Frequently Asked Questions

CanSweep sweeps over 200 sites regularly using large ride-on machines to keep the city clean and safe for pedestrians, employees, and communities as a whole. Sweeping reduces water pollution by preventing run-off from industrial site processes and brake exhaust dust from entering our water system.

Car park sweeping typically runs from 7 am to 9 am in residential areas, or is done over the weekend while shops are closed. Our crews sweep in a way that is considerate to surrounding neighbors, people, and other vehicles arriving - starting as far away from any houses and closest to the shop fronts so that any cars arriving early can park in a nice clean parking space. Car parks are swept overnight to reduce traffic impacts when not in residential areas. There will be no sweeping on Public Holidays.

Industrial site sweeping is best done out of hours - when your employees are not around to inhale the inevitable dust kicked up during the sweeping operation. Research has found that dust can be kicked up from the sweeping operation 10 minutes before the sweeper passes and for 10 minutes after. Fine dust - the most harmful of particulate matter, can remain resuspended for several hours. CanSweep is trusted to provide industrial cleaning services to hundreds of sites out of hours. All of our operators are comprehensively trained in dust hazard risk management and mitigation and are equipped with the required PPE for this high dust-exposure risk activity. We are entrusted with swipe cards, alarm codes, and keys to enable us to access sites overnight or on the weekend to perform the sweeping works when your team is not around.

Sweeping activities are suspended in case of rain. If your day is missed due to weather, the scheduled date will be postponed to a later date. Although some other sweeping contractors offer sweeping in “inclemental” weather - in our experience this does not result in a good job. The dust is rained into cracks and just emerges again when the surface dries. We encourage everyone to accept an email or text notification 24 hours before your site or car park is scheduled to be swept and are flexible at rescheduling sweeping works to ensure a good job is done.

We communicate with property owners and site managers to ensure the sweeping work is done at a time when there is as much floor space as possible available to be swept. We remove obstructions such as rubbish and larger debris prior to sweeping. If sweeping is scheduled on your industrial site, please broom any hard-to-reach or trapped dust and debris to the aisles and we will gladly and powerfully vacuum sweep this away for you. Preparing the area by removing any obstacles or blocks to the sweeping path is most helpful. Send us a picture of any big or bulk haul off that you want us to take away for you prior to our arrival and we will happily take care of that for you too.

Watch for updates on our website, or sign up to receive notifications when we are coming to your area for another job, and we will pass on the fuel cost savings to you. This way, we can both feel good for reducing the negative environmental load of additional fuel use. Sign up for sweeping email or text notifications when we are nearby.

We will work around any parked cars using air brooms to blow out trapped debris from around them where safe to. Our air brooms are electric, not petrol-powered, meaning they do not have nearly as much air or noise pollution as most others. The noise emitted is only 69dB(A). Compared to most other contractors, who use petrol-powered blowers to free trapped debris, emitting and subjecting the neighborhood to unnecessary noise, fuss, and fumes!

Back lanes and any other accessible hardstand area including all paths and shop fronts will be swept as well as the car park and yard. Our machines are driven at a safe speed of 5 km/hour and have flashing beacon lights making the sweeper and operator who is kitted out in high vis, unmissable. 

Using leaf blowers as a cleaning tool implies an average increase of 1.6 to 1.7 times in fine and coarse particulate matter respectively, compared with background levels. CanSweep’s operators are fully trained in the safe use and operation of blowers to gently shift trapped debris without creating a risk of dust clouds or dust explosions. 

In outdoor sweeps, operators use blowers to free trapped rubbish, debris, and leaves under cars, down drainpipes, in trolley bays, and around building corners and edges. This is then vacuum swept up with our powerful industrial sweeping machine. We have purposely invested in high-tech electric air brooms enabling us to get the job done without the noise and fumes.

Sweeping increases atmospheric particle concentration during the activity. The particulate matter remains suspended in the air for several minutes before and after the sweeper passes, fine particulate matter is more likely to remain suspended longer due to its smaller size and weight. The evolution of particulate matter concentrations has a “dust wave” effect - a cloud of dust particles that precedes and follows the sweeper itself. It is best that it is done by a trained operator and at a time when your employees are not around. When done properly, regularly, by a company that knows the ins and outs of proper dust risk management - sweeping greatly improves overall air quality by safely removing fugitive dust, preventing it from being kicked up during everyday operations.

We can – but this would only be an ‘indicative quote’ or estimate and would be subject to us actually eyeballing the site. 

A site visit is the best way to accurately quote for your cleaning needs and allows us the opportunity to recommend the best machine, chemicals, and schedule to meet your needs.