Sustainable Facilities Management Can Boost Productivity

A well-maintained facility can help a business’s bottom line, according to an article on the Creamer Media’s Engineering News website.

Facilities that are not properly cared for can result in ‘sick building syndrome,’ where workers are hit with headaches and respiratory problems. A facility that is green and free of harmful chemicals, on the other hand, is a healthier environment for employees. It follows then, that environmentally friendly, green cleaning products can help facilities management as they work to improve the indoor environment of their workplace.

These products reduce the negative impact that their chemically manufactured counterparts have on the environment, as well as on the health of employees working in the buildings, the article said.

In addition of avoiding sick building syndrome, green products are also often more cost effective, requiring less water and reducing the amount of product needed.

“Many facility managers have started taking the green working environment very seriously, and with positive results. Green buildings are becoming more commonplace as healthy environments emerge as the new desired goal,” John Coetzee, CEO at Green Worx Cleaning Solutions, said in the Engineering News article.

In fact, Contracting Profits recently surveyed facility executives in commercial offices to find out how much green matters and what aspects of an environmentally friendly cleaning program are most important. According to the survey, 86 percent of facility executives expect the cleaning contractors they hire to practice green cleaning whenever possible.
 
“It has become clear that the general attitude among that community is that green cleaning is low hanging fruit — it’s easy to do the right thing,” says Stephen Ashkin, president of The Ashkin Group, Los Angeles. “Green products are widely available, so why shouldn’t they do it?”