GoCleanup.com

As an employer, what are you required to do as part of your ‘duty of care’ to your employees?  Set out below are some of the lawful requirements and ways in which you can help to make the workplace safer.

Equipment and Chemicals

Ensure all cleaning equipment is maintained to the health and safety guidelines as set out in your state.  Train employees in correct use of equipment and hazardous chemicals, how to read labels, how to read Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and where the MSDS are kept.

All your machinery and electric equipment must be maintained to safety standards – e.g. up to date test and tag procedures for your vacuum cleaners.  Be aware this is your responsibility and you should not rely on your cleaners to report electrical faults or out of date chemicals.   Never use faulty or broken equipment and repairs should only ever be carried out by a competent, trained professional.  Regularly check the expiration dates of your chemicals.  Anything that is out of date must be disposed of according to manufacturer’s instructions.  Provide less toxic cleaning products when possible and make sure all chemical bottles are correctly labelled.  Train employees to:

• Never deliberately misuse or interfere with equipment.
• Report any injury or workplace hazard immediately.
• Open windows and doors, if possible, when using chemicals.
• Never mix chemicals unless instructed to by the manufacturer.

Providing the Correct PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)

As part of your health and safety training you will need to make employees aware of the correct procedures concerning PPE – why they need PPE, how to use PPE correctly and when to use it (the correct PPE required for each cleaning task).  It is your responsibility to provide the correct PPE.  Personal Protective Equipment is an important aspect of health and safety for your employees and should be treated as such.

Extra Cleaning Tasks

Another major health and safety concern is when clients ask cleaners directly (without your knowledge) to perform a cleaning task that is outside the specifications of the contract.  This is a common occurrence and you need to make your employees aware that if this happens they must ask the client to contact you first.  I’m not talking about small things such as a couple of extra boxes that need to be disposed of but rather larger tasks that may involve different materials, equipment or chemicals and may even require a risk assessment.

Communication

Communication is vital.  Ensure a good working relationship with your employees so they feel comfortable coming to you with any problems such as cleaning techniques, equipment or client/site concerns.  Conduct regular meetings with your staff to discuss any issues or concerns they have regarding the cleaning.  After these meetings, you will know if you need to review aspects of the contract or conclude no action is required.  Ultimately, these meetings will draw out small problems before they become large ones and your employees will feel important in their role knowing that their feedback matters and helps contribute towards the growth of your business.

Human Resources

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