Mar 25, 2020
The House hygiene matrix: A suggested model for the households to develop, implement and sustain a culture of house hygiene in the current safety period.
Stay home!
That’s the most commonly spelled/ listened/ visualised phrase this week across the globe as the entire world is in the journey of adopting a lock down to battle against the alarming situation.
At this juncture, it is becoming crucial for the households to ensure that they reap the best results of adopting “Social distancing”.
Adopting best practices within the home amidst performing the day to day operations will play a significant role in maintaining the hygiene amongst the house members. Having got inspired on ways and modes in which the Japanese firms have consistently adopted famous tools and techniques in TQM to manage quality I firmly believe the idea of integrating total quality management along with management of households. Such a model could add value to the readers for further reinforcement in their day to day life.
Objectives:
1. To make use of Total quality management technique 5’s in deriving a house hygiene culture amongst the households.
2. To use the model as reference material for developing check lists amongst households that can enhance hygienic amongst households.
5S: Conceptual understanding, Getting the basics right
Of all the tools in Total quality management 5’s has been widely adopted by firms as an effective tool for creating and maintaining an organized, safe, clean and efficient workplace. The following discussions could spark implementable practices amongst households for better crisis management. 5’s is a continuous improvement process that is supported by Visual controls so that any nonconformance can be easily deducted and sorted.
· Seiri / Sort: Separating of the essential from the nonessential items
· Seiton / Straighten: Organizing the essential things where everything has its place
· Seiso / Shine: Cleaning the area
· Seiketsu / Standardize: Establishing a system to maintain and make 5S a habit
· Shitsuke / Sustain: Establishing a safe and sanitary work environment (Safety)
The household matrix: 5+1 s Framework for ensuring a healthy household
In implementing the 5+ 1 framework for a healthy household it is crucial to classify the most important components / activities that we perform at our home on a day to day basis. The following list of classification is not limited, as you can always add or remove any further classification for preparing the checklist for your home.
The most common classifications comprise personal hygiene, food, kitchen, pet’s management, health and fitness, entertainment /living / work respectively.
Across the article various examples of the matrix across each one of the Household classification is depicted.
Sort: Seiri
Sorting essentials is one of the crucial steps in enhancing personal and household hygiene. A hygienic household is the one that has essentials sorted across all dimensions such as food, kitchen, pet’s management, health and fitness, entertainment /living / work respectively. In the current lock down phase, it is the responsibility of the households to ensure ample stocking is performed, without overstocking any of the essentials. A clear classification on the “Most essentials” from the “Non-essentials” for the operations of house will get a clarity on what to stock and what not to stock in coming days. Also, decisions related to purchase, storage, ease of access ,disposal, washing / sanitizing could be made in short span of time with this data. Further, this can also bring down the frequency of purchasing and interacting with the external environment.
A clear classification on the “Most essentials” from the “Non-essentials” for the operations of house will get a clarity on what to stock and what not to stock in coming days.
Tip: The members in the house can get into a brainstorming session there by identifying the essential (most used) and the non-essential things for the next 1 month across all household departments.
Straighten: Seiton
“A place for everything and everything is in its place” is very much essential for sustaining a healthy household in the safety period. The primary objective of this step is to reduce the time spent in accessing the essentials across household departments . An unnecessary movement / interactions of the individuals within in and out side the house environment might put the entire house members at risk. Labelling of products/ things is a crucial step as it will help the house members to access the things in short span of time.
Also, placing things / products that are considered as high frequency usage in nearby places will not only save time but also help in proper hygiene. In the current scenario, essentials such as sanitizers, soaps, tissues, towels, medicine, first aids are to be placed in ease of access. The least frequently used products such as blazers, party wears, gadgets, cosmetics can help in ease of housekeeping and cleaning process.
Tip:The members in the house can get into a discussion there by identifying most frequently used items there by educating peer house members on its location for ease of access at any given point of time.
Shine: Seiso
The cost of non-sanitized and infected products / things within the house will be too costly . Hence this stage carries hefty of importance and attention across the house members. The individuals at home must cultivate a habit of cleaning their hands and things that they come in contact at frequent intervals. For instance, after sneezing, coughing, using rest rooms it is very important to wash our hands and then interact with the doors / handles / mobile phones / peer members at home. The same applies for people who enter into the home after buying a grocery / visiting a public place. They must be offered a tub of water to wash their hands and legs with appropriate soap or detergent prior touching/ entering the primary gate / door of the home.
The individuals at home must cultivate a habit of cleaning their hands and things that they come in contact at frequent intervals.
Tip: The members in the house can get into a discussion there by deciding on the most common ways of sanitizing and washing hands. The peer house members must also be educated on the location of the tubs, water, common detergents so that it will promote proper hygiene.
Standardize: Seiketsu
Another crucial step is standardization, as implementing the 5’s approach within the home across house members calls for getting their commitment and interest in this challenging time. The members in the house share views and agree upon mutual standards to be followed to ensure hygiene at house. Techniques such as observation, visual cues, frequent reminders, checklists for housekeeping will help standardizing the hygiene culture during this safety period.
Techniques such as observation, visual cues, frequent reminders, checklists for housekeeping will help standardizing the hygiene culture at home.
Tip: Use of check lists, documentation or excel can really bring about a lot difference in ensuring that each one of the areas are sanitized and clean.
Sustain: Shitsuke
Of all the steps, the act of sustainability is the most challenging one. A well-defined process that has yielded good house hygiene in this turbulent time can lose its power if even one member of the house fails to adhere to the defined standards. The goal of the fifth step is to bring about a permanent house hygiene culture at least for the next few months. The individuals within the home must understand that this 5S exercise for house hygiene is not single day or week process rather a culture that we need to develop and sustain to ensure that no foreign body enters our sweet home.
Tip: Any nonconformance to internal house hygiene be detected and corrected immediately through positive criticism and feedbacks to peer house members emphasizing the importance of maintaining safe and healthy house hygiene.
Safety:
Apart from the 5 steps, safety is being added as an additional step as the prime objective of adopting this house hygiene matrix is to ensure the safety of each one of our beloved members. “Safety First” is the moto behind which we could implement the 6’s at our home for the coming months to save ourselves from the alarming situation.
Sample Matrix / Checklists:
- The example checklist matrix are developed based on the “SEQUENCE-ATTRIBUTE MODIFICATION MATRIX” J.D.Brooks by means of incorporating dimensions from the 5S+1 matrix.
- The checklist are purely fictious and are developed based on assumptions to give reader an idea of the ways in which they can ensure a healthy household in this safety period. The writer does not take responsibility on the use / implementation of the tool and it outcomes as its only listed as a reference material.
