The Optus Glean promise: predictability
Three pillars. Three commitments. No exceptions.
Predictable cost. One fixed monthly fee, set against a defined scope and an annual indexed review. No variable hours. No surprise invoices. No padded callout charges. Budgeted once, paid by Direct Debit, reviewed once a year.
Predictable presence. The site is cleaned every day it is meant to be cleaned. A named primary cleaner is rostered to your contract, supported by a named relief who is already vetted, inducted, and trained on the same colour-coded system and IPC standard. The schedule does not depend on whether one person is available on one day.
Predictable freedom. A single point of accountability. One contract. One named manager. One number to call. Cleaning is no longer a problem the site has to manage — it is a service that runs.
Why cleaning in Ireland is structurally hard to get right
Most cleaning provision in Ireland — including in healthcare-adjacent settings — is delivered by a workforce that is structurally part-time and casual. A significant proportion of operatives across the sector also work as healthcare assistants in nursing homes, residential care, and acute hospitals. Cleaning shifts are typically taken when healthcare shifts are not available, and released when they are. This pattern is consistent with CSO labour data on accommodation, food, and administrative-support employment, and it is the underlying reason that buyers across Ireland encounter inconsistency from agencies they have contracted in good faith.
The pattern is reinforced by two background pressures specific to Ireland. Housing affordability limits the catchment for any role paying at or near the minimum wage. The Contract Cleaning Employment Regulation Order rate of €14.80 per hour for 2026, set under the Labour Court's sectoral employment framework, sits close enough to flexible care-sector pay that operatives drift toward whichever shift pays slightly more on the day. Both pressures pull cleaning staff away from contracted shifts and toward casual healthcare work.
The result, from the buyer's perspective, is the experience most practice managers, facilities leads, and procurement officers in Ireland describe: a clean that is half-completed when the contracted cleaner is available, missed entirely when they are not, and accompanied by recurring conversations with the agency about cover that may or may not arrive.
This is the structural problem Optus Glean is built to solve. Our operatives are fully PAYE-employed with guaranteed weekly hours, paid leave, and pension contributions under Irish auto-enrolment. They are paid above the ERO floor deliberately — because the structural reliability of the service depends on the cleaner choosing to remain in the role rather than rotating through casual healthcare shifts. A named primary cleaner is assigned to your site, supported by a named relief, both Garda-vetted and trained to Optus Glean's documented HIQA-aligned IPC standard.
Why Food Processing Plants Need Specialist Cleaning
Food processing in Ireland is a €30+ billion industry, and it operates under some of the most rigorous hygiene and food safety regulations in the world. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has the power to close a food production facility immediately if it poses a risk to public health. A failed BRC audit can cost a processor their supermarket contracts overnight. A product recall due to allergen contamination can destroy a brand. In this environment, cleaning is not a housekeeping function — it is a critical food safety control point.
Food processing plant cleaning is fundamentally different from any other type of commercial cleaning. It requires knowledge of food safety legislation (EC 852/2004, EC 853/2004), HACCP principles, allergen management protocols, microbiological standards, chemical compatibility with food contact surfaces, and the specific hygiene requirements of different food types (dairy, meat, fish, bakery, ready meals, fresh produce). Standard commercial cleaning companies lack this expertise.
Optus Glean provides dedicated food processing cleaning teams trained in FSAI requirements, HACCP compliance, allergen management, and BRC audit standards. We work with food processors across Ireland — from artisan producers to large-scale manufacturing plants — delivering cleaning programmes that protect product safety, maintain regulatory compliance, and support audit readiness.
Production Line Cleaning
Production line cleaning is the daily operational cleaning that happens between production shifts, between product changeovers, and at the end of each production day. This cleaning is critical for maintaining hygiene standards, preventing microbial growth, and eliminating allergen cross-contamination between different product runs.
- Equipment exterior cleaning: conveyors, hoppers, fillers, sealers, labellers — all external surfaces degreased and sanitised
- Floor cleaning: production floor degreased, scrubbed, and sanitised using food-safe chemicals and scrubber-dryer machines
- Wall cleaning: tiled or clad walls cleaned from production height to floor
- Drainage: floor drains, channels, and gulleys cleaned, flushed, and sanitised
- Waste management: production waste removed, bins cleaned, waste area sanitised
- Allergen changeover: validated cleaning between allergen-different production runs with swab verification
- Documentation: all cleaning activities logged with time, operative, chemicals used, and verification results
Shutdown and Deep Cleaning
Shutdown cleaning is the comprehensive deep clean carried out during planned production shutdowns — typically at Christmas, Easter, summer maintenance periods, or between seasonal production runs. This is the most intensive cleaning a food processing plant receives, and it addresses areas that daily cleaning cannot reach.
