Environmental protection is a priority for the continued health of people and our planet. We recognize our responsibility as a global citizen and are continually striving to reduce the environmental impact of the work cleaning organizations do and the services we provide. We take pride in our history of innovation and thoughtful cleaning programs.
Environmental considerations are an integral part of our business practices. From the earliest stages of cleaning system design, through training and implementation, and recycling, we take care to keep the activities of the (OS1) Users and our information products environmentally wise.
Five areas of particular attention are cleaning for health, protecting the built environment, safe cleaning practices, environmentally responsible chemicals, indoor air quality improvement, and recycling. Each aspect of the design cycle provides significant challenges, yet our efforts in these areas have resulted in some impressive results.
Cleaning for Health
It all begins here. Cleaning is all about removing unwanted matter and putting it in its proper place. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. Cleaning an environment creates a sense of well being for those in the environment. ManageMen (OS1) recognizes that there are tremendous benefits from cleaning for people who spend more than 90% of their life in built environments.
Protecting the Built Environment
When the State of Washington wanted to clean up the environment for their own environmental scientists (all 1,100 of them) they chose us to develop their program for cleaning. (OS1) was used as the Deep Cleaning Protocol in the Washington State Ecology building recommissioning project. This project is cited by the U.S. Green Building Council as a model program for LEED-EB. Of all the components that were part of this pioneering environmental project the (OS1) Deep Clean was recognized as the most noticeable improvement and the one most favorably regarded, even by the harshest critics of the project.
Safe Cleaning Practices
Reducing the environmental impact of our cleaning starts with the process engineering. Process design dictates the quantity and packaging of chemicals, ergonomic aspects of tools, impact of materials and procedures, energy consumption and the ease of recycling. For example, our decision to eliminate the use of upright vacuums makes our cleaning process much more environmentally friendly. Our training programs emphasize training all workers in the cleaning language of “(OS1)ian” to eliminate confusion and a lack of communication among cleaning workers.
(OS1) continually improves by benchmarking best practices among the cleaning industry’s best cleaning programs. (OS1) users work to maximize efficiency while minimizing waste. They utilize the benefits of programs such as the (OS1) Audit Program and the (OS1) Users Symposium to practice continuous quality improvement.
Olympic Winner Games
The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City had to utilize world class cleaning. The goal was zero impact on the environment, before, during and after the games. We were selected to provide a gold medal program over all other proposals worldwide. We developed the cleaning process, wrote the cleaning specifications and scheduling, recruited project management, evaluated the bidders, produced all training materials including an Olympics venue cleaning video and written materials and conducted the training. When it was all over, the Salt Lake City Winter Games were recognized as the cleanest and the most environmentally friendly Olympics, ever.
Energy Efficiency
A cleaning program’s greatest environmental impact is often its energy consumption, over time. We have made great strides in recent years to optimize energy efficiency of our tools, and work loading. Since 1993, all of our projects have utilized the team cleaning approach to reduce energy consumption over area or zone cleaning programs.
Environmentally Responsible Chemicals
In (OS1), we dispose of hazardous waste intelligently and train workers to be responsible. 100% of the daily-use cleaning products have undergone a rigorous third party review. The all purpose cleaner and pH neutral mopping solution are Green Seal™ Certified. The single, daily germicide used is a neutral pH detergent that is U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registered against a broad range of pathogenic microorganisms.
Additionally, the three daily use chemicals are issued in pre-measured packages. Each is inventoried at the beginning and end of each shift. The three chemicals are color-coded to the package label, MSDS, OSHA compliant secondary container, (OS1) training materials, Job Cards and Scouting Reports.
(OS1) has removed the use of high pH cleaning chemicals for the carpet cleaning process. All of the required carpet cleaning chemicals are neutral pH @ +-7. On the OSHA hazard placarding chart, the hazard is listed as Toxic Hazard 0, Flammable Hazard 0, Reactive Hazard 0 and Corrosive Hazard 0.
We are helping to safeguard both the indoor and outdoor environment — as well as our users’ safety — by restricting the use of harmful compounds in our cleaning processes. For example, our (OS1) Restricted Materials policy limits the use of abrasives, ammonia, bleach, peroxide (halogens), straight hydrochloric acid bowl cleaner, lye drain opener and abrasive powders in our programs.
Source Reduction
(OS1) recognizes that the key to source reduction is to use less and reuse more. Source reduction means lessening the amount of waste produced. This includes avoiding products that have excess packaging, and buying concentrates whenever possible. It also involves reducing the toxicity of waste and cutting down on the use of hazardous chemicals.
In (OS1), we insist on responsible packaging and fewer hazardous products. (OS1) users work to purchase from distributors that carry products that reflect environmental concerns, and who will assist in getting the waste management message out to their personnel. In an (OS1) study conducted at QUALCOMM, the (OS1) chemical inventory, packaging reduction program reduces chemical packaging to the landfill by more than 97%.
The (OS1) inventory system based on lean manufacturing processes further reduces the amount of items that are disposed of due to the cleaning function. These are just a few ways to get waste management under control.
IAQ & IEQ
From the inception of the (OS1) concept Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) have been fundamentals of the process. Most vacuum cleaners throw dust particles emissions throughout buildings. Not in the (OS1) process. Michael A. Berry, PhD, documented, in a landmark cleaning studyconducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that cleaning programs with 80% (OS1) Audit score, reduce indoor air particles to a safe level. Traditional housekeeping in the same study was documented as producing twenty times more particle emission than is allowed by EPA’s National Ambient Air Standards – OUTSIDE.
The significant reduction of indoor dust was attributed to (OS1) training, tracking, equipment usage and the use of a CRI Green Label certified vacuum, the ProTeam Super CoachVac. (OS1) users pioneered daily filter cleaning and logging frequent and regular filter exchanges which facilitate the outstanding results noted in the UNC study by Dr. Berry.
The ProTeam Super Coach provides four-level filtration which starts with a special micro-filter at the first level. Micro filters greatly increase vacuum efficiency. One study showed that a standard paper filter bag removed only 39.9 percent of debris 10 microns in size, while a micro filter bag removed over 99% percent of these particles. Likewise, a standard paper filter bag removed only 16.3% of one micron particles, whereas micro filters removed 95% of one micron debris.
The 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
(OS1) has a holistic approach to recycling — encompassing a cleaning product’s entire life cycle — includes extensive take-back programs that enable janitors and businesses to dispose of used cleaning equipment in an environmentally sound manner.
No attempt at waste management is complete without a recycling program. Recycling provides raw materials for manufacturing, and it keeps a large amount of the solid waste stream from being sent to already overburdened landfills.
Secondary-use bottles include OSHA Compliant, fade resistant screened labels and are made from 40% percent post-consumer recycled plastic. The (OS1) team approach supports customers who want to separate recyclable waste in their landfills.
We have eliminated traditional ”string” mops and large quantities of dirty mop solution and replaced it with flat micro-fiber mops and two-sided buckets. This has reduced the amount of water usage for restroom cleaning functions by 75% and the amount of polluted solution mopping by nearly 100%.
We pioneered eliminating cleaning cloths made from trees by the introduction of the concept of the (OS1) Laundry. High efficiency, Energy Star laundry programs, recycle cleaning cloths for hundreds of uses before sending them to a landfill.
The (OS1) Floor care carpet care programs extend the life cycle of building surfaces and finishes of hard floors, carpet, fixtures and furniture. The opportunities of cleaning organizations contributing to a solution for the solid waste problem are virtually endless. Once the idea is planted, “green” programs begin to sprout. But, first, someone needs to sow the field.
