Traditional Requests for Proposals (RFPs) prescribe a site-specific service level agreement based on custodial task and frequencies with agreed custodial productivity rates to help drive expected, qualitative outcomes. However, the conventional approach of cleaning for appearance does not address the role of the cleaning as the first line of defense against germs and preserving public health in the built environment.
Although there is an increased awareness of public exposure to micro-organisms in indoor environments, the majority of custodial RFPs from facility professionals fail to capture cleaning for health and wellness as a custodial performance objective. Yet developing custodial cleaning for wellness Key Performance Indicators with clients is critical for all stakeholders to help validate efficacy of custodial processes. This collaborative approach solidifies a custodial partnership in correlation with clients’ objectives within the built environments.
Many corporate executive teams embrace a culture of corporate social responsibility (ISO 26000, for example) throughout their organizations. These programs typically include a health and wellness program for associates that fosters advocacy of healthy lifestyles, continuing education of proper nutrition, and exercise. These trends have also started to transfer into the work place as a means to drive positive associate morale and foster associate retention.
And yet, while custodial building service contractors (BSCs) play a major role in collection, removal, and prevention of the transmission of pathogens throughout the indoor facility, the BSC’s scope of work rarely reflects a similar synergy as a contributor to help address indoor occupant health and wellness.
Changing Times
Many attribute the recent trend of “cleaning for health and wellness” to the evolution of green and sustainable custodial protocols. For example, research has show that more than 60 million Americans suffer from debilitating asthma, allergies, respiratory disease, and general illness associated with poor indoor air quality (IAQ). Silent Spring, published in the early 1960s by Rachel Carson; the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the 1970s; and several case studies performed in hospitals and medical facilities throughout the late 1980s/early 1990s concluded that toxic cleaning chemicals and custodial processes were a main contributor for many poor IAQ results. Additional white papers confirmed that Sick Building Syndrome was valid within the built environment throughout all corporate campuses and educational facilities.
Armed with this data, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed into action Executive Order 13101 in 1992, directing the facility managers of more than 100,000 federally owned or operated buildings to begin using green cleaning products. A systematic approach to green cleaning was launched along with an adopted definition of green cleaning that included “helping protect human health and the environment.” Thanks to full support of numerous chemical manufacturers and industry leading organizations, over time green cleaning became the norm as a common benchmark within the custodial industry.
During the widespread outbreak of MRSA and H1N1 (or the Swine flu) during the winter of 2008-09, Dr. Richard Besser*, past director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, stated, “For Americans to truly be healthier, they must live, work, and play in environments that promote healthy choices and behaviors.” Besser’s leadership helped our citizens and several nations form guidelines for pandemic preparedness, while establishing strategies for corporate leadership moving forward. As we have all discovered, these infectious diseases are not a question of if they will continue to happen, but when. For this reason, Besser cautions that we must view this new social norm “not as a race, but as a marathon.”
Additional resources may be found through the World Federation of Building Service Contractors (WFBSC) at www.cleaning-for-health.org that provide the most up-to-date and reliable information on each of the most prevalent disease-causing microbes that threaten community health along with recommendations on how to safely eliminate them from various surfaces and environments.
Smart Strategies
A percentage of custodial BSCs have taken the initiative to attain an independent third-party certification based on all corporate standard operating procedures and operational protocols. Stringent provisions require adherence to baseline standards and continuous improvement strategies to ensure an elastic leadership role within the industry. As BSCs perform self-assessments of their current operations, mutual optimization measures surface that have direct cost, environmental, and conservation of natural resources benefits.
In addition to sustainable attributes to quantify the benefits of custodial processes, cleaning for health and wellness should be a cornerstone of any custodial Standard Operating Procedure to help collaborate with internal wellness objectives. This cleaning beyond appearance approach helps to ensure the custodial service provider is delivering the highest level of cleaning efficacy with no negative impact to IAQ while helping to prevent cross-transmission of pathogens from surface to surface throughout a facility.
Although cleaning for appearance will continue to act as a benchmark to rate the perception of cleanliness, it is our responsibility to become the advocate for the numerous benefits of cleaning for wellness and to communicate the role of the cleaning professional as a vested partner in assisting to promote public health.
* Dr. Richard Besser, a leading worldwide health expert at the CDC and health and medical editor for ABC News, will be a keynote speaker during the 20th Congress of the World Federation of Building Service Contractors being held in New York City, NY, in April 2014. For more information, visit www.wfbsc2014.com.
