The occupational safety and health of cleaning workers
This report provides an overview of the most important issues related to occupational safety and health
(OSH) for cleaning workers in terms of working conditions, risks and prevalence of exposures and health
outcomes, and identifies information gaps and challenges.
Cleaning includes a broad range of activities performed in different work environments across all
sectors. The risks to which cleaners are exposed therefore depend on the tasks they perform and the
premises they work in. As most of the cleaning work is performed as contract cleaning, employers
sometimes face difficulties in controlling the OSH conditions in the "host companies" where their staff
work.
Accessing information on occupational accidents and diseases remains challenging as cleaning workers
are spread over different sectors and it is therefore difficult to put monitoring systems in place. In
addition, a significant part of the cleaning workforce is undeclared, especially in private households,
which also complicates data collection. Studies on work-related diseases indicate that MSDs, respiratory
diseases, including asthma, skin diseases and mental ill health are the most common work-related
health effects found in cleaners, and suggest a higher prevalence of health problems in cleaning workers
than in other sectors.
:
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
:
20.10.2009
Available in:
[English]
In 2009, EU-OSHA carried out the first Europe-wide establishment survey on health and safety at the workplace, the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER).
Following on from the initial analysis presented in the descriptive overview report in 2010, four secondary analysis projects have been carried out in 2011. This report focuses on management of safety and health at work, examining how practices vary across Europe depending on, for example, establishment size, location and sector.
Occupational safety and health culture, or more briefly 'OSH culture', can be seen as a concept for exploring how informal organisational aspects influence OSH in a positive or negative way. The aim is to convey up-to-date information on this complex topic in a straightforward, condensed way, trying to build a bridge between research and practice. The main approaches and methods that exist to assess the safety culture in an organisation are presented and discussed. This review gives an overview and selection of useful tools and techniques from the EU domain and abroad.
Mental health promotion (MHP) includes all the actions that contribute to good mental health. Its primary aim is to focus on what maintains and improves our mental wellbeing. It is important to highlight that optimally effective MHP should include a combination of both risk management and health promotion. In this good practice report you can find information on how to integrate MHP into a comprehensive approach to enhancing and promoting the health, safety and wellbeing of employees at work. Several of the case studies are particularly interesting because of their innovative and creative approaches.
Show more publications on
Stress
&
Noise
&
Gender
&
Cleaning workers
&
Dangerous substances
&
Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Upcoming Events
- 12th World Congress on Environmental Health LT Vilnius, 22.05.2012
- Bilbao ORP 2012 X Congreso Internacional de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales ES Bilbao , 23.05.2012
- 12th edition of Green Week 2012 BE Brussels, 24.05.2012
- Worker's Compensation Symposium 2012 DE Munich, 24.05.2012
- aktivaltern2012 AT Vienna, 25.05.2012
- Search
- Subscribe
- Free Newsletter
- Alert Service