Our shutdown cleaning programme is planned months in advance and executed by large teams to meet tight deadlines. The scope includes complete ceiling-to-floor cleaning of all production areas, dismantling and deep cleaning of accessible equipment components, high-level cleaning of ceilings, beams, ductwork, and light fittings, drainage system deep cleaning and descaling, cold storage defrosting and decontamination, industrial cleaning of plant rooms and utility areas, staff facility deep cleaning including changing rooms, canteen, and offices, and external loading dock and yard cleaning. Every shutdown clean is documented with before-and-after photographs, ATP swab results, and a completion certificate for your HACCP and BRC records.
Allergen Management and Cross-Contamination Prevention
Under EU Regulation 1169/2011, food processors must manage the 14 declarable allergens (gluten, dairy, nuts, soy, eggs, fish, shellfish, celery, mustard, sesame, lupin, molluscs, sulphites, and peanuts) and prevent cross-contamination between products with different allergen profiles. Cleaning is the primary control point for allergen management in most processing plants.
Optus Glean's allergen cleaning protocol includes colour-coded equipment dedicated to each allergen zone, validated cleaning methods tested through allergen-specific and ATP swab testing, documented changeover cleaning procedures, staff training in allergen identification and management, and segregated chemical and equipment storage. We work with your quality assurance team to design allergen cleaning validation programmes that satisfy both FSAI and BRC requirements.
Food Processing Cleaning Pricing
Food processing cleaning pricing depends on the size of the facility, the number of production lines, the type of food processed, and the regulatory standards required. Below are indicative 2026 pricing ranges for Ireland.
| Service | Price Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Small food production unit | €1,500 – €2,500/month | Single line, nightly production clean |
| Mid-sized processing plant | €2,500 – €4,000/month | Multiple lines + cold storage + staff areas |
| Large multi-line facility | €4,000 – €5,000+/month | Full service, multiple shifts |
| Shutdown deep clean | €3,000 – €15,000+ | Full plant, planned shutdown period |
| Allergen changeover clean | €200 – €600 | Per changeover, with swab verification |
| Cold storage deep clean | €500 – €2,000 | Full decontamination, defrost clean |
Note: Prices exclusive of VAT. All pricing includes HACCP-compliant documentation, food-safe chemicals, and trained operatives. Pricing is based on individual site survey and risk assessment.
Staff Facilities and Hygiene Zones
Food processing staff facilities — changing rooms, canteens, hand wash stations, and hygiene airlocks — are critical control points in any food safety system. Poor hygiene in staff areas directly impacts production hygiene. Our staff facility cleaning covers changing room floor, locker, and bench cleaning; washroom and shower cleaning; hand wash station sanitisation and consumable replenishment; canteen cleaning including food preparation areas; hygiene airlock cleaning including boot wash stations and coat storage; and PPE storage areas. These areas are cleaned daily as part of the production cleaning programme.
Serving Food Processors Across Ireland
Optus Glean provides food processing plant cleaning in every county in Ireland. We work with dairy processors, meat plants, fish processors, bakeries, ready meal manufacturers, fresh produce packers, beverage producers, and artisan food producers. Whether you are a small artisan cheese maker in Cork, a meat processing plant in Monaghan, a seafood processor in Galway, or a large-scale dairy facility in Limerick, we have the food safety expertise, the trained teams, and the audit-ready documentation systems to support your production hygiene requirements.
Frequently asked questions
How much does transport and logistics cleaning cost in Ireland in 2026?
An airport, station, or depot is priced as a fixed monthly fee tied to scope: 24/7 high-throughput cleaning, regulated-zone cover where applicable (airside, security-cleared areas), washrooms, public concourse, staff areas, and out-of-hours deep cleans. The Contract Cleaning ERO 2026 sets a €14.80/hour labour floor across the sector, but reputable providers quote the contract — multi-year term, annual indexed review, single monthly Direct Debit — not the hour.
What standards apply to transport-sector cleaning in Ireland?
The HSA's Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 sets the workplace baseline. The IAA regulates Irish airports, with EASA airport facility standards applying inside regulated zones. The Department of Transport sets broader policy. The cleaning programme must produce a documented audit trail — SDS, signed task logs, training register, security clearance records — that supports the operator's regulatory file.
