I would just like to say how grateful I am for IJCSA to be a member. All of my employees have taken the customer certification course, and we have learned so much by using this course it has been a staple on our business for the last three years and believe me we have used it. This course is valuable and a necessary part of how we operate. :) 

Hello, thank you so much for this course. I do find it so helpful. It has helped my company grow tremendously over the last three years blood-borne pathogens are super important to learn and know about whenever you’re in the Cleaning industry you can be exposed to things that you cannot see, and it can be very horrible to your health. It is important to know the Doyle times that each product needs to remain to kill these blood-borne pathogens it is also important to protect your hands and your skin even the bottoms of your shoes I feel at times from transferring blood-borne pathogens to other areas along to your body. This course has helped me learn how to prevent and how to stay safe. It is also helped my employee employees over the last three years. I am very grateful.

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Cleaning staff work hard every day to keep our buildings looking great and safe for everyone. But a lot of people do not realize that cleaning can actually be a risky job. These workers can easily run into things like blood or other bodily fluids while they are taking out the trash or scrubbing bathrooms. If they do not know what bloodborne pathogens are, they might just wipe up a dangerous spill like it is regular water. knowing the facts helps them understand why they need to be careful and treat certain messes differently so they do not get sick.

The main reason this training matter is because getting exposed to infected blood can cause really serious health problems. Illnesses like Hepatitis and HIV are real risks in this line of work. When employees get trained on bloodborne pathogens, they learn exactly why they need to wear their gloves every single time and use the right kind of cleaning sprays. It is not just about following company rules or making the boss happy. It is about making sure they protect themselves from hidden infections so they can go home healthy after their shift.

On top of keeping themselves safe, trained cleaning workers also protect everyone else who uses the building. If a hazardous spill is not cleaned up right away, the germs can stick around and get someone else sick later on. Proper training means the staff knows how to completely get rid of the germs and throw away the dirty rags of paper towels safely. When you really think about it, making sure the cleaning team understands bloodborne pathogens is just basic common sense for keeping the whole workplace safe for everyone.

Potential exposure to a bloodborne pathogen is way more common and deadly than people may think. If even small risks are not taken care of properly, it could harm not only the person exposed, but the people they then expose while they are clueless about what they're carrying around. Cluelessness can be deadly. Companies need to take this into serious consideration and evaluate if their current policies and procedures truly protect their staff and customers. 

Incidents they seem small to the unknowing can lead to serious illnesses such as HBV and HIV, which can severely damage your liver and even cause AIDS as well as cancer. Could you imagine you get Liver Cancer from cleaning up a soiled bed at work a few years ago? Symptoms don't immediately show themselves, meaning you can carry this around for years, even unknowingly spreading it to your loved ones, without any knowledge you have it in the first place. 

Without proper knowledge and protection while dealing with potential Bloodborne Pathogens people could die. This is why it is so important for people, especially cleaning staff dealing with these hands-on, to have the knowledge of risks and protective measures as well as the access to what they need provided by the company they work for. This isn't something to say "Oh, that'll never happen to me" and go on about your day. This is something to stand up and advocate for. The expansion of knowledge and awareness is crucial to keep everyone arriving and leaving work as healthy as they can be. 

Medical cleaning practices exist because the stakes in a healthcare setting are unusually high — but the underlying principles behind them aren't exclusive to hospitals and clinics. The core idea behind clinical infection control is simple: clean first, disinfect second, and never assume a surface is safe just because it looks tidy. That two-step process — physically removing dirt and debris so a disinfectant can actually reach the surface, then applying an EPA-registered, hospital-grade disinfectant and letting it sit for its full contact/dwell time — is just as effective in a home kitchen, a daycare, a gym, or a corporate office as it is in a patient room. Bringing that discipline into everyday residential and commercial cleaning is one of the simplest ways to raise the actual hygiene standard of a space, not just its appearance.

