IJCSA Announces Bid Help
The International Janitorial Cleaning Service Association (IJCSA) announces “Bid Help,” a program designed so that cleaning service owners can submit cleaning specifications to a panel of veteran cleaning experts. These experts help calculate the contractors price for service and supplies. The bid system takes into consideration all the specifications and conditions that could affect the price of performed work. For more information, visit www.ijcsa.com.


Green seal provides sneak peek of new green cleaning service standard
Green Seal has announced that its proposed Green Seal Cleaning Service Standard will be available for public review in April.

According to Green Seal, President and CEO Arthur B. Weissman, Ph.D. will be available to discuss the proposed standard’s structure, as well as Green Seal’s plans to help the industry learn about and adopt the standard.

It is expected that this leadership standard will be adopted by “progressive” departments seeking to clearly identify their operations as “green” via an objective set of criteria based on a practical blend of sound environmental science and industry best practices.

Watch for future announcements from Green Seal regarding this new standard.


Updated Seal of Approval Program Evaluates Cleaning Process
The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) announced that it is now accepting products for testing under the latest phase of its Seal of Approval (SOA) program. The CRI “SOA for Deep Cleaning Systems” will evaluate the effectiveness of the overall cleaning process and include testing for equipment and cleaning solutions used in combination. The program addresses those processes which require a specific machine to be used with a certain cleaning agent following a specific procedure. This latest program joins CRI’s successful Seal of Approval testing programs already in place for deep cleaning extractors and cleaning solutions. The “SOA for Deep Cleaning Systems” tests for eight performance criteria: soil removal, re-soiling, appearance retention, amount of moisture left in the carpet, surface appearance change, colorfastness, pH level, and optical brighteners.


Benchmarking Report Outlines Janitorial Practices
The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) recently released a research report that outlines dollar-per-square-foot averages for housekeeping and maintenance costs, along with practices and staffing ratios.

The report explores how often common janitorial tasks, such as cleaning, dusting, polishing, vacuuming and waxing, are performed. One of the interesting findings regarding janitorial contracts is that 45 percent are based upon performance and 55 percent are based upon task and frequency.

IFMA’s findings reveal that square footage per person in a workplace has stayed relatively the same since 2004. The current average rentable square foot per occupant is 367, a slight decrease of two feet from prior reports. For more information on this report, visit www.ifma.org.




POSTED ON: 4/1/2006