Who can clean an airside zone in Ireland?
Only operatives with current airside security clearance — vetted and ID-pass-holding — can work airside. Clearance is granted by the airport operator under IAA-regulated procedures, with background checks that take weeks to complete. A reputable cleaning provider holds a stable, PAYE-employed pool of cleared operatives so airside cover does not collapse when one person leaves. Casual or agency staffing breaks under this model the first time a clearance lapses.
How is 24/7 cleaning actually delivered at a transport hub?
A 24/7 transport contract typically runs three shifts of named PAYE-employed cleaners with documented handovers, a named site lead per shift, and a reserve relief crew on call. Public concourse, washrooms, and high-throughput areas are cleaned continuously; deep-clean cycles run during the lowest-throughput window. The handover log and shift records are part of the audit trail, not optional.
What's the difference between PAYE and casual cleaning contracts in transport?
A PAYE-employed cleaner is on payroll with the company that signs the contract, paid above the Contract Cleaning ERO €14.80/hour floor, with guaranteed hours, paid leave, and PRSI/pension. A casual or self-employed operative is none of those things. In a regulated environment with security clearance and 24/7 cover, PAYE staffing is the only model that holds the clearance pool, the shift rota, and the named-cleaner continuity together.
How do I evaluate a cleaning provider for a transport site?
Three checks. One: are the operatives PAYE-employed by the company that signs the contract, with security clearance held in their own name? Two: how does the provider hold the clearance pool — what is the redundancy depth across the 24/7 shift pattern? Three: can the provider produce method statements, SDS, and shift handover logs that satisfy IAA and HSA audit standards on day one?
What should be in a cleaning contract for a transport hub?
24/7 shift coverage with named site lead per shift, regulated-zone clearance commitments, public concourse and washroom programme, deep-clean rotation, the chemical regime with SDS, PAYE-employed staff confirmation, fixed monthly fee, annual indexed review, transparent KPI reporting tied to throughput, and a clean exit clause. No per-hour pricing.
How often should a transport hub be deep-cleaned?
A transport hub runs continuous high-throughput visible cleaning, daily out-of-hours resets in the lowest-throughput window, weekly periodic tasks (high-level dusting, glass, signage), and quarterly or six-monthly deep cleans of floors, soft furnishings, and ducting. In Ireland, larger hubs typically schedule deep-clean rotations across phased zones so service continues without disruption.
How Optus Glean handles staff shortages
Every Optus Glean contract is staffed on a redundancy model rather than a single-person model. A named primary cleaner is assigned to the site at contract start. A named relief is assigned alongside them. Both are PAYE-employed by Optus Glean, both are Garda-vetted, both are inducted on the site's specific layout, access protocols, and colour-coded equipment system, and both are trained to the same documented HIQA-aligned IPC standard. Substitution is built into the contract from the first day, not arranged on the day cover is needed.
Sick day cover. When the primary cleaner is unable to work, the named relief is deployed. The site site contact is notified by 06:30 on the morning of the absence by SMS or email, with the name of the relief who is attending. The relief follows the same task list, uses the same equipment, and finishes within the same window. The standard of clean is unchanged because the relief was prepared for this scenario before the absence happened.
Annual leave cover. Annual leave is rostered weeks in advance and the relief is scheduled to cover the full leave period. The site is informed at the start of the leave period — not on the morning leave begins. This is the same model used in clinical rota management: known absences are pre-staffed, not improvised.
Long-term cover. If the primary cleaner is absent for more than two weeks (extended illness, parental leave, bereavement leave), cover is drawn from the wider trained bench rather than relying on the single named relief. The site is kept informed of the cover plan, the named individuals involved, and the expected duration. Continuity of standard is maintained because every operative on the bench is trained to the same documented standard.
Permanent reassignment. If the primary cleaner moves to a new permanent role within Optus Glean — promotion, relocation, retirement — the relief is promoted to primary on a planned timetable, a new relief is trained on the site, and both are introduced to the site before the handover takes effect. There is no day on which the site discovers, after the fact, that their cleaner has changed.
Substitution is Optus Glean's operational problem, not the site's risk to absorb. The buyer pays a fixed monthly fee for a defined scope to be delivered, every day it is meant to be delivered. The mechanism by which we deliver it — primary, relief, bench, retraining — is our cost to manage and our risk to carry.
Last reviewed: 2026-05-06
