NOVEMEBER 2005

While many universities, hospitals, school districts and other commercial and institutional organizations embark on construction projects with price tags of hundreds of millions of dollars, operations department budgets allocated to clean buildings continue to dwindle.

Typically, profit-minded corporate executives view cleaning as an expense, so it’s no wonder that it’s been difficult for housekeeping managers to explain the value of cleaning and make a case for a budget to support new and more sophisticated products, tools and equipment purchases — until recently.

Housekeeping managers are discovering that the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building program is helping change the dynamics of the budget discussion. As Michael Arny, president of the Leonardo Academy, says in the cover story, cleaning is not generally on the minds of CEOs, but achieving award-winning “sustainable” buildings is. And when cleaning operations count significantly toward a building’s certification, executives are all ears.

Now’s the time for you to cultivate your “green” cleaning knowledge and use it to leverage what your department needs to provide a higher level of cleaning. Got ideas for how to maintain a healthier and more productive building? If so, your timing is perfect.