Kimberly-Clark Professional has created scholarship program to fund new infectious disease awareness training for cleaning professionals to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, in the workplace. The program is in collaboration with ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, and the Global Biorisk Advisory Council™ (GBAC), a division of ISSA.

“Cleaning professionals have been our frontline heroes throughout the pandemic, and we are committed to providing them with resources to ensure the businesses they support run safely,” says Susan Gambardella, President of Kimberly-Clark Professional North America. “We are delighted that our scholarship program will continue to equip small and women-owned cleaning businesses with the knowledge they need as companies practice more stringent hygiene and cleaning protocols to mitigate the risk of infectious diseases.”

The new 30-minute online course, “Infectious Disease Awareness in the Workplace,” will increase the participant’s knowledge about infectious diseases, including how they spread and make people sick. The course covers the importance of infectious disease prevention programs and how they help with the mitigation or prevention of infectious diseases like COVID-19 in the workplace as well as regulatory compliance.

“Infectious disease knowledge continues to be in demand during and after the pandemic. As a result, cleaning for health needs to remain a priority in the built environment,” says GBAC Executive Director Patricia Olinger. “Regularly offering training courses showcases to employees that your business cares about their career development and wellbeing, and enables them to better manage today’s and tomorrow’s biorisks.”

The first 500 eligible cleaning professionals who register for the program will be able to complete the GBAC course at no cost. Building service contractors who qualify as a small business will be given priority placement into the program. The program will also award 50 percent of the scholarships to women.

To apply for the scholarship or for more information, please visit www.issa.com/kcp-scholarships.

This year’s training course offering is part of the scholarship program Kimberly-Clark Professional launched in 2021 with a $500,000 donation to fund training for small and women-owned businesses around the world. To date, the initiative has provided 6,335 scholarships in 84 countries, and helped 3,900 organizations prepare their workers with GBAC-led training that helps them provide their employees and customers with a welcoming and hygienic workplace.