Going the extra mile – the custodial teams helping UBC transition back to campus

This is part four in a series recognizing faculty and staff who are supporting UBC’s transition back to campus. In this update, we showcase the efforts of our colleagues behind UBC’s custodial teams.

Samson Cheung has seen a lot during his 40 years at UBC, but even with the many changes that have happened at the university – nothing quite prepared him for the last year.

As a Head Service Worker within UBC Facilities’ Building Operations, Samson and his Custodial Services team are responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of 15 buildings on the Vancouver campus, including the War Memorial Gym. This includes unlocking the buildings, ensuring they are ready for use and making sure they are kept clean throughout the day.

Samson’s team is just one part of a larger group of staff who take care of more than 200 UBC buildings on the Vancouver campus, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Many people don’t realize we are a 24 hour a day operation,” says Conor Cregg-Guinan, Day Shift Assistant Supervisor. “We look after a variety of spaces such as clinical settings, labs and administrative offices. Some spaces cannot be cleaned during the day so we do a lot of detailed cleaning at night.”

With so many students, faculty and staff being remote, the pandemic initially provided an opportunity for Custodial Services to tackle some of the more complex cleaning areas. Conor explains: “At the start of the pandemic campus was completely deserted. As time has gone on, we have seen more activity and we feel we are prepared for that final transition to a full campus.”

This sentiment is shared by Jamie Armer who is the manager of Custodial and Waste Services at UBC Okanagan. Although the majority of custodial services are managed through a contract company at UBC Okanagan, Jamie oversees a core team who were also impacted by the pandemic.

“The majority of our buildings on the Okanagan campus are multi-use,” explains Jamie. “So, if one person submitted a COVID-19 Safety Plan, it meant we had to treat the entire building as if it were open.”

Just as Samson and his team remained on the Vancouver campus, so did Jamie and his team at UBC Okanagan. “We’ve been on the ground every day since the pandemic began,” he adds. “We used it as an opportunity to be proactive, for example last summer we cleaned every single window on campus.”

Just as the Vancouver staff had to adjust to different ways of working, Jamie and his Okanagan team had to implement new protocols. He continues: “My team had to learn how to do their jobs while wearing non-medical masks, as well as maintaining physical distance. But they are a great team and managed to make it work.”