The most direct practice to borrow is high-touch surface disinfection. In a healthcare setting, door handles, light switches, bed rails, call buttons, countertops, and faucet handles get prioritized because they're touched constantly and are the most likely surfaces to spread illness. That same logic applies almost exactly to a break room, a school, a gym locker room, or a family home — light switches, doorknobs, remote controls, refrigerator handles, and shared countertops carry the same outsized risk. Using dedicated, color-coded cloths per area (rather than one rag for the whole space), verifying a disinfectant's EPA registration through the EPA's List N, and respecting labeled dwell times instead of wiping a surface dry seconds after applying product are all medical-grade habits that translate directly into any residential or commercial cleaning job.

Hand hygiene and basic protective practices are the other easy carryover. In clinical environmental cleaning, hand hygiene happens before gloving and again after — not just at the start and end of a task — because gloves are treated as an added layer of protection, not a substitute for washing hands. Applying that same standard in commercial and residential cleaning, along with using fresh gloves per room or per task rather than reusing a single pair throughout a job, meaningfully reduces cross-contamination between spaces. It's a small operational change, but it reflects the same value that drives the entire field of infection control: protecting the person doing the cleaning is just as important as protecting the space being cleaned.

Ultimately, adopting these practices is about more than any single household, business, or client — it's a small but real contribution to protecting the broader population from the spread of harmful bacteria, germs, and viruses. The CDC has linked healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) to roughly 1.7 million reported cases and tens of thousands of deaths annually in the U.S. alone, and while general commercial and residential spaces carry different risk levels, the same organisms — cold and flu viruses, norovirus, drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA — don't stay confined to hospitals. Every space cleaned to a higher standard is one less place for those pathogens to spread between people, households, and communities. For anyone looking to hire a cleaning provider trained to this same OSHA- and CDC-aligned standard, the IJCSA https://www.ijcsa.org/Janitorial-Service-Directory-Find-A-Janitorial-Service-JanitorialServicesis a reliable resource for finding a company that takes infection control seriously, whether the job is a medical office, a commercial building, or a private residence.

References: CDC Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health-Care Facilities; OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030; EPA List N: Disinfectants.

Healthcare facility cleaning is not the same job as cleaning a home or a typical office, even though the tools can look similar. The people inside a medical space often have weaker immune systems, open wounds, or medical devices that give germs a direct path into the body, so a shortcut that would go unnoticed with general commercial cleaning can directly contribute to a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) in a clinical setting. HAIs are not a rare or theoretical risk — CDC data puts the number at roughly 1.7 million reported HAIs a year in the U.S., with tens of thousands of resulting deaths, and no population is exempt, including newborns and otherwise healthy patients in for routine procedures. A medical cleaning and disinfection team that treats every surface as a possible pathogen reservoir, even when it looks spotless, is the first line of defense against that risk — which is exactly why hiring a certified, properly trained janitorial service matters so much in this industry.

That's why effective infection control cleaning has to go beyond wiping a surface until it looks clean. True disinfection requires physically cleaning a surface first so dirt and debris don't block the disinfectant from making contact, then applying an EPA-registered, hospital-grade disinfectant and leaving it wet for its full listed contact/dwell time — something that's easy to rush past under time pressure but that makes or breaks whether a surface is actually decontaminated versus simply wet-wiped. High-touch surface disinfection — door handles, bed rails, call buttons, light switches, countertops — deserves extra attention because these points are touched constantly by patients, staff, and visitors, making them the most likely surfaces to spread infection if they're missed or wiped dry too soon. On top of that, proper hand hygiene and personal protective equipment (PPE) protocols — gloved, gowned, and masked in the correct order, with hands washed before gloving and after degloving — protect the cleaning team itself from bloodborne pathogens like HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C, which spread through contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials (OPIM), not just visibly contaminated surfaces.

Earning my IJCSA Green Cleaning Certification wasn't just another line item on a certification tracker — it changed how I think about every product, tool, and process my company puts into a client's home or building. Green cleaning certification means I've been trained to select eco-friendly, non-toxic, and often plant-based or biodegradable cleaning products, to reduce water and energy waste, and to follow sustainable cleaning practices from start to finish on every job. For a small, growing commercial cleaning company like mine, that training isn't just a credential on a wall — it's a daily operating standard that shapes which products I stock, how I train my team, and what I promise clients before I ever step through their door.

