The First Facility Management Blog

As the New Year approaches, enjoy some amusing and striking art creations. English artist, Julian Beever, is famous for his works of chalk art, which can be found on the pavement in numerous countries, including England, the United States, France, German, Belgium, and Australia. Below is a sampling of his realistic drawings.

As green cleaning’s popularity continues to soar, a new poll appears to question if using environmentally preferable cleaning products is of greater interest to jansan manufacturers and distributors than to the customers of building service contractors (BSCs). Participants were questioned as to how many of their customers have asked to switch from conventional to green cleaning products. Sixty percent responded “very few;” 20% indicated more than half; and 20% reported that a “quarter to about half” of their customers request environmentally preferable cleaning products be used in their facilities.

For more on this topic, make sure to check the January 2007 issue of TFM.)

The Tornado e-Poll also asked BSCs if their customers were aware of certifying organizations, such as EcoLogoM and Green Seal® or the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label and Seal of Approval Programs. The results are as follows:
Almost all: 20%
Quiet a few: 20%
Very few: 40%
None: 20%

Similarly, when asked if their clients were seeking LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, the cleaning professionals answered:
Yes: 20%
No: 40%
Do not know: 20%

“It almost makes you wonder if green cleaning is of greater interest in the boardrooms of manufacturers and distributors than in the millions of facilities cleaned every day,” says Jim Hlavin, head of Tornado’s Business Development division. “However, we know the interest in Green cleaning, sustainability, LEED certification, and similar measures are growing considerably. It is just beginning to blossom.”

The final question asked the BSCs about their sources of information about green cleaning. According to the survey, 80% indicated they get most of their information from trade publications. The remaining 20% answered that their information source is primarily their local jansan distributor.

Survey Methodology:
• Database of end users provided by Tornado Industries; survey conducted by AlturaSolutions Communications, Chicago, Illinois, using a Web-based survey service.
• The survey was conducted November 2006.
• E-mail invitations were sent to approximately 3,000 jansan distributors via a monthly newsletter with 141 responding at the time of this release.
• The survey has a confidence interval of 95%. This means that even if a larger number of similar recipients had responded, there is a 95% chance the survey results would still be the same.

In anticipation of next week, FacilityBlog is letting managers in on a little secret. It’s a free service called Call-in-Sick which allows workers to send a prerecorded “sickie” request to managers “from anywhere,” and at “any time.” The description continues, “With Call-in-Sick, you can record your sick message the night before then schedule it to be sent directly to your boss’s phone early in the morning without you even getting out of bed!”

Here is the description from the Web site:
* It’s FREE!
* Your caller-id on your outgoing call
* Schedule the call anytime of the day or night.
* Re-record your message and play it back until you have perfected the perfect sick sounding call.
* All calls left on your boss’s phone’s voicemail or answering machine.
* Confirmation delivery of your message sent as a text message to your cell phone.

(I personally tried the example, and it worked.)

So facility managers, be forewarned!