What Are the Health and Safety Effects of Traditional Cleaning
Products?
The professional cleaning industry strives to make the indoor
environment clean, safe, and hygienic. Unfortunately, harmful side
effects on human health and safety are associated with certain
cleaning products and practices. For these reasons, environmental
considerations should be a large part of janitorial management.
Health impacts from traditional cleaning practices and products
affect both product users and building occupants. Janitorial staff
of traditional cleaning companies often have direct contact with high concentrations of cleaning
chemicals and therefore may suffer serious and direct injury.
Occupants might be exposed to lower levels but over longer periods
of time (longer hours each day and more days per year).
Both janitorial staff and building occupants can receive either
"acute" or "chronic" exposure. Acute exposure means a single large
exposure to a toxic substance, which may result in severe health
problems or death. Acute exposures usually last no longer than a
day, as compared to chronic exposures, which refer to many exposures
over an extended period of time or over a significant fraction of a
human's lifetime (7 years or more). Chronic exposure can cause
long-term serious health effects.
Detailed health and safety side effects associated with specific
chemicals can be found in several tables at the end of this chapter.
Effects include:
Acute:
Burns to eyes and skin: Burns can be caused in several
ways, including contact with fire from a chemical that has ignited
or contact with an acid or alkalis.
Blindness: Eye contact with certain chemicals can lead to
blindness or reduced eye functioning.
Frostbite from cold aerosol temperatures: Aerosols often
project their contents quickly and at very low temperatures. Contact
as the substance discharges can lead to frostbite.
Poisoning: Certain chemicals are toxic to humans. When
they are absorbed by the body, they poison or contaminate human
organs, leading to a range of health problems, including temporary
illness, long-term injury, or death.
Headaches: Headaches can result from a number of
exposures to cleaning chemicals, including inhalation.
Nausea or other gastrointestinal ailments:
Gastrointestinal ailments can result from ingestion of harmful
chemicals or as a side effect of chemical sensitivity or allergy.
Chronic:
Reproductive disorders: Certain substances can cause
harmful reproductive disorders such as birth defects in unborn
children, damage to the male or female reproductive system, or may
impact the cognitive development of the fetus child.
Cancer: Substances that cause cancer, known as
carcinogens, are found in solid, liquid and gaseous form, and
several are ingredients in traditional cleaning products.
Respiratory ailments: Chemicals in cleaning products and
the vapors they emit can cause respiratory ailments such as
allergies, asthma, reduced lung capacity, and injury to internal
organs when absorbed by the bloodstream.
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