What should be borne in mind when handling occupational health and safety at cleaning stations?

Employees operating in the cleaning sector are exposed to work in conditions where potentially hazardous events may occur. Cleaning workers perform their duties not only in offices, but also in warehouse and production halls, and often near busy roads.

It is the employer’s duty to provide the necessary security measures and to properly train employees in the field of compliance with safety procedures applicable at their workplace.

If you are an employer and have cleaners you should ask a health and safety specialist to prepare a risk assessment for the job. Risk assessment is understood as the identification and subsequent analysis of potential events that may take place during the performance of professional activities at a given workplace. These activities may have an impact on health, life, property or the environment. After the analysis and identification, the risk is assessed and based on it, basic and special procedures are determined, and personal protective equipment is selected.

The employer is obliged to purchase and dispose of personal protective equipment. Depending on the type of work, place of work and external environment, security measures may differ from one employee to another, even if they are employed in the same position.

Regardless of the environment in which the employee performs his work – whether it is an office, warehouse or production hall – his primary means of protection are appropriate gloves. People working in cleaning positions must be equipped with gloves that will properly protect the skin and guarantee cleanliness and hygiene during work. Protective gloves are designed to protect the hands of the worker and protect them against contact with chemicals used to clean the surface, as well as against potential hazardous substances that may be on the surface.

Another basic personal protection measure that should be provided to every employee is safety glasses. An employee performing duties in a cleaning position should use them in a situation where a potentially dangerous situation may arise, during which the eyes and the eye area may suffer. Safety glasses protect against chemicals, dust and particles of metal or other potentially hazardous materials. Safety glasses should absolutely be used by people cleaning warehouses and production halls.

In addition to glasses and gloves, you should equip the employee with emergency protection measures. Most often it is a helmet, necessary when cleaning halls where gantry or hoisting devices work. Dust and gas masks are also indispensable, which the worker should wear when working in a dusty environment. In the event that clean-up work is taking place outside the building, reflective vests will be needed to make the worker more visible.

The so-called warning equipment plays an important role in equipping the worker. It may be a sign saying „Attention! Slippery surface „or signage such as” Work at heights „. The occurrence of an event that affects an outsider and results from carrying out cleaning work without proper labelling, may result in the employer being civil and even criminal liability!

A very important aspect of health and safety training for cleaning workers is to define the scope of the technical condition control of the equipment they work with. Each time before starting work, the technical condition of devices should be checked, in particular, such as platforms, ladders and other devices for working at heights.

It is necessary to check vacuum cleaners and other electrical appliances. The employee should immediately report any irregularities or damage to his supervisor.

Equally important as the control of work equipment is knowledge of how to act in the event of a hazard or potentially dangerous event. The rules of counteracting such incidents and actions after their occurrence should be strictly defined in in-house health and safety procedures.

An employee may not perform his duties in conditions that endanger his or other employees’ health or life. An employee of the cleaning department during work should pay special attention to the possibility of potentially dangerous events, and in the event of their occurrence, report such fact to their supervisor. If people were injured in a potentially dangerous event, the employee should know the procedures to be followed in such cases.

Source: https://inzynieriabhp.pl/stanowiska-sprzatajace-obsluga-bhp/

Region Gdański NSZZ „Solidarność”

Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.

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