Editor's Note
Standards Are Good For Cleaning Industry and Its Clients |
As building
service providers continue their quest for improved productivity
and quality, they are turning to new and revised standards for
management and environmental sustainability.
Some of the largest providers of services and products are
turning to organizations like ISSA, Green Seal, GreenGuard,
EcoLogo, CIRI and others for certifications and standard
operating procedures that will make them more effective and
attractive to customers looking to ensure the health and safety
of their building occupants and cleaners.
“Standards” is the new buzz word of the cleaning industry,
according to an article in this month’s issue, which suggests
that the green cleaning movement developed out of the need to
improve indoor air quality. While there are no government
regulations to measure IAQ, schools and other institutions are
adopting standards and certifications that demonstrate their
commitment to health and safety.
In September, the first edition of Green Seal’s Environmental
Standard for Cleaning Services was adopted, requiring cleaning
service providers looking for certification to develop and
maintain a set of written guidelines. Standard operating
procedures (SOPs) govern their cleaning procedures, chemical
handling and tracking requirements, equipment maintenance and
operation procedures, communication protocols and requirements,
training and inspection programs, and reporting and record
keeping procedures.
Shortly after, Greenguard announced the release of a new
certification for low chemical emissions for cleaning products.
The program measures chemical “off-gassing” of the products
during recommended use and application, and then compares the
measured emission levels against publicly available short-term
and long-term risk exposure levels.
While Green Seal’s existing certification programs for interior
furnishings and construction materials are rigorous and
scientifically based, they primarily focus on measuring chemical
and/or particle emissions from products and comparing their
levels to existing guidelines and standards.
“The new cleaning standard is the first that requires a review
of measured chemical emissions across a broader range of risk
based exposure levels and integrates them into a single
standard,” said Carl Smith, CEO of the Greenguard Environmental
Institute, based in Atlanta.
Greenguard is complementary with environmentally preferable
product certifications, such as Green Seal, said Daniel A.
Daggert, Ph.D, group leader, Global Products Safety for
JohnsonDiversey, whose Healthy High Performance Cleaning system
was the first to be certified by Greenguard for low chemical
emissions. “That’s because it goes beyond products and actually
looks at how the cleaning process affects indoor air quality.”
In January, the first consensus-based management standard for
the cleaning industry became available from the ISSA. The
Standard (CIMS) is a management framework designed to assist
building service contractors and in-house service providers
develop quality, customer-centered organizations. The standard
is based on universally-accepted principles that have proven to
be the hallmarks of well-managed, successful cleaning
operations.
Standards must be updated, too, and one of the first green
cleaning standards, Green Seal’s GS-37, an environmental
standard for institutional and industrial cleaning products is
now being reviewed and revised.
The revision is expected to take about a year and will include a
formal public review of the proposed revisions about half-way
through the process.
Since GS-37 was first developed in 2000, technology has improved
and new information has arisen about issues such as emissions,
endocrine disruptors and asthmagens. Since major entities such
as New York State have adopted GS-37 for schools, issues have
been raised about its adequacy in protecting the health of
sensitive and vulnerable populations such as school-age children
and custodial workers.
Green Seal President and CEO Arthur Weissman, Ph.D., said the
primary goal of revising GS-37, is to ensure that it continues
to represent an environmental leadership standard in the
marketplace and to incorporate criteria that fully protect human
health, including that of children and custodial workers.
We’ll have more on green cleaning and how service providers are
implementing in next month’s issue. See you then.
Thanks and Good Luck.
|
|
A Division of
