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Clean Buildings Conference
LEED Adopts APPA Cleaning Standard
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently revised its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) standard to make green cleaning a prerequisite. Now all buildings seeking LEED-EB certification must have a green cleaning policy.
The USGBC recently added credits for those institutions conducting an audit of their facilities using APPA’s Custodial Staffing Guidelines for Educational Facilities, recognizing buildings that have superior cleaning programs. Institutions can earn up to two LEED points for using APPA’s guidelines as part of the Quality Cleaning section of LEED’s Operations and Maintenance guide to determine the appearance level of the facility.
The intent of the assessment, according to the LEED guide is, “to reduce the exposure of building occupants and maintenance personnel to potentially hazardous chemical, biological, and particulate contaminants — which adversely affect air quality, human health, building finishes, building systems, and the environment — by implementing, managing and auditing cleaning procedures and processes.”
Colleges Cut Budgets
Colleges across the country have always struggled with deferred maintenance, but several factors might make that struggle especially challenging in the future. Colleges grew rapidly in the postwar years and have a generation of 1960s or 70s buildings that need major repair or replacement. In the past 10 years, colleges went through another building boom, adding to the square footage they need to support. Many of those new buildings are more costly and complicated to maintain than buildings of the past.
To make things even more difficult, colleges face a money crunch. A looming energy crisis and an unstable economy, combined with infrastructure repairs needed in other public spaces, may squeeze the state budgets that public colleges rely on. Tuition-dependent private colleges might not be better off. In coming years, colleges will very likely vie for fewer students, even as their buildings play a major role in the admissions sales pitch.
In short, without drastic intervention, many campuses may be on a track toward steady deterioration.
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Government Funds Emergency-Management Plans
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded $24 million in grants to 92 school districts in 34 states to help the schools enhance their readiness and emergency-management plans. The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools discretionary grant program provides funds for school districts to strengthen their emergency-management plans. For a school district to qualify for a grant, its improved plan must address all four phases of emergency management: prevention-mitigation; preparedness; response; and recovery.
As part of their plans, districts must do the following: coordinate with officials in law enforcement, local government, public safety, public health and mental health; train school officials in emergency management; and provide a method for communicating emergency and reunification procedures to parents and guardians. Measures also should support the implementation of the National Incident Management System, which works to prevent the outbreak of infectious disease, and should take into consideration districts’ special-needs populations.
Districts also can use funds to coordinate with local emergency responders, including fire, police, and health and public health agencies, conduct drills and exercises, buy emergency supplies and equipment, and train staff and students on emergency-response procedures.