Industrial Work May Require OSHA, PPE Training

The third part of this four-part article covers the training involved with industrial cleaning.

In addition to purchasing heavy-duty cleaning equipment, BSCs that offer industrial services must invest in personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees. This may include steel-toed boots, gloves, gowns, respirators, eye and hearing protection, and safety vests, depending on the type of cleaning performed.

“Safety is the key,” says Ron Segura, president of Segura and Associates in San Bruno, California. “I can’t emphasize that enough. The first thing that BSCs need to be alerted to is safety and the safety guidelines specified for the facility they’re cleaning.”

Once a BSC is knowledgeable about its client’s safety and facility requirements, as well as the scope of work, the BSC can determine what cleaning products and equipment are needed and whether or not its staff requires specialized training. 

Aetna Integrated Services has an OSHA-certified trainer on staff, and 15 percent of its employees have either 10-hour or 30-hour OSHA training.

“Generally, there are a lot more OSHA safety requirements to do industrial cleaning,” says Greenland.

The level of OSHA training needed depends on the facility and scope of work performed. A worker performing general cleaning in a factory environment may only need 10-hour OSHA training. However, to clean equipment, a worker may need 30-hour OSHA training. Food and Drug Administration–regulated facilities may require 40- or 50-hour OSHA training.

Specialized training may be necessary for workers to clean in certain areas of a facility — for example, in pharmaceutical cleanrooms or in confined spaces, such as pits underneath welding equipment. Workers may also require Department of Transportation training to operate powered industrial vehicles, such as forklifts.

“Safety training and using proper PPE is a huge component of industrial cleaning,” says Mandelstam. “Typically, clients have their own procedures that you must comply with, and most of them relate to safety, because workers are more capable of being injured in these spaces.”

And demonstrating compliance with client regulations requires a level of documentation that far exceeds the requirements for standard commercial cleaning services.

“Whether it’s documenting the training you perform with your staff or the frequency you use to complete a task, everything needs to be documented,” says Mandelstam.