Posted By Fornhelper We have a number of cleaning products that we use in a variety of premises. These are used for general day to day cleaning in care homes, offices etc. The products range from furniture polish to floor cleaners to sink descalers and, essentially, they are the type of products that we all use when cleaning at home (well my wife does anyway!!). The 'problem' we have come across is that in almost every case the container / dispenser these are supplied with, as well as a data information sheet supplied by the supplier, all state that suitable eye / face protection should be worn when being used. In terms of risk we feel this is overkill ( although I appreciate that the suppliers have a duty to display such symbols) and our assessment group are considering including something along the lines of 'due to level of risk, eye protection not required' in the assessment...the argument being we have assessed the risk and do not believe the protection identified by suppliers is necessary taking into account the method of use of these cleaning agents, lack of previous incidents etc. Any advice or comments would be welcome as we are trying to be practical about this issue and avoid a 'bonkers conkers' scenario developing. Regards FH

Posted By Merv Newman The multitude of "cleaning agents" etc used in the home and in industrial environments are often quite strong detergent/acidic/caustic chemicals. Look, if it cleans the grease off your cooker or dissolves the ring in your bath, what is it going to do to the fat content of your skin ? And your skin is not even waterproof ! (crinkly fingers anyone ?) just for the fun of it, last week I used a product equivalent to "toilet duck" to clean lime scale out of a shower cabinet at home. Very effective but a quick whiff detected a fairly strong odour of hydrochloric acid (not listed on the bottle) So, glasses and rubber gloves. And a very clean shower. Most of these products are advertised as "concentrated" or "fast acting" ie stronger and more dangerous. Stick to the MSDS recommendations. Suitable gloves and safety glasses. Goggles at least when handling the reallyreally potent ones. Drain cleaners for example are, I think, mostly based on sodium hydroxide. and you reallyreally don't want that on your skin and especially not in the eyes. What you do in the privacy of your own home is your business (unless it can be taxed) but when handling chemicals at work take the best advice you can. Merv

Posted By A Campbell I think FH was relating to use of cleaning products in the workplace... care homes & offices. A lot of companies advocate more environmental friendly products and no use of bleach (sodium hypochlorite) products these days.

Posted By Chris Packham The point that I feel is perhaps not sufficient emphasized in this posting is that the safety data sheet is just that, a document describing the hazards of the product "as supplied". The decision regarding PPE etc. must arise out of the conditions under which it will be used. Many chemicals are extremely hazardous, requiring high levels of PPE when in a concentrated form. However, if diluted to, say, 1% then the hazard many be minimal. It isn't the safety data sheet that will determine what PPE is needed, but the risk assessment. PPE needed for the same product may vary given different tasks and usage patterns. Chris

Posted By Fornhelper Very good point Chris. I often feel that it is the 'chemical' that gets assessed rather than the activity. Our assessments have identified the need for eye protection when dispensing / diluting chemicals when 'neat'and we do require gloves to be worn as a matter of course whenever they are used. The main issue was the need for eye protection when using diluted solutions / aerosols for simple cleaning tasks.

Posted By Bob Shillabeer The point has been made that the use of such substances in the work environment requires the use of gloves and goggles. However in the home they do not. That is quite simply because the HSAWA does not apply to the home situation because the home owner and generally the boss is also the person who lives there. Please remember the HASAWA is generally about people at work. That is something the law can control not like the home aspect which if it did would cause such a stir about civil liberties etc that it would be found to be uninforcable. Yes use the protective equipment while at work and employers should ensure that this is done.

Posted By Chris Packham Question: How much training in the correct - and safe - use of these products has been given? Did this include what to do if things went wrong? Proper training can significantly reduce the risk of using chemicals. And keep in mind that according to COSHH any substance can be hazardous depending upon its properties and how it is used or present in the workplace. Many of the occupational skin problems that I have to investigate and resolve are due to exposure to chemicals that have no risk phrase or requirement on the safety data sheet to use PPE. And statistically the most common cause of occupational contact dermatitis is wet work, i.e. exposure to water. Chris