Do No Harm
NSS has always been driven by the belief that the act of cleaning should Do No Harm to the environment or our customer operators.
Durability – Our Sustainability Strategy
At NSS, we believe that the best way to contribute to improving sustainability is through the design of products that stay on the job longer. Use our equipment well beyond the typical life of our competitor’s products—that doesn’t bother us at all. If our equipment is still scrubbing and polishing your floors or vacuuming your carpets seven, ten, or fifteen years from now, we know that we’ve made a difference by keeping one more machine out of the landfill.
Durability is a combination of two factors; structural integrity and repairability. The best place to see our commitment to the structural integrity of our designs is
on your back, looking up. Underneath our machines you will find heavy-gauge steel, durable coatings and reliable drive systems. Repairability is a business we take very seriously around here. With over 400 authorized service centers, 6,000 different service parts in stock and easy after-market repairs designed into every machine, your equipment won’t be on the bench for long when repairs are needed.
Ergonomics: Keeping employees healthy while cleaning for health
NSS knows that quality ergonomic design pays off by enhancing value with the economic benefits of improved
productivity and greater worker comfort. Among the principal ergonomic features of NSS machines:
- Handles adjust to match any operator height
- Padded handles increase operator comfort
- All machines are designed to be compact and easy to maneuver
- Carrying handles on vacuums for safe, easy transport
- Flip-up pad drivers allow for ergonomically correct posture during pad changes
Creating high performance cleaning machines that “Do No Harm” entails more than building equipment with speed, power and capacity. That’s why at NSS, our products are first “human engineered” with features to protect the health and safety of the operator.
NSS® and the LEED® green building certification program
The LEED green building certification program is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of green buildings. For any cleaning application, NSS has a product that meets the LEED performance criteria found in EQ Credit: Green Cleaning – Equipment. These requirements include Carpet and Rug Institute Seal Of Approval, maximum noise levels, variable-speed feed pumps and on-board chemical metering, environmentally preferred gel batteries, and bumpers to reduce potential damage to building surfaces.
Products are not reviewed or certified under LEED. LEED credit requirements cover the performance of materials in aggregate, not the performance of individual products or brands. For more information on LEED, visit www. usgbc.org/leed
NSS and the Carpet & Rug Institute
The CRI Seal of Approval program identifies effective carpet cleaning solutions and equipment that clean carpets right the first time and protect a facility’s carpet investment. The seal of approval means that vacuums have been tested
for soil removal, dust containment, and carpet fiber retention. For extractors, it is a certification of their soil removal, water recovery, and carpet appearance retention. Many NSS upright vacuums, wide-area vacuums, backpack vacuums, and carpet extractors proudly carry this badge of distinction.
Case Study: Reduce chemical usage with the Do No Harm Ecostrip Pad
Stripping floor finish has never been easier than with the Do No Harm Ecostrip pad. Remove damaged top coats with just water, leaving a surface that is ready for additional finish. Ecostrip pads use an abrasive coating not found in other stripping pads to turn the top coats of finish into a dust-free slurry which is easily collected by an automatic scrubber. Ecostrip pads can be used with most Wrangler, Champ, and eForce scrubbers and any NSS floor machine, including the Charger 1500 burnisher. Ecostrip Pads >
Case Study: If Only This Pig Could Talk
Back in the 1940s, NSS introduced the now-famous “Pig” vacuum cleaner, an early ancestor of today’s M-1. Its design was revolutionary and simplicity itself—a very high-quality motor enclosed in a rugged cast aluminum alloy body with a protective “trap” in the front for long term durability.
The rest of the story: We re-discovered this “Pig” in 1995 at a movie theater in Indianapolis. It was still being used every day to suck up popcorn and dropped candy—a full fifty years after it was purchased. And we wouldn’t be surprised to learn about other early “Pigs” still hard at work. The bottom line: product durability is one of the most environmentally friendly attributes. Because NSS machines last and last, you won’t find them in landfills anytime soon, so the environmental impact is minimal. This Pig was used about twenty times longer than a typical commercial upright. There are about 400 fewer pounds of broken vacuum cleaners in the landfill today thanks to this one Pig. Considering the tens of thousands of NSS M-1 Pig machines in use worldwide, landfill content is reduced by hundreds of tons per year.
Case Study: The Amazing Battery Burnisher
There’s nothing like a burnisher to create a spectacularly high-gloss floor. Traditionally, large burnishers have been powered by propane, which has undesirable side effects including exhaust fumes, noise, heat and vibration. For years, the end result seemed to justify the means. But was there a better, safer way to burnish?
NSS worked on a better idea and the result is the revolutionary Charger family of battery burnishers, high-performance battery-powered burnishers with a host of user-friendly ergonomic features. The unique flip-up pad driver makes changing pads from an ergonomically correct position easy. A highly effective dust collection system keeps indoor air clean and at 68 dBA, the Charger burnishers are a welcome change from the potentially harmful 89 dBA, typical for a propane burnisher. Burnisher product page >
