June 6, 2008—The US Green Building Council (USGBC) recently revised its LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) standard to make green cleaning a prerequisite. Now all buildings seeking LEED-EB certification must have a green cleaning policy, says USGBC.
The USGBC recently added credits for those institutions conducting an audit of their facilities using APPA’s Custodial Staffing Guidelines for Educational Facilities, recognizing buildings that have superior cleaning programs. Institutions can earn up to two LEED points for using APPA’s guidelines as part of the Quality Cleaning section of LEED’s Operations and Maintenance guide to determine the appearance level of the facility.
The intent of the assessment, according to the LEED guide is, “to reduce the exposure of building occupants and maintenance personnel to potentially hazardous chemical, biological, and particulate contaminants–which adversely affect air quality, human health, building finishes, building systems, and the environment–by implementing, managing, and auditing cleaning procedures and processes.”
Initially published by APPA in 1992 and now in its second edition, Custodial Staffing Guidelines covers five levels of clean used to assess facility appearance. The guide includes information on such specialized facilities areas as dormitories, health care facilities, and more. In all, 33 room categories are covered by the APPA staffing guidelines. The Custodial Staffing Guidelines are based upon the feedback of hundreds of individuals and institutions and have been in use for over two decades by an ever-increasing number of institutions to validate staffing requirements at institutions in higher education as well as K-12, and to justify the need for custodial budgets, notes APPA.
To order APPA’s Custodial Staffing Guidelines, visit the APPA Bookstore online.
