'Highest level standard in cleaning': REAL achieves cleaning accreditation
Ahead of Friday’s Roughriders game and the Queen City Exhibition, Regina Exhibition Ltd (REAL) says it has achieved a cleaning accreditation known as the “gold standard for prepared facilities.”
The Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) STAR accreditation is the cleaning industry’s only outbreak prevention, response and recovery accreditation.
“(This) really is the highest level standard in cleaning practises. It is an audited standard and it is a compliance standard that happens, not only across Canada and North America, but is really a global standard,” said Tim Reid, president and CEO of REAL.
Reid said the process to implement GBAC STAR cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention protocols began in early 2021.
“The customer coming out of COVID-19 will have a heightened level of awareness and a greatly heightened level of safety concern,” said Reid. “We wanted to find a best practise, something that we would be held accountable to.”
To achieve the accreditation, REAL had to adhere to 20 categories. These include guidelines on tools and equipment, cleaning chemicals, personnel training, risk mitigation strategies, personal protective equipment and waste management. www.gbac.org
Reid said following this standard increases REAL’s cleaning costs by about 20 per cent, due to the increase in staff, equipment and chemicals.
“There’s a capital investment that we made that was about half-a-million dollars on the front end, relative to the equipment that we were going to need. And then there’s at least a quarter-million to half-a-million dollars of increased costs associated with cleaning procedures,” said Reid.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Powerful tornado tears across Nebraska, weather service warns of 'catastrophic' damage
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.