Cleaning for Health: Solutions for Healthy Buildings
Creating a healthy building starts with a proactive approach to hygiene, surface disinfection, and facility maintenance. Reduce the spread of pathogens, support occupant wellness, and improve overall building health with the right commercial cleaning products! From hand hygiene systems and hard surface disinfectant solutions to PPE and waste management, we provide everything your facility needs to maintain safer, cleaner environments every day. Start cleaning for health now!
Hand Soap
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Support hand hygiene initiatives that strengthen your healthy building strategy. Our hand soaps are formulated for high-traffic facilities and pair seamlessly with touch-free dispensers to reduce cross-contamination. Effective handwashing remains one of the most important steps in infection prevention and overall facility health.
Hand Sanitizer
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When soap and water aren’t available, hand sanitizers provide fast, effective pathogen control. Hand sanitizer is ideal for offices, healthcare environments, schools, and foodservice facilities looking to enhance hand hygiene and support a cleaner, healthier building environment.
Wipes
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Convenient and effective, disinfectant wipes simplify surface disinfection in high-touch areas. Designed for quick application and reliable pathogen control, disinfecting wipes help facilities maintain cleaner desks, counters, equipment, and shared spaces throughout the day.
Food-Safe Sanitizers + Disinfectants
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Protect food contact surfaces with sanitizers designed specifically for foodservice and processing environments, like PURELL® Surface Disinfection. Our food-safe solutions support proper surface disinfection while helping reduce cross-contamination risks and maintain compliance with health regulations.
Disinfectants
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Effective surface disinfection is critical to reducing the spread of harmful pathogens. Our selection of EPA-registered disinfectants includes ready-to-use sprays, concentrates, and hard surface disinfectant solutions formulated for commercial and industrial environments. Whether you’re targeting high-touch areas or implementing a broader infection prevention program, our commercial cleaning products help support safer spaces and long-term healthy building initiatives.
PPE + Safety
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Protect your team during cleaning and disinfecting procedures with reliable personal protective equipment. Gloves, masks, eye protection, and protective apparel help reduce exposure risks while supporting safe and effective surface disinfection protocols. PPE is a foundational component of any Cleaning for Health strategy focused on maintaining a healthy building.
Waste Management
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Proper waste management plays a vital role in maintaining sanitary conditions and supporting a healthy building environment. Our waste receptacles, liners, and recycling solutions help reduce contamination risks while complementing your broader surface disinfection and facility hygiene efforts.
Cleaning Tools
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Complete your Cleaning for Health program with professional-grade tools and equipment designed to enhance surface disinfection performance. From microfiber systems and mop programs to sprayers and bottles, these solutions improve coverage and efficiency when applying surface disinfectant products across your facility.
Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting FAQs
Maintaining a healthy building means creating indoor environments that actively support the well-being, comfort, and performance of occupants. According to research from the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard, healthy buildings are built and operated around foundational elements like ventilation, air quality, thermal comfort, moisture control, and cleanliness—all of which contribute to safer, more productive indoor environments.
In practice, this includes using high-quality commercial cleaning products, regularly performing surface disinfection with EPA-registered hard surface disinfectant solutions, and implementing effective hand hygiene programs. Incorporating trusted options like PURELL® surface disinfection wipes and sprays into routine cleaning helps reduce the presence of harmful pathogens on high-touch surfaces, which directly supports healthier indoor air and a cleaner building overall.
By combining environmental building strategies with proactive disinfection and hygiene practices, facilities can significantly improve occupant wellness and help reduce the spread of infection—a critical aspect of maintaining a truly healthy building.
Although these terms are often used interchangeably, they serve different purposes:
- Cleaning removes visible dirt, debris, and impurities from surfaces using soap or detergents. Cleaning does not necessarily kill germs but helps reduce their presence and prepares surfaces for further treatment.
- Sanitizing lowers the number of bacteria on a surface to safe levels as determined by public health standards. Sanitizers are commonly used in foodservice environments.
- Disinfecting uses EPA-registered chemicals to kill bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens on surfaces. Surface disinfection with a proven hard surface disinfectant is critical for high-touch areas and infection prevention programs.
For optimal results, facilities should clean first, then sanitize or disinfect depending on the environment and risk level. This layered approach is essential to maintaining a healthy building.
Surface disinfection plays a critical role in preventing the spread of germs, especially on high-touch areas like door handles, desks, restrooms, and shared equipment. Using a reliable hard surface disinfectant ensures harmful pathogens are effectively eliminated. Consistent disinfection protocols support a healthier building environment and strengthen overall infection prevention strategies.
A hard surface disinfectant is a chemical solution formulated to kill pathogens on non-porous surfaces such as countertops, tables, floors, and equipment. These products are widely used in healthcare, education, foodservice, and commercial facilities as part of a comprehensive surface disinfection program designed to protect occupant health.
Yes. PURELL® surface disinfection products are designed for fast, effective pathogen control in commercial settings. Available in wipes and sprays, they simplify routine surface disinfection in high-traffic areas. These solutions are commonly used in offices, healthcare facilities, and schools focused on maintaining a healthy building environment.
First, general cleaners remove dirt and organic matter so disinfectants can work properly. Next, EPA-registered disinfectants—including sprays, wipes, and concentrates—are used to kill viruses and bacteria on high-touch, hard surfaces. In foodservice environments, sanitizers help reduce bacteria on food contact surfaces to safe levels.
Strong hand hygiene products, such as hand soap and alcohol-based sanitizers, are essential to limiting the spread of germs. Facilities also rely on proper cleaning tools and equipment (like microfiber systems and sprayers), along with PPE to protect cleaning staff. Finally, appropriate waste receptacles and liners help safely contain contaminated materials.
When used together as part of a structured cleaning program, these products reduce pathogen transmission and support a safer, healthier facility environment.
The frequency of cleaning and surface disinfection depends on facility type, traffic levels, and exposure risk. High-touch surfaces in healthcare, education, and foodservice settings may require multiple disinfecting cycles per day using an EPA-registered surface disinfectant. Regular evaluation of cleaning protocols helps maintain a safe and healthy building environment.