Blog

If you are an employer or a manager, it is your responsibility to provide a safe work environment not only for your cleaning staff, but for all your employees.To do so, there are three of things that have to happen.

First, management commitment must exist and it must be continuous (not a one time thing).

Second, the cleaning organization must comply with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hazard Communication Standard and have a written hazard communication program in place.

Finally, employees must be involved in developing, understanding and executing the program.

The ISSA Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) leads managers through all of the above (see section 4, Health, Safety and Environmental Stewa...

Whether you operate or manage a restaurant, hotel, fitness center, retail store, or other facility, properly maintaining and stocking the restrooms is one way to show customers that you care about providing an excellent experience at every level. These processes are also essential if you’re aiming to achieve coveted five-star status for your business on consumer-driven review websites, such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, which have proven influential in the past.

Today, patrons can quickly and easily voice their disappointment to friends and family, and even to people outside of their immediate networks via popular social media and review websites. There are also numerous apps available that allow customers to share their feedback regard...

Ensure these areas are both clean and up to safety standards

By Amy Seretsky

Most of us have seen baby changing stations in public restrooms, and they are possibly already installed in buildings we manage or clean.

However, facility managers and cleaning professionals may not know that a bill called the BABIES bill was signed into law by President Obama near the end of his term. The BABIES bill refers to the Bathrooms Accessible in Every Situation Act, which requires all publically-accessible federal buildings to have baby changing stations for both women's and men’s restrooms.

While this law may not impact your facility now, it may in the future. Changes like these tend to eventually find their way into privately-owned commercial ...

A recent World Health Organization (WHO) report links poor sanitation, contaminated water, and inadequate hygiene to the deaths of 1.7 million children worldwide per year.

The most common causes of death for one in four children under five, such as diarrhea, malaria, and pneumonia, could be prevented by improvements to water, air quality, and cleaning practices, according to the WHO report.

“A polluted environment results in a heavy toll on the health of our children,” said Dr. Maria Niera, WHO director of department of public health, environmental, and social determinants of health. “Investing in the removal of environmental risks to health, such as improving water quality or using cleaner fuels, will result in massive...

In the present market there are more cleaning products than its possible to list. Especially when new products are constantly emerging - new names or new brands under a conglomerate and new, re-formulated mixes adding to an increasingly saturated market place.

But when it comes to purchasing what is the difference between cleaning products? what is it that influences our purchase? Is it familiarity? A brand with a rich history? The claims the product makes? Or, perhaps, these buying decisions are based on something else, maybe a mercenary approach to shopping or simply, what’s available at the time of shopping. In any of these choices, apart from perhaps, ethical decisions, are the ingredients of a product ever scrutinised? Sure, w...

In September 2016, the Food and Drug Administration ruled for the removal of triclosan—an ingredient found in antibacterial soap and hand sanitizer—from commercial and consumer hand hygiene products.

The ruling states the ingredient must be removed from all applicable products by September 6, 2017, and manufacturers are already making moves to comply, according to Cleaning and Maintenance Management’s February 2017 cover story, “The Ban on Triclosan.”

However, in addition to triclosan, the FDA has also barred 18 other ingredients from over-the-counter wash products. The full list includes:

CloflucarbanFluorosalanHexachloropheneHexylresorcinolIodine complex (ammonium ether sulfate and polyoxyethylene sorbitan...

Mandated changes to hand hygiene products may impact your workforce, budget, and building occupants

On September 2, 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its final ruling on triclosan, an active ingredient used in consumer antiseptic and antibacterial wash products. In this ruling, the FDA banned triclosan and 18 other ingredients from being marketed in commercial and consumer wash products.

The FDA says manufacturers have until September 6, 2017, to reformulate their production lines and remove existing triclosan products from the market. However, these changes will not only impact product manufacturers; the onus to remove triclosan products used in facilities and replace them with FDA-compliant products will fall ...

Old man winter is upon us, and with it, the season brings colder temperatures and more time indoors. Unfortunately, it may also bring the spread of illness-causing germs with it.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), influenza is a year-round public health issue with peak activity between December and March. This means the time is now to ensure you are doing everything you can to reduce the risk of illness for people who are using your facilities.

The CDC recommends the “Take 3” approach to help reduce chances of contracting the flu virus. This includes:

Getting a flu shotTaking preventive actions tostop the spread of germsTaking antiviral drugs, if prescribed by a doctor.In regards to the last ti...

If you could see me at work, you would see my face is resting against the palm of my left hand as I look at the computer screen; that may be the biggest mistake I have made today when it comes to preventing the spread of germs and bacteria.

In addition to touching my face, both my left and right hands have been used to pick up my phone, turn doorknobs, tie shoelaces, type on my keyboard, use an ATM, push a revolving door, and for scores of other activities I probably didn’t even notice.

Each time I use my hands to touch one of these surfaces, germs and bacteria on those surfaces transfer to my hands. So when I rest the palm of my hand on my face, especially if I have not recently washed my hands, germs and bacteria previously locat...

Preventing Legionnaires’ Disease
Five steps to mitigate the risk of infection
By Thom Wellington
Protecting personnel and facilities from unseen bacteria and fungi is a daunting task for building managers as well as professional cleaning teams. Industry researchers developed antimicrobials to destroy disease-causing microbes, the most common of which are antibiotics, which target bacteria. Recently, however, there has been antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance, or the ability of microbes to resist the effects of drugs. Although several antimicrobials have been generated to target these microbe germs, most are not killed and continue to grow.

Most commonly, bacteria-ridden organisms can live and be spread through a facility’s H...