CSI International Delivers Expert Infection Prevention with GBAC^® STAR Service Accreditation

Opportunity

Since 1989, CSI International has provided integrated building services to customers across the eastern and Midwestern United States. CSI has grown to serve organizations in higher education, manufacturing, insurance, pharmaceutical, real estate, property management, and telecommunications sectors.

CSI regarded customer and employee safety as paramount during the COVID-19 pandemic. To minimize risk across its client sites, the service provider sought to update its cleaning program and standardize training to ensure associates adhere to the highest standards of infectious disease prevention protocols and practices.

“The pandemic brought a renewed awareness to the importance of cleaning and disinfecting,” said Rozanne Daniel, Director of Human Resources, CSI International. “Keeping our customers and their employees safe and healthy continues to be top priority for our staff and management team.”

Solution

Through its membership with ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, CSI learned about GBAC STAR™ Service Accreditation from the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), a Division of ISSA. CSI decided to pursue accreditation to verify its infectious disease prevention program with third-party accreditation and formalize its employee training program to include best practices for mitigating biohazard risks.

Once CSI completed the accreditation process, it began communicating the purpose and benefits of GBAC STAR to its employees and customers. “The accreditation emphasizes to both our clients and employees that CSI has the proper work practices, procedures, and systems in place to prepare for, respond to, and recover from any current or future biohazard or infectious outbreak,” said Daniel.

CSI communicated its GBAC STAR accreditation and its requirements to its teams with an internal company memo, hands-on employee training, and conversations between managers and frontline associates. Additionally, CSI distributed policy and procedure memos and discussed the accreditation with its clients. “Being industry outsiders, most clients weren’t familiar with the accreditation,” Daniel continued. “Once we explained GBAC STAR, our clients always had a positive reaction to our involvement in the program.”

Results

With GBAC STAR Service Accreditation, CSI International has realized the following benefits:

• Formalized training. GBAC STAR empowered CSI to achieve its goal of formalizing its training program for professional cleaners. CSI’s comprehensive training addresses proper cleaning and disinfection techniques as well as protocols like social distancing, mask wearing, and handwashing. Now, employees are armed with the knowledge and methods to mitigate the spread of pathogens.
• Standardized cleaning and disinfection. GBAC STAR also helped CSI standardize its cleaning and disinfection protocols across its many client sites. Through the process of fulfilling GBAC STAR’s program elements, the service provider established uniform practices to combat the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. CSI also ensured it uses cleaning and disinfection chemicals that are proven effective against pathogens of concern.
• Enhanced service. With formal accreditation and standard training, CSI’s associates can confidently explain cleaning procedures and assure customers that they have the highest standards of cleaning, disinfection, and infection prevention in place. “Associate feedback has been very positive,” said Daniel. “The more comprehensive training empowered our team members with the knowledge and confidence needed to provide great consistent service during the pandemic.”

“We intend to renew our accreditation annually to assure our clients and employees that we know how to best protect them,” added Daniel. “GBAC STAR accreditation helps us create the safest and healthiest environment possible for our clients and those they do business with.”