Cleaning for Health

INFORM’s Cleaning for Health project aims to protect custodial workers, students and other building occupants, and the environment from the adverse impacts of cleaning chemicals by identifying toxic substances of concern and promoting the use of safer products and practices.

Cleaning for health (green cleaning) is a practice that addresses toxic substances contained in cleaning products. The chemicals contained in traditional cleaners can cause a range of health effects from numbness in the extremities and lung irritation to severe burns and neurological damage. Some chemicals and fragrances in cleaners can also cause or exacerbate asthma.

The chemicals contained in cleaners are particularly worrisome because using cleaners exposes custodial staff, children and other building occupants to these chemicals. (With other products, exposure to the toxic substances occurs primarily if the product is misused; with cleaners, some level of exposure is nearly unavoidable.)

Green cleaning substitutes traditional cleaners with those that contain fewer or less-toxic substances. (No product is entirely toxic free.) Green cleaning also requires a change in cleaning practices and equipment; for example, floors in low-traffic areas are cleaned less frequently than those in high-traffic areas, or vacuums with high-performance filters are used to prevent dirt from reentering the atmosphere.

INFORM partners with the American Lung Association of New England, NHCOSH, Association of Vermont Recyclers, Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Vermont, Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Connecticut, the RI Committee on Occupational Safety & Health, MASSCOSH, Healthy Schools Network, the American Federation of Teachers, AFSCME International, and others on this important work.