Improving Worker Safety

Cleaning can seem like a benign activity. After all, it’s something every homeowner does regularly. Tidying up a house once a week, however, is nothing like cleaning for a living. Janitorial work involves constant, strenuous movement that can lead to serious injuries. In fact, of all professions, cleaning personnel are the fifth most likely to be injured on the job.

Whether it’s a ruptured vertebra that requires surgery or a minor wrist sprain, workplace injuries are serious — and seriously expensive — business. A study by the state of Washington found that the average cost (lost time plus medical costs) of a worker’s compensation claim made by a janitor is $615. In an industry that averages 3.6 injuries per 100 full-time workers, those claims can add up quickly.

“The number of accidents compared to the number of hours worked is not very high percentage-wise, but unfortunately it’s very expensive,” says Taylor Bruce, president of IH Services, Inc., Greenville, S.C. “Workers’ comp costs are a high-cost part of our business — one of the highest non-labor costs you have.”

While it is impossible to eliminate accidents, building service contractors can control costs by reducing incidents and lessening their severity. The key to creating a safer work environment is thorough training and comprehensive communication.

Common injuries
In the janitorial industry, among the most common accidents are muscle and joint injuries, which can occur as a result of a single awkward movement or because of uncomfortable positions repeated again and again. For example, bending at the waist to pick up a heavy trash barrel can cause immediate problems in the back, while using an improper grip on a mop for many months or years can eventually lead to carpal tunnel syndrome.

Also known as repetitive stress injuries (RSIs), injuries from this type of wear and tear on the body account for one in four lost-time injuries and illnesses, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One in every three workers’ compensation dollars pay for RSIs.

“Because this industry is very manual, you have a number of back, knee, elbow and shoulder injuries,” says Al Williams, director of safety and human resources for FBG Service Corp. in Omaha, Neb.

Also at the top of the injury list are slip-and-fall accidents. Nearly 20 percent of disabling workplace injuries are the result of falls.

“We handle a lot of water,” Bruce says. “We are always scrubbing, mopping, stripping and waxing floors. People are always working around wet surfaces. If they aren’t careful, they can slip and fall and so can the people around them.”

Less common today are accidents related to toxic cleaning products, such as respiratory injuries or burns to the eyes and skin.

“There used to be so many acids and alkalis but many of those have been eliminated,” Williams says, adding that green cleaning has reduced the number of chemical injuries.

When it comes to safety issues, BSCs face different circumstances than their in-house janitorial peers, including site checks.

“One of the biggest problems about the janitorial business is you have a lot of people working in multiple locations with not always a lot of direct supervision,” Bruce says. “That is just a reality of our business.”

For BSCs, injury prevention must begin again each time a new contract is signed. Every site presents unique safety challenges and each must be assessed before workers are dispatched. A hazard checklist should be taken to the new facility to review everything from lighting in the parking lot to whether the trash compactor has a dead man’s switch.

The findings from site checks can be used to develop a customized safety plan. In addition to a generic training program, what specific issues need to be added or what areas require further review?

Lynn Domboski, director of HR for Matrix in Johnson City, N.Y., takes the site-specific approach a step farther.
“At every industrial site, I partner with the safety manager and have every one of my employees go through their training,” she says. “They receive the same safety certification as everyone else at the site.”

Training programs
Just as training should take place at the start of every new contract, it should also happen each time a new employee is hired. The safety manual should cover proper equipment and techniques for every job in the company and this material should receive an initial review during a new-hire safety orientation.

An early introduction to safety is critical because it sets a tone. If you take safety seriously, employees will understand that they must as well. At Matrix, every new employee watches a 45-minute on safety, reviews what they’ve seen with Domboski, and then signs an acknowledgement of the training.

“We achieve a high standard because we expect it,” Domboski says. “It’s an expectation, not a request, that they perform their jobs safely. When you say that sternly at an orientation, they know it’s serious.”

A thorough training program must cover both products and procedures.

To avoid slips and falls while stripping and waxing floors, use wet floor signs and wear proper footwear. When mixing chemicals, wearing safety glasses and latex gloves prevents chemical burns caused by splashes.

The proper products are pointless if they are used incorrectly. A large portion of training should be devoted to explaining proper cleaning techniques. First explain how to read material safety data sheets so mistakes are not made in mixing or using chemicals.

To avoid costly RSIs, instruct janitors to stretch before, during, and after work. Vary the employees’ tasks, allow them to take mini-breaks throughout the day, and teach them proper lifting techniques, such as bending at the knees. It is important to provide ergonomically designed equipment, such as backpack vacuums and mops with soft grips.

It is also important to assign the correct employee for the job at hand.

“We call it designing success, for the employee, customer and the employer,” Williams says. “When you hire the person, you need to hire the right person for the job, so they can be successful.”

It is becoming increasingly critical that safety training (and all training, for that matter) be offered in multiple languages.

Communication is key
Where many BSCs fail with safety is never getting started. Too many managers want to wait until their program is perfect, but instead they should just begin with the basics and build on it from there.

“There are people who try to plan it so perfectly that they freeze up,” Williams says. “Just get it out there and run it. You’re always going to see something you hadn’t seen before.”

What sets a stellar safety plan apart from a mediocre one is how smoothly it can be adapted. The program should be continuously monitored for problems, which must be resolved immediately. When a problem is detected, it needs to be fixed and — most importantly — shared with the entire staff.

Curing potential problems only works well if the systems are in place to allow for continuing education. In addition to the initial training each new employee receives, have regular follow-up. Communicate with employees when someone has been injured to reiterate why safety education and training is so important.

CleanLink: Additional Info CleanTips Smart Podcasts For The Commercial Cleaning Industry What should building service contractors do after an accident? Listen to Ron Smith, director of safety for Aztec Facility Management in Houston, explain what steps to take when an employee is injured on the job and how to prevent it from happening again.

Becky Mollenkamp is a business writer based in Des Moines, Iowa. She is a frequent contributor to Contracting Profits.