Implementing a color-coding system can help save your operation some “green” and also improve results and safety. Rainbow Of Sustainability The By: Stephen Ashkin Establishing a color-coding system through symbolization is a simple way to practice resource reduction and promote sustainable operation. A Stephen Ashkin is president of The Ashkin Group, a con-sulting firm specializing in greening the cleaning indus-try, and chief executive offi-cer (CEO) of Sustainability Dashboard Tools LLC, an electronic dashboard that allows organizations to measure and report on their sustainability efforts. He is also coauthor of both The Business of Green Cleaning and Green Cleaning for Dummies . About a decade ago, doctors at Johns Hopkins Medical Center separated a pair of two-month-old identical twins who had been joined at the abdomen. Even though the babies were identical twins, “conjoined” and likely shared organs, doctors knew that for the health and safety of each baby, they should use separate medical tools. This would help reduce the chances of infection before and after they performed the separation. To ensure that the right medical instruments and medicines were used with the right baby, the team of doctors developed a color-coding system before the surgery. While this is a dramatic example, it serves as a good illustration of the importance of color-coding and how it may be used in a variety of situations. In fact, healthcare was one of the first industries to realize the value of a color-coding system. Because it allows for quick and easy identification of medical tools and medicines, color-coding helps minimize — if not eliminate altogether — mistakes. The cleaning industry has also embraced color-coding over the past decade for the same reasons. According to the Australian Department of Health, which has established a series of directives regard-ing the use of color-coding in cleaning, healthcare and other industries, “Color-coding is often the most efficient method to separate cleaning equip-ment by task, use, area and application because it allows for simple sight recognition.” Beyond Infection Control Now we are seeing a new use for color-coding systems, this time as an efficient way to help facili-ties become more sustainable, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, curb energy and water use and cut operating costs. The key to the system is the placement of small, inconspicuous colored dots on a variety of electrici-ty-hungry and water-using sources in a facility. An example of this would be a red dot placed on “power load” items such as light switches, desk lamps, fans, space heaters, computer monitors and even vending machines. The red dot would indicate that the custodial crew should turn off these items at the end of each busi-ness day. Along with red, other colors often used in a sus-tainability color-coding system include the following: ● A green dot might indicate power sources that should be left on ● A yellow dot might signify that the cleaning crew should contact building management or office personnel regarding the item ● A blue dot might be placed on equipment, such as vending machines, that is left on during the week but can be turned off on the weekends. 34 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • May 2013
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