My name Bill Elwell, Warehouse and Fleet Manager and my comments represent New Image Building Services, a facility service provider regarding the Proposed LEED O+M: Existing Buildings v5 draft. Specifically, our comments address the Green Cleaning and the Equity Within Operations and Maintenance Staff elements. We are deeply concerned that the standards proposed in these elements are a setback for the entire global cleaning industry and understate the importance of cleaning to protect occupant health and wellbeing.

Please consider our concerns and recommendations noted below:

  • Comment: The social equity element is not tailored to the needs and working conditions of cleaning personnel, landscapers, pest applicators, parking attendants, and other employees and contract workers in the building.
  • Recommendation: The social equity requirements in the Prerequisite should be better tailored to address the needs of cleaning teams, including but not limited to fair wages, gender discrimination, working conditions, injury and illness prevention, opportunities for advancement, etc. The social equity requirements should also encompass safety provisions for cleaning personnel and be more effectively tailored to meet the needs of cleaning and other contracted workers. This includes addressing wages, production rates, hours, benefits, injury rates including ergonomic injuries, tenure of frontline workers, worker insurance, immigration status, encouraging the hiring of people with disabilities and other marginalized people, etc.; in addition to the typical social equity concerns (e.g., no child or slave labor).

We respectfully request that USGBC seriously consider these comments and update the proposed standard to better meet the needs of the global cleaning industry.