Green Business Awareness

When making the transition to a Green operation, do not neglect the cleaning aspect.  In fact, the cleaning process is a big part of any Green building.  To do this right, I’d like to explain the three components to insuring that you have a Green cleaning process in place.  They are: 1) Green Products, 2) Green tools, and 3) Green training.  So often, I hear of janitorial firms boasting of being Green just because they carry a few Green products.  This is what we call “Proxy Green” where the janitorial service merely purchases a Green product as the only qualifier.  This is a easy mistake to make, but this is not the way to Go Green.

Going Green is also about the tools that are used and the training that it takes to clean properly with Green practices.  For example, the idea of “Dwell Time” for Green product is part of the new strategy rather than the “spray and wipe” routine.  The idea of “Top Down” cleaning also needs revision.  In all honesty, I find that the vast majority of janitorial firms skimp when it comes to Green while boasting that they have the expertise to to the job in an environmentally-safe manner.

Green products are essential because former cleaning products were harsh and emitted volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that could cause immediate and long-term health problems to the workers and to the employees who came to work each day.   Cleaning programs are a big part of indoor air quality issues that may create an indoor air quality that is 5 to 6 times worse than outdoor air.  The EPA also reports that we spend 90% of our time indoors, so whatever gets into the air is something that we breathe in constantly.  Indoor air quality is a Green issue because is does impact our health in a powerful manner.

Green equipment includes microfiber cleaning tools, HEPA vacuums, and even the use of fragrances as a common practice that is improperly applied inside the workplace.  Finally, having a trained staff requires more than a five minute review as products are handed out.  Some distributors are handing our Green certifications based upon attendance at the product presentation.  This is all a sad testimony about the janitorial attitude toward cutting corners in a highly competitive market.

It is suggested that any RFP (Request for Proposal) or contract with a janitorial service insert a requirement for Green certification of the cleaning firm.  Do not accept the self-appointed brag that a company is Green, or that a logo has been created for private use.  There is simply a lot of deception and Greenwashing in the janitorial/maintenance business as many try to short-cut the certification requirements.  Green Clean Institute maintains a list of Green Certified firms across America.

If your business is going through a certification program with the Green Business League, a Green certified janitorial services is worth 10 points in their 100 point system.  The use of Green cleaning products and Green tools is worth another 5 points.  Your local Certified Green Consultant can assist you with finding a Green certified janitorial firm as well as helping your company earn the necessary points for Green business certification with the Green Business League.

The issue of environmental lawsuits is a growing concern in America.  We are seeing a substantial volume of lawsuit coming from poor indoor air quality, and it promises to get get much worse.  This is the exact wrong time to cut corners on the cleaning service, cleaning products, or the Greening of the office.  Health is a premium to all of us, and something that every employer must safeguard.

One of the worst feelings in the world is the day a civil lawsuit lands at the doorstep of a business.  Like the diagnosis of cancer, everything is thereafter controlled by the pending threat that embroils every part of our life.   A lawsuit is never kind, and it is almost never a fair presentation of the facts.  It is filled with accusations, horrendous claims, and what seems to be intentionally one-sided lies.   Of course, the is the final section where the “Relief” that is sought from the court is so immense as to be heart stopping.  Reading a lawsuit feels like hearing about a deadly diagnosis from a hateful doctor who hopes that you’ll die a particularly painful death.

With this in mind, it should be no surprise that there is now more attorneys studying environmental law than every before in history.  Like tremors before an earthquake, it should come as no surprise that we are seeing a serious rise in environmental lawsuits and an expected surge of new environmental regulations.   Ready or not, we are about to see the enforcement of environmental laws like never before.  For this reason, Going Green is a proactive aspect that should not be ignored.  Businesses are deemed to have deep pockets, and that makes them excellent targets for litigation.  If a business would like to keep the profits that they have struggled to make over the years, it must take positive steps to reduce and eliminate potential liability issues.

Indoor Air Quality is one of those blindsided type issues that most people will never see coming until it hits them hard from behind.   Remember that people spend 90% of their time indoors according to the EPA.   This is day after day and year after year.   Over a 40 year working career, employees have endured prolonged exposure to the recycled air that frankly seems like an invisible, toxic cloud that they cannot escape.   This exposure to poor indoor air quality is yet another liability to the company.

Over the years, doctors have linked more and more chronic diseases to exposure to chemicals in the air.   I am sure that you remember the battle over “second-hand smoke.”  Evidence was clear that non-smokers had impressively higher occurance of lung cancer when exposed to second-hand smoke in the workplace.  This can by way of civil litigation.  Asbestos was yet another ingredient that caused lung disease proven in courts time and again.   You can find other dangerous ingredients in the workplace as well.  There is benzene, formaldehyde, pesticides, cleaning chemicals containing volatile organic compounds, and bad levels of carbon dioxide to name only a few of the bad things found in most businesses.

That “New Smell” of fresh paint, new furniture, glue from the carpet, as well as stains and varnish are not good at all.  they are often volatile organic compounds that will make you ill or dizzy with overexposure.  When you walk into a room cleaned by bleach, do you think that it smell clean and sanitary?  You should also know that it is bad for you.  If you doubt me, try taking a strong whiff our of a bleach bottle.  It will be a rough experience.  Ammonia is not different, but we typically see these cleaning products as healthy when they are actually harmful to us.  The danger is lost in the fact that they are used in diluted and small quantities.  Try eating just a very small quantity of arsenic over a period of time and you will kill yourself.

One of the very real benefits of Going Green is the provision of a healthy workplace and the mitigation of a lawsuit arising from an employee made sick at the workplace.  A six month check up by a Certified Green Consultant is one of the best ways create a paper trail of a health office.   Earning your Green Business Certification may be the prime motivator for improving the office.   Going Green will often provide substantial savings in the budget.  It will likely improve the overall performance of worker and well as their health.  One of the other important benefits to the positive defense when an environmental lawsuit comes your way.  Green Business League encourages businesses to consider working to improve indoor air quality as the first phase of Greening a business.