In the cleaning industry safety must be a priority at all times for your company.
In today’s litigious society, where everyone wants to sue someone, you can’t be too careful.
When you or your crew are in a building cleaning, whether you are vacuuming or wet mopping floors, always think of safety first. This “safety first” attitude is easy to be applied with just a little planning.
First up is where you leave your “equipment”. Supplies left scattered about the job site is an accident waiting to happen. The staff who work at the facility are busy going about their business, and may not notice you are on the job.
This means you need to be mindful for their safety at all times. So simply leave your cleaning supplies “off to the side”, out of traffic lanes and away from blind corners. This even applies to where you leave your bucket of cleaning solutions. You can’t be too careful.
If you haven’t already, you should make sure your vacuum extension cords are a bright color so anyone in the area can clearly see them. Try not to string them across an isle way or over a partition. Someone may trip on it or walk into one if it is up too high.
Even though you may think that the bright yellow or bright orange cords would be seen easily, most people will not pay attention to them. This is because for most of their work day the power cords are not there, so they don’t think to look for them after hours when you are cleaning.
To play it doubly safe, I would put a wet floor sign over the cord on the floor to make them take notice of it. Speaking of wet floor signs, always and I mean always, use wet floor signs when you mop any floor surfaces. This applies of course to kitchens, bathrooms, break rooms etc.
I would also advise that you use wet floor signs even when you think the building is empty. Many times someone is working late and you just don’t know it. Even if it is empty, sometimes people return to the job site because they forgot something.
The very last thing you need to for someone to fall and get hurt. Especially when it’s just so preventable. Another tip when mopping is to leave the light on in that room until the floor dries completely. With no light on, someone has NO CHANCE to even see if the floor is wet, or to check for a wet floor sign.
In addition, make sure you return all cleaning supplies to their proper location after cleaning. This is because sometimes an employee may come in after you cleaned with their child. The child may pick up a bottle of solution and try to drink it for some reason. This may sound silly, but you never know what can happen.
Do your best to try think of all possible scenarios. Your safety and the staffs safety depends on it. Educate yourself as much as possible in regards to what the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) expects of you.
OSHA sets the law and expects you to adhere to it. This means always have your OSHA book handy if you leave your cleaning solutions at the job site. It’s a good practice to make an extra copy and provide it to the office manager as well.
These are but a few of the safety issues you need to concern yourself with, but just pay close attention to safety and use your common sense. If you do that you should not have a problem.
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