by Rebecca Walker — November 23, 2009—ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, has released a Green Building (GB) module of its popular Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) and Certification Program. Certification to the CIMS-GB criteria opens concurrently.
CIMS-GB was designed to help meet the growing demand for green and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, says ISSA. Implemented as the sixth dimension of CIMS, the new criteria and designation will offer cleaning organizations an optional certification designed to help their customers secure points under the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (LEED-EBOM) Green Building Rating System, while greening their overall operations.
CIMS applies to management, operations, performance systems and processes. Compliance with the Standard demonstrates that an organization is structured to deliver consistent, quality services designed to meet the customer’s needs and expectations. It is nonprescriptive, so each organization has the flexibility to choose the most effective ways to meet its requirements.
With the addition of CIMS-GB module, cleaning organizations will now have a choice of certifying only to the traditional CIMS management requirements, or to both the CIMS and CIMS-GB criteria. Organizations may not pursue only the Green Building designation without also being assessed to the management best practices outlined in the original five sections of the Standard.
ISSA announced that 12 organizations have now achieved certification to both the ISSA Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) and the recently introduced CIMS-Green Building (CIMS-GB) criteria. With the addition of these organizations, CIMS-certified firms now maintain more than 1.5 billion square feet of building space throughout North America.
For more information, see the ISSA Web site.