The business case for certification is just as real as the values case. Clients — especially property managers, healthcare-adjacent facilities, and government-funded housing developments — increasingly ask what's actually in the products touching their floors, countertops, and air. According to the EPA, indoor concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from everyday cleansers and disinfectants can run two to five times higher than outdoor levels, and spike far higher during and immediately after cleaning. Being able to tell a client, in writing, that my company is IJCSA Green Cleaning Certified and uses low-VOC, non-toxic products gives them something a competitor who just says "we're eco-friendly" can't back up. Certification becomes a competitive differentiator and a trust signal I can point to in every proposal.

There's also a direct benefit to me and my team as individuals, not just to the business. My employees are the ones with their hands on these products for hours at a time, and the EPA has documented real short- and long-term health effects tied to VOC exposure — everything from headaches, dizziness, and eye and respiratory irritation to longer-term effects on the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system. Choosing certified green products and sustainable cleaning practices isn't an abstract environmental gesture; it's a concrete way I protect the people who work for me from chemical exposure they'd otherwise absorb job after job, year after year.

Beyond my own company, I take seriously the larger reason this certification exists: protecting the population and the world from harmful chemicals doesn't stop at one client's door. Every gallon of non-toxic, biodegradable cleaner used instead of a harsh chemical alternative is less runoff into local water systems, less airborne toxin in a shared building, and one more data point proving that environmentally responsible cleaning and effective cleaning aren't in conflict. Anyone looking to hire a cleaning company that takes this seriously — not just markets itself that way — can search the IJCSA Green Cleaning Service Directory for verified, certified green cleaning providers, mine included, rather than relying on unverified "green" claims that the EPA itself warns can amount to greenwashing.

References: U.S. EPA, "Volatile Organic Compounds' Impact on Indoor Air Quality" (epa.gov); U.S. EPA, "Identifying Greener Cleaning Products" / Safer Choice program (epa.gov); IJCSA Green Cleaning Service Directory (ijcsa.org/Green-Cleaning-Services).

More homeowners and business owners than ever are asking the same question before hiring a cleaning company: is this service actually safe for my family, my employees, and the planet? Traditional cleaning products can leave behind harsh chemical residue, strong fumes, and ingredients that aren't great for kids, pets, or anyone with allergies or respiratory sensitivities. That's exactly why green cleaning has moved from a "nice to have" to a top priority when choosing who gets the keys to your home or office. A qualified green cleaning service uses eco-friendly, non-toxic, and often plant-based or biodegradable products that clean just as effectively as conventional chemicals, without the environmental impact or the health risks that come with heavy-duty solvents, bleach, and artificial fragrances.

So what should you actually look for when searching for a green cleaning company? Start with certification. Any cleaning business can slap the word "green" on their website, but a company that has earned an IJCSA Green Cleaning Certification has been trained on sustainable cleaning practices, environmentally responsible product selection, reduced water and energy use, and proper handling of eco-friendly cleaning supplies. Ask potential providers what products they use, whether those products are VOC-free or low-VOC, and how they dispose of waste and packaging. A trustworthy green cleaning provider will be happy to walk you through their process because sustainability is part of their brand, not just a buzzword in a sales pitch.

The good news is you don't have to take a company's word for it. The IJCSA Green Cleaning Service Directory makes it simple to find vetted, certified green cleaning professionals in your area — search by location, review member credentials, and connect directly with companies that have already done the work to prove their eco-friendly practices are legitimate. Whether you're a homeowner looking for a healthier clean, a property manager responsible for shared spaces, or a business owner who wants your workplace to reflect your values, choosing a certified green cleaning service is one of the easiest ways to protect the people who walk through your doors and reduce your environmental footprint at the same time.

Ready to make the switch to a healthier, more sustainable clean? Browse the IJCSA Green Cleaning Service Directory today and connect with a certified green cleaning professional near you.