Clean just isn’t enough anymore.

ISSA, the association for cleaning and facility solutions, has partnered with Tork, an Essity brand, to launch a new bilingual online course built for frontline cleaning professionals. “Frontline Excellence: Delivering Clean, Safe, and Welcoming Spaces via the Inclusive Hygiene Framework” is available now in English and Spanish on ISSA’s learning management platform.

The course runs for about 30 minutes and pairs technical cleaning knowledge with inclusive hygiene principles, equipping frontline workers with skills they can use on their very next shift. It builds on the GBAC training that ISSA already offers, adding a layer focused on how a space is designed to serve its users.

Raquel Carbonari, North America Brand Activation Director at Essity, leads the team responsible for bringing Tork’s hygiene expertise to customers through campaigns, partnerships, training materials and education programs. She said the co-branded training grew out of a partnership that has been in discussion for roughly a year and a half.

A gap beyond the checklist

ISSA has offered strong training on hygiene, disinfection and cleaning for years, Carbonari said, but a review of the existing material surfaced a gap: little of it addressed how a space is designed in the first place, or whether it accounts for the needs of a broad range of people.

“The space might be very well cleaned and is well sanitized, but how about the function that space has to deliver in itself?” Carbonari said. Conversations within her team led to the idea of layering inclusive hygiene framework principles onto the existing GBAC curriculum, addressing how a space feels safe, how it feels comfortable and whether people using it feel cared for.

Carbonari added that the course is also meant to give technical cleaners a clearer sense of their own impact. Many of the people doing the work, she said, do not always realize how much their efforts shape the way a space is experienced or the value they deliver to their organizations.

What inclusive hygiene looks like

Inclusive hygiene, as Carbonari described it, means meeting the hygiene needs of as many people as possible, including those with physical or cognitive challenges that change how they experience a restroom.

She pointed to noise as one example. A restroom with loud flushing or air dryers might annoy visitors, but it can be enough to deter a neurodiverse person from using it at all. Lighting intensity plays a similar role. Restrooms have also taken on a new function in workplaces built around hot-desking and shared spaces, Carbonari said, serving as one of the few private places where someone can step away, decompress or self-regulate after a difficult meeting.

A restroom that does not feel comfortable or accessible can change behavior across an entire facility, according to Carbonari. Visitors to an entertainment venue may limit what they eat or drink to avoid a long restroom line. A driver may switch from one gas station to another because of its restroom. In an office, a lack of privacy or services can reduce the time employees choose to spend on-site, working against efforts to get people back into shared workspaces.

Skills workers can use the next day

Infection cleaning remains a fundamental part of the course, Carbonari said, but the training also walks professionals through a risk assessment of the space itself, looking at what could be improved for both the people who use it and the team that cleans it.

The course covers equipment choices that support more inclusive hygiene, communication approaches for engaging cleaning teams, surveys for gathering feedback from building occupants, and evaluation techniques for understanding how a space is actually used day-to-day.

Where to find the course

Carbonari encouraged industry professionals to register for the course on ISSA’s learning management platform, in English (click here) and Spanish (click here) to take it and share it with their teams.

“We all recognize the importance and the diversity of our workforce, so making the training accessible in these two languages is key to make sure that we bring change to our industry,” she said.