After all, there are really sick people in hospitals, and avoiding unnecessary exposures to potentially toxic chemicals is in line with the ancient medical maxim, "First, do no harm."
It's also in accord with growing groups like Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, which recommends green cleaning as "an integral part of efficient, effective and environmentally sustainable operations in health care facilities."
The largest hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., 705-bed Maimonides Medical Center, has gotten the green cleaning message and has been using Core Products' Green Logic® Floor Stripper and Floor Finish for the last six months, according to Director of Environmental Services Michael Yohannes.
The Green Logic® products are non-toxic, biodegradable and contain no petroleum distillates. The products, a metal-free, slip-resistant floor seal and finish with advanced cross-linked polymer and a non-butyl floor seal remover, are Green Seal-certified and designed to provide safer, effective, environmentally preferable solutions to a wide range of cleaning challenges.
"We are moving everything towards green products, for safety and for being environmentally friendly," Yohannes says.
But, in cleaning almost 1 million square feet of floor space, Yohannes is also concerned that green cleaning products do the job at a reasonable cost - and that's been the case with Green Logic® Floor Stripper and Floor Finish, he says.
"First of all, there is no odor in the product and the finish lasts longer than other commercial products," Yohannes says.
While patients may not recognize the difference, hospital employees definitely have.
"Everybody here loves it - my staff and the doctors and nurses," Yohannes says. "When they see us coming, it's not like there is the fear of the smell there used to be. It's helped improve the relationship between our crew and the rest of the hospital staff. We are happy with it."
According to Lucius Cobb, who works for Jordan Wingate, a distributor of Green Logic® products, other customers in the health care field have reacted positively to the lack of odor.
"The products are safe and user-friendly and are not going to be injurious to the person using them," Cobb says.
Cobb agreed with Yohannes that Green Logic® products create a cleaner, safer workplace for doctors, nurses and other hospital staff.
Core Products President Brent Crawford says the company determined five years ago to establish a line of products that were completely green - the Hydroxi Pro® and Green Logic® brands.
"We noticed a bigger interest, with more and more people demanding greener products," he says. "Not only are people in the industry concerned with the impact on the environment, but also with the impact on the health of jan/san workers."
Crawford explains that, for Green Logic®, Core Products chose to develop its own formulas, based on its 30-plus-years' experience in the industry.
"We offer a quality product that is price competitive and stands up against traditional chemicals in the market; and our performance testing ensures that our products do what they say they do," Crawford says. "Along with performance tests, we have gone through the extensive process and achieved third-party certification like Green Seal and the EPA's Design for the Environment program for formulators on many of our products."
Crawford notes that the demand for green floor care products goes well beyond the health care sector.
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