a clean sweep Taking A Stand And Making A Statement The Upper Merion Area School District achieves custodial greatness. By: Aaron Baunee, managing editor T The King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based Upper Merion Area School District recently became the first K-12 school district in America to achieve ISSAʼs coveted Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) cer-tification with Honors. With six schools and five auxiliary build-ings totaling nearly 883,000 square feet, it was important for Upper Merion to streamline processes and ensure best practices were consistently employed. In June 2009, Upper Merion began prepar-ing for the certification process by document-ing their practices. Consistent with their mission to inspire excellence … in every student, every day, the Upper Merion custodial department left no stone unturned in their certification endeavor. “We capitalized on the process by using the Standardʼs five areas of management best practices to quantify many of the pro-grams that we already had in place,” states William Dillon, custodial coordinator for the Upper Merion Area School District. The custodial department already had safety, recycling and employee recognition programs in place, along with detailed clean-ing schedules, extensive training, equipment maintenance records and workloading man-agement protocols, putting them ahead of the game — so to speak. Because many of the custodial depart-mentʼs practices were compliant with the five core principals of CIMS — Quality Systems, Service Delivery, Health, Safety and Environmental Stewardship, Management Commitment and Human Resources — they were able to spend more time fine-tuning existing programs to make them more effi-cient and cost effective. Things such as hazardous communication plans, chemical hygiene/spill containment Bill McGarvey (right), an ISSA Certification Expert, played a significant role in the district's high marks. plans, environmental policies and customer surveys all received a CIMS-inspired facelift. “The preparation process is a valuable part of CIMS,” notes Dillon. Another part of the certification process involved on-site reviews of Upper Merionʼs systems, processes and documentation by Bill Garland, joint managing director of Daniels Associates Inc., to further ensure compliance as a third-party assessor. During the CIMS preparation process, the greatest hurdle the custodial department had to clear was their self-imposed deadline: Become CIMS-certified before the October 6 start of the 2009 ISSA/INTERCLEAN ® North America trade show. According to Dillon, there was a sense of urgency because the custodial department felt it would be a great opportunity for the organization to receive recognition during the event. Life After Certification “CIMS is now the platform of our program,” adds Dillon. “It not only defines our standard of excellence, but also allows us to market our program on a regular basis to our customers: The community, students and staff.” As Dillon asserts, since receiving certifica-tion, he has definitely seen an increase in employee moral and employees are showing more pride in their work because they realize what a significant accomplishment they achieved. In addition to the personal pride CIMS cer-tification with Honors has instilled in the cus-todial department, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Melissa Jamula recently acknowledged their stellar accomplishment during a board meeting, something staff greatly appreciated. “They even asked me if we would provide t-shirts recognizing the accomplishment,” remarks Dillon. “And, as a result, we are looking at procuring the shirts.” CM The Path To Greatness Bill McGarvey, an ISSA Certification Expert (I.C.E.) and director of training and sustain-ability at Philip Rosenau Company Inc., visit-ed randomly selected Upper Merion employ-ees to ensure that the custodial departmentʼs activities were consistent with its document-ed systems and processes. “My role as I.C.E. was to coach the Upper Merion Area School District through the process and help clarify the expectation of the Standard prior to the assessorʼs visit,” proclaims McGarvey. “The process was aided by the fact that Upper Merion and the Philip Rosenau Company have been work-ing together for a number of years and much of the required training and documentation was already well in hand. This is just another example of the benefit for an organization to partner with a well-established, value-adding distributor.” www.cmmonline.com 33
CMM – Archives Jan 2010: 33
