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The 1970s were met with optimism and progress from the industry. In fact, the National Association of Building Service Contractors (NABSC) entered the decade calling it the “Dawn of a New Era”, and it was.
During those early 1970s, NABSC looked to expand outside the U.S. and officially changed their name to Building Service Contractors Association – International (BSCA-I), although it was most commonly known simply as BSCA.
The association also started growing, which resulted in the relocation of the Washington, D.C. headquarters to Virginia. It was there that BSCA brainstormed and launched the Supervision Seminar, a traveling training opportunity that would educate leaders on how to handle staffing issues. The event took place in cities across the country and was held upwards of 15 times a year. An updated version is still offered to members today.
1970
- The birth of Earth Day in April launched a focus on cleaning programs that supported environmentalism. And later in the year, the launch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency brought regulatory challenges and stricter legislation on chemicals.
1976
- The Certified Building Services Executive standard (CBSE) was born with a goal to raise professional standards in the contract cleaning industry. Almost 60 contractors graduated in the initial 1976 class. Association founder James Purcell was named as the first Certified Building Service Contractor.
1978
- BSCA introduced a second standard, the Registered Building Service Manager (RBSM). More than 25 managers and supervisors graduated in the first class.
- With the evolution of cleaning demands putting a lot of focus on staff training and education, distribution partners stepped in to assist. One example was Daycon Products (now a BradyPLUS company) who launched the Custodial Institute as a way to train frontline janitors in best practices.
1979
- BSCA took the lead in forming the World Federation of Building Service Contractors (WFBSC). The first World Congress was held in 1979 in Berne, Switzerland. Of the 138 attendees representing 21 different countries, more than a third were BSCA members.
