Tuesday, May 6, 2008

The Green Building Solution

By Michael Richmond

Depending on who you listen to, it can be very difficult to make your building Green. Businesses have been asked by many authorities to "Go Green," but they have not been told what Green means except to being a lengthy process of conversion and retrofitting that is lengthy and costly. In truth, it is obvious that the concept of a Green building has been reinterpreted by a variety of services causing an endless demand for change.

The core of a Green office or building is found in the improvement of the health issues of the building on the behalf of the people that work there. While it is beneficial to change the bulbs, cut energy consumption, conserve more water, and recycle the trash; the best place to create a Green office is in the janitorial service.

There are three pieces of the Green janitorial puzzle. The first of which is what we call the Green Agenda where the decision-makers implement polices. The second is to make sure the Green products are used, and the third is to require a Green certified janitorial service for your building.

The impact of a Green building is the improvement of the health factor for those who do the cleaning and those who put their eight hours in every day. Studies should that there are acute and chronic influences based on the cleaning of the building. This reflects in the cost of manpower and the loss of profitability through absenteeism, lost productivity, and increased medical costs.

The Green practices of the janitorial service are just as important as the Green products. For example, the use of microfiber cloths reduce chemical use, and also decrease the bacteria and dust moved around the building. New sanitizing methods must break the old "Spray and Wipe" routine to allow for a "Dwell Time" of the product. Disease spread is greatly reduced through change of cleaning tools and methods. It is not enough to toss a Green product into the mix and declare the whole project Green.

During the bid or quote process for your building, you should include a "Green Practices Clause" that gives preferential treatment to janitorial services that not only offer a line of Green products but also boast a Green trained and certified workforce. It makes ultimate sense that the operator is equally as valuable as the tools of the operation. A set of tools does not make an average guy into an expert mechanic. Why should this not be true of the people protecting the health of the building for your employees?

Find a Green Clean Institute Certified janitorial service in your area or require that those seeking to service your building are Green Clean Institute Certified. Your reward is that you will also qualify your building as a Green Clean Institute Certified Green Building with only a few simple adjustments.

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