Cleaning for Asthma-Safe Schools (CLASS)

One in five Californians spends his or her day in school, increasing the stakes for addressing asthma in the school setting. Custodians have high rates of work-related asthma, while 15% of the state's children have been diagnosed with the disease.

Cleaning products are used in schools and other workplaces. They can cause asthma or make it worse and release unsafe chemicals into the air. The Work-Related Asthma Prevention Program (WRAPP) developed the Cleaning for Asthma-Safe Schools project to assist California schools in adopting safer cleaning methods that help protect workers and students from asthma. WRAPP is housed in the Occupational Health Branch.

Activities

• Promoting school guidelines for asthma-safe cleaning
• Partnering with California school districts to provide technical support for switching to safer cleaning products and practices
• Creating and distributing educational materials about safer cleaning methods and products
• Raising awareness about the importance of asthma-safe cleaning via newsletter articles, webinars, and presentations

The Cleaning with Microfiber Project and the Healthy Cleaning & Asthma-Safer Schools guide and video help school districts transition to healthier and asthma-safer cleaning products and practices. The CLASS project produced these resources primarily for California school teachers, and districts’ facilities, maintenance, and operations managers. School health advocates can encourage their district to switch to asthma-safer cleaning using simple, manageable steps.

Childcare

• Safer Products and Practices for Disinfecting and Sanitizing Surfaces (PDF)  – San Francisco Department of the Environment report, April 2014
• Green Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting: A Toolkit for Early Care and Education – Collaborative to Improve Indoor Air Quality in Early Care and Education toolkit, 2013
• 2013 Update: Bleach-Free Disinfection and Sanitizing for Child Care (PDF) – San Francisco Asthma Task Force report, January 2013