CMM Weekly News Recap-February 21, 2020

Facility managers and professional cleaners are instrumental in protecting people in their buildings from biological threats. This week’s news highlighted some of the threats—viruses and fungus—cleaning industry professionals battle daily.

Problems continue for Seattle Children’s Hospital, which is accused of covering up a mold infestation in the air handling units of its operating rooms since at least 2005. Hospital officials admit 14 patients have contracted infections from the Aspergillus mold, with half dying as a result.

Hospital maintenance crews are installing HEPA filters in all the operating rooms. But families of the affected patients say the hospital was not timely in solving its mold problem and have filed a class-action lawsuit. You can protect your facility from a lawsuit and ensure the health of your building’s patrons by learning more about indoor air quality at the upcoming Clean Buildings Expo next month in Baltimore.

COVID-19 continues to be a threat monitored in the news. CMM has shared best practices to protect your facility from this new virus, such as this tip sheet on disinfectant use from the Global BioRisk Advisory Council^® (GBAC), a Division of ISSA. This tip sheet is the latest in a series from GBAC on the current coronavirus outbreak. The council has issued tip sheets on personal protective equipment and risk assessment procedures. Learn more about protecting your facility from COVID-19 at an upcoming GBAC workshop.

Probably the biggest threat your facility faces the rest of winter is flu germs. Despite all the attention on COVID-19, your building patrons are much more likely to come down with influenza, especially since this flu season has been a bad one, affecting 26 million people in the United States so far. Flu has caused the death of at least 14,000 people, and the hospitalization of at least 250,000 individuals. How well did your facility survive the cold and flu season? Attend this Cleaning Buildings Expo session to learn cleaning process improvements that custodial teams can make to reduce the spread of the flu.

Protect yourself from germs and other threats this weekend and CMM will be back with more news on Monday.