An often-underestimated job — chemicals, slips, lone work and other people's sites
Cleaning looks low-risk but isn't. The common harms are chemical exposure, slips and trips, and musculoskeletal strain from repetitive work — often done alone, at night, in someone else's premises. The HSWA applies, and when you clean another business's site your duties overlap with theirs, so you must coordinate.
The hazards are quiet and cumulative rather than dramatic — which is exactly why they get overlooked.
Cleaners handle strong chemicals, work on wet floors, lift and reach repetitively, and often do it alone in empty buildings late at night. None of these looks as obviously dangerous as a falling tree or a moving truck, but they cause real, ongoing harm — chemical burns and respiratory effects, slips and falls, and musculoskeletal injuries that build over time. The HSWA applies to cleaning like any other work.
A handful of risks cover most cleaning harm.
| Risk | What to manage |
|---|---|
| Chemicals | Cleaning products are hazardous substances — inventory, SDS, safe storage, ventilation, never mix products, and provide PPE. |
| Slips & trips | Wet floors, cords and clutter — signage, footwear and good housekeeping. |
| Manual handling | Repetitive reaching, pushing and lifting — better equipment and task design. |
| Lone & night work | Working alone after hours — check-ins, communications and personal security. |
| Biological hazards | Bodily fluids and sharps — safe procedures and PPE for higher-risk settings. |
When you clean a client's premises, two businesses share responsibility for the same workplace.
Under the HSWA, where your work and the host business's work overlap, your duties overlap too — you must consult, cooperate and coordinate with each other so far as is reasonably practicable. In practice that means agreeing who controls what (access, hazards on site, emergency procedures), getting the host's site hazards briefed to your cleaners, and making sure your chemicals and methods don't create risks for their people, or vice versa.
These cover the underlying risks in detail.
Chemicals, lone-worker check-ins and site hazards in one place. Book a demo and we'll show you how it works — free 30-day trial included.
Yes. Cleaning involves chemical exposure, slips and trips on wet floors, and repetitive manual handling, often done alone at night. These cause real harm even though they look less dramatic than other industries, and the HSWA applies to cleaning like any work.
Many cleaning products are hazardous substances, so you must keep an inventory and a current safety data sheet for each, store them safely, provide PPE, and ensure workers know never to mix products. See our hazardous substances guide for the full requirements.
Your duties overlap with the host business's. Under the HSWA you must consult, cooperate and coordinate with them so far as is reasonably practicable — agreeing who controls site hazards, access and emergencies, and making sure neither party's work creates risk for the other's people.
Put check-in arrangements and reliable communications in place so someone knows where a cleaner is and notices if they don't finish, and consider personal security in empty buildings. See our lone and remote worker guide for practical steps.
Use wet-floor signage and suitable footwear, keep cords and clutter under control, and reduce manual handling with better equipment and task design. Slips and musculoskeletal injuries are the most common cleaning harms, so they deserve real attention.
