Meeting regulations for industrial cleanliness

Businesses should approach industrial cleanliness proactively, producing dedicated health and safety and hygiene standards, and anticipating hazards before they occur. 

Key to maintaining health and safety standards is getting buy-in from knowledgeable and trained staff. Employees responsible for maintaining safety standards will benefit from regular training sessions and clearly outlined company policies.

Identify risks

The first step to ensure that professional hygiene standards are adequate in the workplace is to understand and identify all potential risks. These will vary and may require a certified health and safety professional or industrial hygienist to assess the surroundings.

With heavy-duty machinery, there is a risk of polluting indoor air quality with fine dust or gases. These can be difficult to spot with the naked eye and may leave employees with symptoms such as chronic coughs, nausea and occupational asthma.

Conversely, laboratory workers risk exposure to mould, fumes, radiation and even hazardous chemicals such as pesticides. When not properly controlled, this exposure can cause respiratory problems and skin irritation.

Other industrial hygiene risks include constant loud noises, which typically impact construction and manufacturing workers. Temperature extremes may affect those in warehouses or working outside. Even office workers are not immune: ergonomic hazards can impact those who sit for long periods.

Risk assessment

Employers should conduct a thorough risk assessment wherever employees spend significant time. It should review all physical, mental, chemical or biological hazards. However, it’s not enough to complete a one-off assessment. Regular reviews should be scheduled to check health and safety standards are being maintained.

The initial risk assessment will reveal the hazards currently facing a workforce and provide the basis for subsequent assessments, It will review each risk in further detail and outline clear company policies for monitoring and dealing with it. To highlight any environments or activities that may pose risks, a COSHH assessment, carried out by a health and safety expert, will examine the workplace and daily work processes.

It is good practice to conduct regular inspection reports, with the frequency depending on the nature of the risk. Assessments should be reviewed at least annually to account for any changes in working patterns and reassess the environment, However, some workplaces, for example laboratories, may even call for weekly or daily inspections to ensure maximum hygiene standards.

Putting safe practices in place

For each hazard identified in the risk assessment, a safety data sheet should cover every detail, including how to spot it, possible symptoms and a clearly outlined policy for dealing with and removing the hazard. Each risk must be addressed individually with the relevant hygienic tools. No generic cleaning deals with every hazard.

For warehouses and factories threatened by problems with dust or gases, steps must be taken to remove harmful particles and fully ventilate the workplace. Large spaces may require an industrial vacuum with HEPA filter, which removes heavy-duty dust spills and locks in particles so they can’t escape back into the air. Adequate ventilation, including industrial fans or local exhaust ventilation (LEV), will extract airborne particles and disperse dangerously high concentrations of particles.

In laboratories and workplaces where employees are expected to handle potentially harmful particles or chemicals, personal protective equipment (PPE) will protect against interaction with the skin, like protective eyewear, gloves and long-sleeved clothing.

Employers should also label workplaces with general health and safety advice, including wash stations. Staff must be encouraged to wash their hands after handling substances.

Cleaning

Many businesses will also have their facilities regularly cleaned to an industrial standard. This may require a vacuum truck or floor sweepers or scrubbers to remove dust and stains from warehouse floors.

A clear protocol is needed for operating industrial machinery. Portable industrial vacuums, floor sweepers and other large, heavy-duty equipment must be afforded space and given a clear path to follow.