School districts around the country are faced with shrinking budgets and looking for ways to clean schools faster and more efficiently — without having to resort to outsourcing. The Seven Steps to Green Flag success All 52,000 registered Eco-Schools from 67 countries around the world follow the same Seven Step framework in order to achieve the internationally recognised Eco-Schools Green Flag award. Work … To their rescue has come Grades of Green, a group that helps parents and schools switch to safe cleaning products and other environment-friendly practices. Coronavirus Self-Checker × Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the health of both your household and the environment, there are plenty of reasons to want to adopt a greener cleaning routine. Submit. It also builds trust throughout the community. Six Steps to Clean and Disinfect Your School pdf icon [PDF]. Once you have identified your benchmarks, use appropriate technology to assess and record the data you wish to track, such meters and swabs that indicate the level of biological contamination through the presence of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Green Cleaning Information for School Administrators, Staff and Parents GUIDANCE DOCUMENT As concerns about chemicals in the environment grow, there is an effort to reduce the amount and type of chemicals people are exposed to every day. The hard part is figuring out where to start. Water. Many parents worry about whether there are harmful chemicals in the cleaning supplies used in schools. This checklist helps school officials understand their roles as liaisons and champions when establishing, backing, and monitoring policies and procedures. Schools looking to start a green cleaning program can download our 5 Steps to Green Cleaning in Schools for more detailed guides to each of the steps mentioned above. A strong green cleaning program depends on cooperation and compliance from all school occupants, including teaching staff and students. GREEN CLEANING PROGRAM . The transition from traditional cleaners can be easy. Identify the cleanliness parameters, specifications, and standards that will be used to evaluate your program. View the on-demand webinars to learn about best ventilation and cleaning practices in schools. Simply download our Green Cleaning Plan template. 1. Green cleaning makes a healthier place for everyone at school. Their helpful tool kit provides actions schools can take such as using daylight instead of overhead lighting, weatherizing windows and doors, and installing Energy Star appliances. Amount per square foot spent on cleaning products and staff. They surveyed the custodial executives at select K-12 schools and colleges, as well as consultants and educators for the cleaning industry. There are many important steps to any cleaning and disinfecting process. She is well known in the region for outstanding customer service protocols — winning the 2017 Better Business Torch Award for Ethics & Integrity —and her energetic support of fair wages, employee benefits, and green cleaning practices. Today’s tools can reduce chemical use, increase productivity and help decrease injuries. Performing a walk-through inspection of the school facility and assessing the cleanliness level of the space will help to establishing baseline measures and benchmarks for improvement—a strategy that directly aligns with the ISSA Clean Standard: K–12. EPA’s IAQ Tools for Schools guide provides strategies to promote specific actions that will help occupants implement green cleaning practices. Step 1 walks you through essential preparations for building a green cleaning … Green cleaning should be a simple solution, not one that overwhelms or bogs you down. One of the most important parts of determining the success of a green cleaning program is establishing the measures, criteria, and standards by which to judge the program. All of these schools also have…Read more Staff can test green products and procedures at a few schools to identify what works for them. Initial steps to a green regime. Schools are saving money by using concentrated green cleaners, automatic dilution equipment, and reducing the number of cleaning products schools need. While replacing all single use products with reusable products is best, it can be overwhelming at first. Get CMM Magazine delivered directly to your inbox. Green school cleaning services are a critical component of green school programs and initiatives. Remember to print on both sides or use […] Ditch the Disposables. View the Green Cleaning, Santitizing, and Disinfecting Toolkit webinar slides, or view individual sections of the toolkit below regarding green cleaning, santitizing and disinfectintg in child care settings. Coronavirus Self-Checker × Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Involving diverse team members—such as administrators, health officers, facilities staff, custodians, teachers, and parents—increases buy-in and commitment to your green cleaning efforts. A report prepared by the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, Perspectives on Implementation and Effectiveness of School Green Cleaning Laws, found that products brought into the school by students, staff, and faculty were a major factor in “limiting the effectiveness of green cleaning policies.” A comprehensive green cleaning plan should include policies that both encourage use of appropriate products and discourage those behaviors that undermine the goals of the plan. Six steps to jumpstart your program and get it off the ground. These activities and guides will encourage your students to live a "greener" lifestyle, at home and at school. 