industry news ISSA Releases Clean Standard For K-12 The ISSA has released a new standard industry professionals can use when working in or with K-12 schools to promote a cleaner and healthier indoor environment to benefit children’s learning experiences, according to a press release. The ISSA Clean Standard: K-12 estab-lishes steps for objectively assessing the effectiveness of cleaning processes in an educational facility; additional versions of the standard for other facility types will be avail-able in 2014. According to the release, based on the philosophy of “Clean, Measure, Monitor,” and with an emphasis on high-perfor-mance cleaning, the Clean Standard: K-12 focuses on: ■ The desired levels of cleanliness that can reasonably be achieved ■ Recommended monitoring and inspec-tion procedures to measure the effec-tiveness of cleaning ■ How to use the measurement and inspection results to assess and improve cleaning processes and products, ulti -mately resulting in a clean, healthy and safe learning environment. Assessing cleaning effectiveness can help improve the process and ensure that the desired level of cleanliness is achieved and maintained at school facilities, which is espe -cially important in light of the growing body of evidence that concludes that improved hygiene in schools results in reduced illness-es and reduced absenteeism, the release noted. Not only will training session attendees receive this package for free, but Smart Inspect will also join CMI at Train the Trainer to provide a brand new section of training. Smart Inspect experts will provide a hands-on training session with their quality app and a lecture on quality assurance, the release noted. The free one-year Smart Inspect subscrip-tion will include a customized set-up, configu -ration, website and unlimited support. Survey: Number Of Contagious People At Work Rising A survey conducted by Staples revealed that 90 percent of office workers come to work even when they know they are sick, accord -ing to a press release. The findings show a growing trend when compared to last year’s findings indi -cating 80 percent of workers come to work sick, up from 60 percent in the 2011 Staples survey. Workers acknowledged that staying out three days when sick with the flu was appro-priate; the majority of workers, however, stay out of the office for less than two days when sick, putting coworkers’ health and business productivity at risk. According to the release, the survey dem -onstrated that workers have a better under-standing of flu prevention: ■ 49 percent of respondents understand they are contagious with the flu virus for one day before symptoms develop and up to five-to-seven days after becoming sick, an improvement from 38 percent last year. ■ 76 percent of workers correctly identified the break room as the least clean spot in the office, a sharp increase from 26 percent last year. ■ 57 percent know that flu viruses can live on a hard surface up to three days, a slight increase from last year; however, 66 percent of employees still only clean their desks once a week or less, up from 51 percent last year. “Flu season poses a big problem for busi-nesses — each year it causes an estimated 70 million missed workdays and billions in lost office productivity. It’s critical that both employees and employers take notice and promote healthier habits,” said Lisa Hamblet, vice president for facility solutions at Staples Advantage, the business-to-business divi -sion of Staples. “That can mean arming a workforce with simple products like hand sanitizer to large-scale industrial cleaning products and tech-niques. Diligence early in the flu season ensures health and productivity throughout the season,” Hamblet added. Impact Products Mourns Passing Of Founder Entrepreneur, phi -lanthropist and retired founder of Impact Products LLC, a Toledo-based manufac-turer and supplier of janitorial and James R. Findlay sanitation mainte-nance (JanSan) products, James R. Findlay passed away on Sunday, October 20, 2013, leaving a long legacy of business accom-plishments and community service, accord -ing to a press release. “Jim established integrity as a core value throughout the organization. His legacy lives on in the culture he created for all of his employees, from the plant workers to the executive suite,” said Terry Neal, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Impact Products LLC. Findlay founded Impact Products in 1963, selling the company to the employees in 1987 via an employee stock ownership pro-gram (ESOP). According to the release, highly-rec -ognized in the JanSan industry, in 2002 Findlay was awarded the Manufacturer Representative Distinguished Service Award by ISSA. CM Cleaning Management Institute Announces Partnership Cleaning Management Institute (CMI) is pre -paring to launch themselves into their 50th year in business with a bang, according to a press release. To kick off their anniversary celebrations, CMI has partnered with Smart Inspect™ to provide a free one-year subscription. For daily industry news, sign up for CM e-News Daily at www.CMMOnline.com/Sign-Up. Please send any news or press releases to Editor Phillip Lawless at [email protected]. 6 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • November 2013
CMM – Archives November 2013: 6
