Year in Review: The Most-Read Articles of 2018

Year in Review: The Most-Read Articles of 2018

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As the year comes to a close, we take a look at some of the most popular stories on www.cleaner.com. If you missed any of these, now is your chance to catch up. Enjoy this look back at 2018.

10. Mardi Gras Wreaks Havoc on New Orleans Storm Drains
Prior to this year’s Mardi Gras celebration, the city of New Orleans spent several months on an expansive storm drain cleaning effort to reduce flooding risks. Among the 7.2 million pounds of debris collected were 93,000 pounds of Mardi Gras beads.

9. The Many Ways to Pinpoint Water Leaks
From leak detection and locating to correlating and logging, this story provided a breakdown of tools that can help contractors serve their utility customers’ water loss management efforts.

8. 3 Ways to Satisfy a Disgruntled Caller and Get Off the Phone
Telephone customer service is one of those soft skills that this industry requires. This story covered methods for dealing with challenging callers.

7. 10 Ways to Build a Better Workplace
Company culture is key. It can be the difference between retaining a good employee or constantly having to post a job ad. Ten tips for improving culture are discussed in this story.

6. How to Avoid Getting Sick From Your Sewer Cleaning Job
Pathogens are naturally found in wastewater, and it’s important to keep that risk in mind so that your day-to-day work isn’t constantly making you sick. This story covered some best practices to stay healthy on the job.

5. Should You Go With New Tires or Retreads?
Your budget for new rubber and ability to deal with occasional blowouts may be determining factors in how you approach the question posed by this article. It looked at the various factors you must keep in mind to keep your fleet fitted with good tires.

4. Company Thrives With Hydrodemolition Niche
Throughout the year, we checked in with companies that had been featured in Cleaner in the past to get an update. This story that caught up with Premium Hydro Solutions of Alpena, Michigan — last featured in the magazine in 2010 — drew the most attention from readers. 

3. 10 Common Responses You Should Never Utter to Employees
Don’t take the art of communication lightly. That’s the lesson to learn from this article. We all have certain words and phrases that we overuse, but if you want to communicate effectively with employees — and be taken seriously — it’s best to avoid certain ones.

2. OSHA Fines Florida Contractor For Third Time Since 2017
In this industry, safety can never be emphasized enough. That’s underscored by the fact that the second story on this list looked at a contractor that had been chronically neglectful of proper safety practices, which produced some fatal consequences.

1. Contractor Lists Her Must-Have Tools
Every contractor has favorite go-to tools, and there must be curiosity about what others have in their toolbox since this article is in the No. 1 spot for 2018. It looked at Linda Hudek, whose company was profiled in the July issue, and her favorite tools that she relies on to work efficiently and provide good service to customers.



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