Health and Safety Precautions in Office Cleaning

Many office cleaning procedures will involve the use of harmful chemicals and heavy and large pieces of equipment.  Because of this, when it comes to using these tools and products for Work, Health and Safety precautions must become everyone’s top priority. 

Office cleaning companies are responsible for ensuring that all of their teams are trained in all cleaning procedures and all equipment before carrying out and starting any job. Professional companies, like Clear Choice, will also work with businesses to go through risk assessments and 

Health and Safety requirements before starting. 

Knowing risks in advance can help you to put appropriate control measures in place to reduce and remove these risks completely, keeping everyone safe and free from harm. 

Safety Precautions in Office Cleaning 

Risk Assessments 

Risk assessments form a big part of a cleaning operation, as well as also being a legal requirement. 

Risk assessments should be completed before any work is carried out. Identifying all and any risks and hazards associated with the job in question. 

From this risk analysis, control measures can then be put in place to avoid or, indeed, limit the chances of these happening. 

How much detail you go into in your risk assessment, will be dependent on the job and the level of risk it involves. 

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Office Cleaning 

To ensure you offer a safe working environment, cleanliness as well as hygiene and welfare is vital, as well as required to be of a high standard to comply with Health and Safety regulations. 

In this sense, you must provide clean premises, including all floors, stairways, furniture, fittings, etc. There must be appropriate waste disposal areas for employees to use, and workstations, as well as communal areas, must be regularly cleaned from dust and dirt. 

It’s also important to clear up any spillages asap to avoid accidents from occurring, as well as keep internal walls and ceilings clean (check out our cleaning schedule in our next post to find out more about these elements). Clean toilets and hand basins are also a must! 

Keeping on top of hygiene in the workplace is critical. 

Providing the right facilities such as clean drinking water and somewhere suitable to rest and eat meals is essential and also a legal requirement. 

Hand sanitisers, soap, towels, drying facilities, and in some instances, showers are all considerations that businesses must think about when carrying out risk assessments into hygiene and welfare. 

A professional office cleaning company like Clear Choice will be able to help meet all hygiene, cleanliness, and welfare needs as identified by you and ourselves. 

Precautions for office cleaning staff 

All cleaning staff should be aware of and fully trained in:  

• Working with hazardous substances. Cleaning chemicals can be extremely dangerous if they come into contact with the body. It’s important all staff read all labels carefully, use the chemicals for their intended purpose only, use appropriate PPE when handling substances, and store all chemicals appropriately.    

Staff should also be made aware of what chemicals are being used, and areas should be cordoned off appropriately while cleaning is in progress. 

• PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) can include uniforms, safety shoes, gloves, goggles, etc. It is a manager’s responsibility to ensure that the appropriate PP equipment is provided to staff, and it is the staff’s responsibility to make sure it is worn at all times. 
• Use of cleaning equipment. All staff should be appropriately trained in the use of cleaning equipment, such as buffers and floor scrubbers, for example. Adopting safe working practices with an understanding and knowledge regarding the equipment, how to use it, how to follow manufacturer guidelines, store safely, understand safety warning signs, and more. Employees should also check all equipment before use to ensure that there is no obvious damage and that everything looks to be in safe working order.   
• Cleaning office equipment. When cleaning any equipment and in particular, kitchen appliances, make sure everything is turned off at the power source. Be careful using your hands when touching sharp objects and remember to wear appropriate PPE.   
• Be aware of fire exits, as well as know the location of the nearest fire extinguisher. Knowing how and when to operate a fire extinguisher is an essential skill as a cleaner – especially if cleaning jobs involve working in kitchens.   
• Signage. All cleaning teams should be trained and know the most appropriate signs to use while cleaning is in progress and to cordon off areas where spillages have occurred to help prevent and minimise the number of slips, trips and falls in the workplace. Appropriate footwear should also be worn to provide a more effective grip in areas that are susceptible to spills or when floor cleaning is being carried out. 
• Use of containers. Many cleaning companies will buy their cleaning products in bulk, and then decant them into smaller containers to take onto sites and cleaning jobs. In these situations, you need to make sure that all containers are appropriately labelled, it is safe to decant the chemical substance in question, nothing is unlabelled, and nothing from an unlabelled container is used. 

At Clear Choice, we’re committed to providing high-quality office cleaning following all Health and Safety regulations stringently. 

Providing first-class office cleaning services, you can count on us to keep your office spic and span, free from dust and germs, meeting all hygiene and welfare requirements.

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Reference video: Avalon Services