IEHA, a division of ISSA that focuses on the health care and hospitality sectors of the cleaning industry, announced its Sustainability Professional (SP) Credential now requires applicants to demonstrate practical competencies in waste management reduction and process improvement.

The revisions to the IEHA SP Credential now requires applicants to:

1. Conduct a waste audit in their facilities, document their findings, and begin an intervention to reduce the waste stream, report results, and follow up on actions.

2. Select two additional topics from the list below for demonstrating proficiencies in process improvement:
a. Conduct an energy audit in one or more areas of their facility, document findings, identify and begin a process to reduce energy use, measure outcomes, and recommend next steps.
b. Select a vendor or supplier and jointly review actions it has taken to green its processes and products. Evaluate and document sustainability claims of proposed or procured products. Develop a mutually beneficial process improvement project that involves collaboration with the vendor. Report results and follow-up actions.
c. Institute a more sustainable, lower toxicity process for cleaning and disinfection to reduce the potential for healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs). Document team member participation, process improvement steps taken, and measured outcomes. Report results and follow-up actions.
d. Conduct a water usage audit, select and begin a process to reduce water use, document their findings, actions, and next steps.
e. Conduct a study of the usage of blue wrap, a polypropylene plastic used in operating rooms to maintain sterility, and how hard packaging or recycling could reduce the related waste stream. Select and begin a process improvement and measure results then report outcomes and follow-up actions.

3. Document projects above in a single essay of 750-1,000 words explaining the approaches, rationale, team formation, specific interventions, measured outcomes, failures, and follow-up actions. A short PowerPoint presentation providing a visual record of the process is also required.

4. Pass a qualifying classroom exam, which must be completed within 30 days following completion of the classroom course.

Visit www.ieha.org and for more information contact IEHA’s executive director Michael Patterson at michaelp@issa.com.