Jani-King International, Inc., the world’s largest commercial cleaning franchisor, has announced it will begin training its franchisees and employees to provide an additional level of security to the more than 50,000 buildings that Jani-King cleans. Some 10,000 franchisees will be trained to assess potential building and workplace security threats and report them to authorities.
Jani-King believes that an aggressive and proactive approach to terrorism prevention is critical and of benefit to everyone. “The key word here is prevention,” says Jani-King President Jerry Crawford. “We want to create a security force multiplier to help reduce the risk of terror threats.”
“Jani-King is one of the only businesses where banking institutions, major corporations, educational facilities, nuclear power plants and utilities literally hand over the keys to their buildings and provide access to secure areas,” says Crawford. “We feel an obligation to put into action additional measures to help keep these buildings safe.”
Crawford explained that Jani-King’s new training program would specifically educate employees and franchisees on three key areas that are important to terror prevention: awareness, identification and reporting. “The training will consist of awareness of potential security threats, recognition skills, and proper reporting channels,” says Crawford. “Franchise owners will not be trained to confront suspicious persons.”
Crawford gave an example. “Our crews clean the same buildings night after night. We see the normal activity. We want our employees to understand how to spot suspicious activity and then how to report it.” The security initiative will include input from Andy Bermudez, a former manager with the Department of Homeland Security and current Jani-King franchise owner in the Tampa Bay area. Bermudez has developed training programs for the U.S. Navy and local law enforcement in addition to his role as a security trainer with the Department of Homeland Security. “Implementing an awareness training initiative is a forward thinking plan that will benefit our customers, our employees and the general public,” say Bermudez.
