What it is: a dated screenshot of your provider's entry on the Victorian labour hire register, and any approved subcontractor's.
Why it matters: your centre is a host and must only use licensed providers. See your centre as a labour hire host.
Keep current by: checking once a year, and whenever the provider changes its entity name.
5. Insurance certificates
What it is: the provider's certificate of currency for public liability, and evidence of workers' compensation cover.
Keep current by: diarising the renewal date and asking for the new certificate a week before it.
6. The contract
What it is: the signed agreement, including any variations.
Why it matters: when there is a dispute about whether something is in scope, or what notice applies, this settles it. Our post on contract clauses covers what should be in it.
7. Evidence that the cleaning happened
What it is: a record of each clean, made at the time.
Why it matters: this is the one an assessor finds most persuasive and most centres find hardest to produce. A sign-off sheet filled in on Friday for the whole week is weak. An independent record, timestamped and located at your building, is strong. Supervisor inspection reports on top of that show the work was checked as well as done.
8. Requests and how they were fixed
What it is: a log of the problems you raised with the cleaner and what was done about them.
Why it matters: in assessment and rating, a centre that can show it noticed a problem, raised it and had it fixed is showing exactly the kind of continuous improvement the standard asks for.
Who should hold all this?
The duty is the centre's, but most of these documents are produced by the cleaner. In practice they end up scattered across email attachments, a folder in the office and the cleaning company's head office. Each of them goes out of date at its own pace.
The sensible arrangement is for your cleaning provider to keep them current and let you see them whenever you need to, without asking. Our client portal holds the scope of works, contract, safety data sheets and cleaner screening details for each centre we clean. Expired documents drop out automatically and our office is reminded before anything expires. The same portal shows attendance, supervisor inspections and the history of every request. We explain how it works in why your childcare cleaner should give you a client portal.
Whoever cleans your centre, ask them which of these eight they can give you today. If you want to see how we set a centre up, read about our medical and childcare cleaning or ask for a walkthrough.