The University of Michigan was honored with the Mark Reimers Cleaning For Health Award at the Simon Institute Symposium, earlier this month. The non-profit group consists of end users of the OS1 standardized cleaning system.

Mark Reimer is a retired cleaning industry professional from vacumm equipment company, ProTeam. He is credited with being an early advocate for "cleaning for health," and proper air filtration.

The University of Michigan has used OS1 and Janitor University since the 5-year rollout of their cleaning system began in 2009, including the maxim “clean for health first, then appearance.” They actively promoted the changes in their operation using a poster campaign and a student-produced online video, “A Short History of the Custodian,” which was awarded a Silver Telly Award last month.

According to a press release, by implementing the OS1 cleaning program the university was able to increase custodial efficiency from cleaning 36,000 sq. ft. per custodian, to cleaning 40,000 sq. ft. per custodian. It was also able to cut more than $2.1 million from the maintenance budget.

"This year, the University of Michigan was awarded the Mark Reimers Cleaning for Health Award for their unflinching dedication to excellence and health in their cleaning program," says the press release.

Mark Reimer is a retired cleaning industry professional from vacumm companh, ProTeam.

"This year, the University of Michigan was awarded the Mark Reimers Cleaning for Health Award for their unflinching dedication to excellence and health in their cleaning program," says the press release.

Previous winners of the Mark Reimers Cleaning for Health Award include the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and The University of Texas-Austin.