P&G Professional, the away-from-home division of Procter & Gamble, announced the launch of the P&G Professional University, a free, web-based educational resource providing valuable expert insights, training, and tools for customers and non-customers alike within the professional cleaning industry.

The University’s Professional Development section offers both written and video-based educational content, and allows students to test their knowledge through self-study sessions and quizzes. The Resource Library provides a more robust offering of industry-related articles and expert insights, while the Product & Procedures section leads end-users to the company's catalog of hands-on training tools.

“Our new P&G Professional University is a virtual campus that offers a wide variety of educational content that is relevant for executives, managers, and/or the staff members who are tasked with managing and executing the cleaning operations for their business,” says Renee Buchanan, communications manager, P&G Professional. “True to our mission of helping businesses thrive, our faculty of experts has been assembled to ensure we continually provide updated content most relevant to the needs of our industry professionals.”

P&G Professional Advisory Council 
Faculty members contributing content to the University include third-party industry experts and thought leaders from P&G Professional's exclusive Advisory Council. Representing diverse areas of expertise, advisory council members work with P&G Professional to promote best practices and education within the cleaning industry and share their expertise through specialized content, including articles and webinars, designed to help businesses thrive.

The 2013/2014 Advisory Council members and university faculty include:
    •    Steve Ashkin, President, The Ashkin Group (Green Cleaning & Sustainability)
    •    Beatrix Babcock, Partner, HCI Consulting Group (Healthcare and Infection Control)
    •    Dave Frank, President, American Institute of Cleaning Sciences (Professional Cleaning & Maintenance)
    •    Roy Getz, Food Industry Expert (Food Services and Restaurant Industry)
    •    Jim Mann, Founder and Executive Director, Handwashing For Life® Institute and The Handwashing Leadership Forum® (Surface/Hand Contamination Reduction)
    •    Jan Matthews, CEO, RPGlobal.UK (Large Scale Cleaning & Operations)
    •    Atul Patel, Regional Director, Asian American Hotel Owners Association (Hotel Operations)
    •    Steve Strauss, USA Today Senior Small Business Columnist, Author, “The Small Business Bible, 3rd ed.” and President, TheSelfEmployed (Small Business)

New HCS Training for GHS Requirements Available 
As an added offering, P&G Professional University currently features training materials for Hazard Communications Standards (HCS) to help cleaning managers prepare for the industry’s move to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Employee training on new product labels and formats were required before December 1, 2013, and full compliance must be achieved by June 1, 2016.

“At P&G Professional, we know that employee training is a challenge for many of our customers. With the free, online university, our goal is to not only serve the educational needs of managers and executives as they lead their businesses, but to also provide much needed support in the area of employee training, to ensure cleaning processes are conducted effectively, efficiently and safely,” continued Buchanan.

P&G Professional University can be accessed through the newly redesigned P&G Professional website, www.pgpro.com/university . The site is mobile-ready, accessible on any device, and university registration is free.