Category: Green Cleaning

We’re not those people who like to shout about our accolades, but in this instance it’s important. As the world prioritizes cleaning and disinfection, you need to understand what CIMS-GB is and why it matters that your cleaning company has the certification.

The reason? Because the world’s full of misleading messages, plenty of snake oil and tons of hype – particularly when it comes to cleaning, thanks to the pandemic stirring up opportunists. So, for that reason we’re going to break down the value of a CIMS-GB certification and what it means when your janitorial partner has it on their resumé.

For starters, what is CIMS-GB?

CIMS-GB stands for Cleaning Industry Management Standard-Green Building. It’s a certification issued by ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association that’s responsible for setting and upholding professional standards among its members.

To become CIMS-GB certified with honors, an organization has to demonstrate that it meets or exceeds the industry standard in the core areas of business, all while showcasing professionalism and a customer-focused approach that can provide sophisticated, proven green-cleaning programs for its clients.

Those areas of focus are:

• Quality systems
• Service delivery
• Human resources
• Health, safety and environmental stewardship
• Management commitment

Only a handful of organizations have earned CIMS-GB with honors, but you may still ask: So what? Fair question, so let’s dig in.

A Commitment to Quality + Service

These are easy words to throw around, but to earn CIMS-GB you have to prove it. And that’s what we’ve done at KleenMark for years.

For starters, our teams undergo some of the most extensive training in the industry. Along with proven processes that ensure facilities are adequately cleaned and disinfected to meet your needs, we invest in our people.

To give you an example, we recently sent a large team to Diversey’s headquarters for a multi-day training program. Working with the leading chemical company, our team underwent a masterclass in chemical handling, application and the latest processes needed to handle increasingly demanding disinfection needs.

Additionally, we were one of the first organizations to use third-party trainers to teach our team how to safely and thoroughly disinfect against COVID-19. And we’re not talking about corporate reps. We worked with infectious control experts who provided medical-grade processes and approaches.

Of course, those are only two examples. But to earn CIMS-GB, it requires rigorous, ongoing training. And it’s something our leadership team committed to long before certifications existed.

“KleenMark is in the top one-quarter of one percent of all cleaning services providers,” said Bruce Stark, a certified CIMS assessor. It’s also important to point out that CIMS started in 2007 and KleenMark became certified in 2008, one of the first 40 companies to do so.”

Health and safety. Turned up to 10.

We clean a lot of medical facilities – and we did so prior to COVID-19. Health and safety processes have been engrained in our model for years. But it goes beyond how to disinfect properly.

Our teams understand what chemicals to use and when. They know what’s safe to use around your employees, how to handle biohazards – and everything in between.

On top of that, we’re one of very few commercial janitorial companies that employees a full-time health and safety manager. This allows us to ensure our teams are always up-to-date on best practices, ranging from OSHA standards to disinfection dwell times.

“The pandemic has caused clients to seek CIMS-certified cleaning services providers because they all have pandemic plans, processes, chemicals, and trained staff to help reduce the risk of COVID to their clients and the clients customers,” Stark said.

Going Green Matters

While the pandemic led many organizations to focus heavily on “disinfection at all costs”, having a thoughtful cleaning program that’s good for the environment, your employees and your customers is critical.

Being CIMS-GB certified means many things, but ultimately it means we’re trained to help you achieve your environmental goals. By working with an organization like KleenMark, the facilities we clean are, by default, also CIMS-GB certified.

We meet a number of other standards as well, ranging from having established processes that minimalize our impact on the environment to prioritizing chemicals and energy-efficient equipment that’s better for the world.

To learn more about our green-cleaning practices, click here.

Want to talk more about what CIMS-GB means to you? Get in touch any time.