Taking care of your union’s staff

Every union office has to be cleaned.  We should expect the same care in selecting and using appropriate cleaning materials to clean the union office as for any other employer.  Taking responsibility for the appropriate choice of cleaning materials is important for the health of union staff and cleaners. 

Recently OHSEI faced this issue.  It had been decided that the office carpet should be cleaned.  Although the carpet cleaning was to be done on the weekend there was concern that the cleaners might be affected and/or that harmful residues might be left for staff returning on Monday morning.

OHSEI has been drawing the attention of participants on training courses of the importance of arranging copies of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).  The cleaners were asked to indicate the carpet cleaning agent they intended to use.  The product was to be used in Bangkok but the manufacturer was an Australian company.  First the label on the container was reviewed.  It was, of course, only available in English.  However, more information is available from an MSDS so a search was made to see whether the manufacturer had a website with MSDS.

The search was successful and a copy of the MSDS (still only in English) was downloaded.  The information was noted and instructions prepared (in Thai) for the cleaners to minimise hazards to themselves and to staff returning to the office.

[ back to newsletter ] [ back to homepage ]