Health Hazards in the Cleaning Industry Highlighted by EU-OSHA
This year the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) chose the health and safety issues of the cleaning industry as its focus when it organised the European Week for Safety and Health at Work from October 19-23.
Although the cleaning industry employs nearly 3.6 million people, it is still viewed as a low priority ‘Cinderella Industry’. Like every other sector, this industry too has its own share of problems, which include worker safety concerns due to exposure to hazardous substances, late night work schedule, and poor perception of work by the public.
Keeping these issues in view, EU-OSHA brought out two new publications on cleaning: “Preventing Harm to Cleaning Workers” and “Cleaning Workers and Occupational Safety and Health”. The purpose is to highlight the plight of the workers of this industry. Another attempt towards this goal has been made by releasing a video of a worker suffering from musculoskeletal disorders, which is one of the most common ailments among the workers of this sector.
“Preventing Harm to Cleaning Workers” assesses actions taken towards improving the lot of the cleaners at the European, national and company levels. It covers ways to improve the welfare of cleaners by emphasising the shift of work timings to day from night, so that the workers can have a social working life. The publication also emphasises on the creation of a new database that would enable workers to have better safety gear for various cleaning activities.
According to EU-OSHA, cleaning should be seen as a core activity, and low quality work in this area will not only affect business but will also attract punitive measures like withdrawal of licenses of unhygienic faculties in the food and pharmaceutical sectors.
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