By: Christina Vredevoe, Senior Environmental Scientist, CDPR

Cold and flu season is here! Do you use antimicrobial products, like bleach and disinfecting wipes, to keep those germs out of your center? Did you know that you must complete annual Healthy Schools Act training when using antimicrobial products in child care centers? Your facility’s designated IPM Coordinator is also required to take the annual training. The training requirement applies to all child care centers except family day care homes.

To help with the annual training requirement, the Department of Pesticide Regulation offers free, online training courses on our School & Child Care IPM website. We offer four courses for different levels of training, including a brand new course, “Integrated Germ Management.” The new course was created based on feedback from child care providers and others whose pesticide use at their schools is limited to antimicrobial pesticides, such as sanitizers and disinfectants.

All of the training courses are available online and as a DVD group training kit.
For fact sheets and more information about the Healthy Schools Act, antimicrobial pesticides, integrated pest management, and training courses, visit our School and Child Care IPM Program page at http://apps.cdpr.ca.gov/schoolipm. For questions, or to request a free group training kit, email school-ipm@cdpr.ca.gov.

 

Christina Vredevoe is the Child Care IPM Specialist for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s (DPR) School & Child Care IPM Program. DPR’s School & Child Care IPM program promotes the adoption of integrated pest management in schools and child care centers and provides support for Healthy Schools Act compliance.

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