Best Practices in Non-Toxic Sanitizing for Businesses

 

Which cleaning supplies are stocked in the janitor’s closet? Typically, that’s a decision that has been made down the org chart, if anyone is making the call at all.

Now, during the coronavirus pandemic, the buck may stop at the very top when it comes to the choice of disinfectants or cleaning products.

With public health a top priority, decision-makers need to be educating themselves, said John Shanahan, President and CEO of Ionogen.

“Building owners and managers have to start reading safety data sheets. They have to start understanding what toxins are being sprayed in their buildings,” Shanahan said. “In the case of commercial buildings and even restaurants, what they need to do is look at what innovation is here. What’s coming out of COVID that will allow them to reopen, have limited worker illness and improve the overall health of the building?”

One of those solutions is similar to innovations in swimming pools, where we’ve replaced chlorine and bleach with rock salt in order to kill bacteria and viruses.

“Now imagine if you could take the same concept and put a dry fog in a restaurant or a movie theater or in a hotel room. It’s a nice dry fog. It doesn’t look like London, but it’s a little bit of haze in the air,” Shanahan said. “Now someone comes in with the worst case of COVID or measles or tuberculous, and they sneeze or cough. Just like the swimming pool, that would take that virus out of the air, it would knock it right down so the virus can’t travel to a desktop, the virus can’t travel to me and get caught in my upper respiratory system.”

It’s on business leaders to make sure their employees and guests are safe, so research into what chemicals are present and what they do will be critical as businesses reopen.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Building Management Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

Solo Stove
From Firepits to Full Backyard Experiences: How Solo Stove Is Rebuilding Connection Through Product Innovation
April 3, 2026

As consumer brands navigate a post-pandemic world shaped by digital saturation and rising loneliness, the most successful companies are rediscovering something analog: human connection. A 2025 World Health Organization report found that 1 in 6 people globally are affected by loneliness, highlighting a growing public health challenge tied to weaker social bonds and reduced…

Read More
Doable
Rethinking Leadership: Why “Doable” Might Be the Most Powerful Strategy in Education Today
April 3, 2026

At a time when educator burnout is rising and schools across the U.S. are facing ongoing teacher shortages, leaders are being forced to rethink what sustainable success actually looks like. Research shows that teacher attrition is closely tied to working conditions, job-related stress, and workload demands. As districts push for innovation, data-driven instruction, and…

Read More
Casey Brown
From Poverty to Pricing Power | Why Great Companies Undercharge
April 2, 2026

Casey Brown didn’t grow up thinking she would become an entrepreneur. She grew up in a blue-collar family where money was always tight — close enough to the edge that the fear of poverty shaped many of her early decisions. That fear led her into engineering, into corporate America, and eventually into a moment…

Read More
Nightingales Summit: Empowering the Next Generation of Nigerian Nurses
Nightingales Summit: Empowering the Next Generation of Nigerian Nurses
April 2, 2026

In this episode of Care Anywhere, host Lea Sims sits down with Nigerian nurse entrepreneur and advocate Obafemi Arowosegbe to discuss leadership, mentorship, and the future of nursing in Africa. While still a nursing student, Obafemi founded the Nightingale Summit, a growing conference designed to empower nursing students and early-career nurses with leadership skills,…

Read More