Cleaners Deserve Better Treatment, Says EU-OSHA
As part of its focus on the cleaning sector during the European Week for Safety and Health at Work, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) appealed to employers to improve the working conditions of people employed in such jobs. The critical need for this kind of work was highlighted during the initiatives.
The cleaning industry gets scant respect from employers and the public. Cleaners are largely looked down upon by the society, and they also have to contend with unsanitary working conditions and lack of adequate safety and precautionary measures while on duty. These issues were the primary focus of the European Week.
The agency brought out two publications on the occasion to highlight specific industry-related problems like exposure to hazardous waste, unhygienic conditions of work and unsatisfactory timings of work. These are titled “Preventing Harm to Cleaning Workers” and “Cleaning Workers and Occupational Safety and Health”.
Both these publications examine the problems faced by cleaners including the low respect that cleaning jobs attract, and exposure to unsafe materials and long working hours that often extend into overtime. The publications also put forth suggestions to tackle these problems.
A video showing the condition of a worker suffering from musculoskeletal disorders has also been released to educate people on how to prevent the occurrence of such problems and deal with them.
Case studies presenting solutions, which were successfully put in place at company, national and European levels, were offered. The suggestions and solutions cover cleaning activities for a wide range of businesses and industries. With 3.6 million cleaning workers in the EU, there is a definite need for urgent action in the cleaning sector.
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Tags:CERLAP, CIPD, health and safety, HSE, IOSH, IOSH training, NEBOSH, risk assessment, Workplace Law