Looking To The New Year Industry professionals point to the most important issues for 2014. By: Phillip Lawless H Phillip Lawless is Editor of Cleaning & Maintenance Management magazine; he can be reached at PLawless@ GrandViewMedia.com. A graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Lawless has over 13 years of professional writing and editing experience. for more info Visit www.cmmonline.com and type in search keyword: Standards. For more information on related products, visit www.cmmonline.com , select DIRECTORY from the main navigation bar, and enter keyword: Safety. Hope springs eternal, as the old saying goes, and never does that seem more applicable than at the beginning of a new year. Around the world, parties and social gatherings have become the norm for New Year’s Eve. For one night, friends and family gather to cel-ebrate and toast both the year ending and the promise of the year ahead. In the cleaning and maintenance market, in-house facility managers and building service con-tractors (BSCs) can further toast the idea of leav-ing last year’s challenges behind. By learning from the previous year’s obstacles and looking ahead to new opportunities, manag-ers and contractors can plan and prepare for con-tinued operational improvements. Outside of the cleaning and maintenance mar-ket, there are already plenty of governmental and legislative changes lined up for 2014. The Affordable Care Act is a high-profile exam-ple, and changes involving other agencies like the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administra-tion (OSHA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can be included as well. Inside the JanSan industry, change will come as the market’s evolution continues increasing the overall professionalism and awareness of cleaning issues. Are you and your employees aware of the most recent developments from prominent researchers and JanSan associations occurring in our industry? Moreover, how will these movements and trends play out? And, how will they affect your business or opera-tion? To help divine the answers, CMM reached out to managers, contractors and other industry sources for their professional opinions. Their replies revealed a number of prominent is-sues including updated industry standards, facility safety concerns and the need for worker training. Based on their feedback, it is clear that cleaning managers and professionals should stand ready to address different areas moving forward. The ISSA Clean Standard: K-12 The ISSA released its first Clean Standard for K-12 schools last October. At that time, John Garfinkel, ISSA’s executive di-rector said, “ISSA is pleased to launch yet another tool that supports our overall goal of changing the way the world views cleaning.” He continued, “In the face of difficult budget cuts and a misunderstanding of the importance clean-ing has in the success of student education, our members and the schools they work with can use science to help make the case for proper cleaning.” This standard was developed by a committee that included representation from all sectors of the facility management and school communities, and it was based on a philosophy of “Clean, Measure, Monitor.” 10 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • December 2013
CMM – Archives December 2013: 10
