Health Benefits Drive Green Cleaning Using Green Cleaning To Promote Occupant Health BY Corinne Zudonyi, Editor Using Green Cleaning To Promote Occupant Health Sponsors Carpet & Upholstery Stains Gone in an Instant with Proxi Just Spray & Walk Away CleanCore Technologies Remove soils and eliminate odors Safely and Sustainably. Multi-Clean Green clean using the Multi-Task patented dilution control system Keys to Effective Practice Operations Management in Cuba, NY, 14727 - ACS Facilities Services Go To http://www.acsfacilities.com/ for free articles. Green cleaning is not new to this industry, but it does continue to gain momentum year over year. Cost-competitive product improvements, as well as third-party certifications have made implementing greener products easier for facility cleaning managers. The biggest driver of these programs is improved health benefits of both building occupants and cleaning workers. According to our recent survey, 55 percent of facility cleaning managers say green initiatives improve health. This falls in line with studies conducted by Carnegie Mellon University specifically indicating that better indoor air quality in schools improves overall health by 41 percent. Shifting cleaning to focus on indoor air quality targets the most chronic health issue plaguing children: asthma. Seeing that by the time a student graduates high school, he or she will have spent more than 15,000 hours inside a school, controlling exposure to asthma triggers can go a long way in improving health. Students aren’t the only benefactors of green cleaning programs in schools. If a teacher retires after 35 years, he or she will have spent more than 35,000 hours teaching in the classroom — not including all the after-school hours. Green cleaning initiatives will improve indoor air quality, reduce exposure to VOCs and improve overall health for all school occupants. The advantages of green cleaning expand outside of educational facilities, too. Products that are certified as green are safer for use around sensitive occupants, such as those in daycares, nursing homes and long-term care facilities. There are also advantages to implementing green processes in commercial settings. Did you know that the average office worker retiring at age 65 will have spent roughly 97,000 hours in the office? For these workers, healthy cleaning processes will improve attendance, which improves productivity and saves companies money. Whether you are just starting off with green cleaning, or you’re already a seasoned veteran, there are advantages to ramping up your program. This green issue will help outline products and processes that can help you along.