5 Easy Steps For A Clean School Cori Chipman | April 12, 2019 When it comes to viewing schools as the businesses they are, and identifying challenges when it comes to getting that done, there’s one word that comes to mind – kids. Selected products must meet your district’s particular goals for cleaning; most state and district policies that address green cleaning require chosen products that are safer for occupants, environmentally friendly and—most importantly—effective. Classroom desks, cafeteria tables, walls, chairs and bathroom surfaces all are designated as “high-touch” and likely to harbor significant concentrations of bacteria and bio-contamination. Search × COVID-19. Green cleaning options are becoming increasingly widespread, and as of 2015, the District of Columbia and 10 states had mandated their use in schools. CDC twenty four seven. Planning green cleaning programs in schools . 5.2 Cleaning methods 5.3 Hong assesses the meeting room 5.4 Hong removes rubbish and litter 5.5 Hong dusts and spot cleans 5.6 Hong dresses the area Section 6 - Bathroom/Restroom cleaning 6.1 Introduction to microbes (germs) 6.2 How germs enter the body 6.3 Hand Washing 6.4 Cleaning and germs (microbes) 6.5 We are cleaning, not disinfecting This theme develops awareness around water conservation and how to effectively manage this important resource in schools . View the Meeting Current School Health Challenges and Beyond: New Tools to Assess and Address IAQ Health and Safety Webinar Ask your school to implement green cleaning, pest control, and maintenance policies. In this post, I will share a variety of projects and activities that my own school has implemented to become an official “green school” in Michigan. Adapted from Eco-Schools International. Cleaning and disinfection. Here are five simple steps you can take today to help build a greener environment in the workplace: Take control The average U.S. office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year. Saving Lives, Protecting People. The Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) Green Clean Schools program expands on these strategies. While sweeping the floors and emptying the trash usually fall on the school janitor, teachers have a bigger fish to fry when it comes to keeping students, as well as themselves, healthy. Green cleaning efforts—the use of products and practices that minimize health risks, reduce pollution, and conserve resources—cannot be stand-alone activities; they must be incorporated into a comprehensive system for achieving indoor environmental health. They’re also toxic to cleaning and maintenance staff. Communication is key to enforcing that accountability factor. Green cleaning is about a simple product list, simple techniques and a simple goal: Cleaning for health and the environment. Member of the Eco Schools program, the school encourages others to take steps toward achieving sustainability. In light of this, a law was passed in 2009 by the CT legislature that requires schools to start a green cleaning program in the schools by July 2011. Teamwork and initiative are integral to a strong IAQ program. As schools reopen, it’s important that precautions are taken both inside and outside the classroom to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Download our overview and share green cleaning with your school community. HSC recommends including the following items in green cleaning ROI evaluations: In addition to technical measures like ROI and the results of surface ATP testing, important health and performance measures to consider include asthma incidence and attendance rates, reductions in occupant complaints, effectiveness of integrated pest management, and improvement in IAQ. Self-Checker. Those steps and some important concepts will be identified here. It does this by decreasing the chance of exposure to harmful chemicals. Green cleaning is a rapidly evolving field. In an actionable talk, social entrepreneur Arunabha Ghosh lays out a five-step plan to put India on the path to cleaner, safer air -- and shows how every citizen can play an active role in getting there. CDC twenty four seven. Checklists to help guide your walk-through assessments are available in the, Percentage of funds spent on green purchases versus non-green purchases, Amount per student spent on cleaning products and equipment. This article was co-authored by Susan Stocker.Susan Stocker runs and owns Susan’s Green Cleaning, the #1 Green Cleaning Company in Seattle. Once the pilot is complete, the district can gradually expand the program to all of its schools. In just a few pages you’ll find everything you need to know about green cleaning in your school! During the EPA IAQ Master Class Professional Training webinar Clean Bill of Health: How Effective Cleaning and Maintenance Can Improve Health Outcomes in Your School, Michael Jones, the Assistant Director for Facilities and Construction Services at Columbia Public Schools in Missouri, detailed how his district used documented changes in products and practices to save US$90,000 in just 3 years. 20. Create a Green Cleaning Strategy for Your School, Beyond Appearances: Creating a Culture of Hygiene, Touchless Technology Addresses Top Facility Manager Concerns, The Role of Safety Managers in Facility Management, How Facilities Can Reassure Employees It’s Safe to Return to the Office, How GPS Technology Provides Cleaner, Healthier Indoor Air, Hand Hygiene: Compliance Reduces Spread of Disease, The Winner of the ISSA Innovation of the Year Award is….Entry®, Read the Latest Digital Edition of ISSA Today, Americans Report Reluctance to Get COVID-19 Vaccine Under Emergency Authorization, Hospital Housekeepers Among First to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine, Take Time to Check Out CMM’s Online Publication. One in ten children in New York State have asthma, affecting nearly half a million students (Asthma Surveillance Summary Report). Cleaning staff should be appropriately trained and have access to personal protective equipment. 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