How To Safely Handle Cleaning Chemicals at Your Workplace
Are you wondering how to handle chemicals at your workplace? Unfortunately, there may not be a guide for this sort of thing at your job. It’s possible that you may not have received training on safely handling the cleaning chemicals at your job. If this is the case, read on for some tips on keeping yourself safe.
Wear the Right Equipment
There’s a good chance you wear gloves to wash the dishes at home. When working with chemical supplies at your job, wearing gloves is just as important, if not more so. That’s not all either. Depending on the type of chemical you’re working with, you might need a full mask or at least one that covers your mouth. You might even need protective glasses to mitigate eye irritation. There are different needs for different situations, but no matter what chemical you’re handling, you should always have the proper equipment. Check around your job for these supplies, and if you can’t find them, ask your boss where they are.
What You Should Know
Speaking of employers, there should be several special precautions in the workplace in place to keep you and your coworkers safe. Your employer should make sure chemicals are stored in a properly ventilated area. Your employer should provide protective gloves, goggles, and masks for handling chemicals. There should be labels on all the containers, and if there aren’t, you shouldn’t touch them. Finally, your employer needs to train you on using dangerous chemicals. Otherwise, you could seriously hurt yourself.
What Should You Do?
Of course, there are things you can do as well. Make sure you keep cleaning solutions in their proper containers, and don’t mix them. While you may know what they do separately, mixing chemicals could create a reaction that you weren’t expecting and seriously hurt you. Make sure you understand the safety signage and “label signals” each chemical supply has. There should be company jargon centered on how dangerous a chemical is overall. For instance:
“Caution” could mean relatively safe. This could mean that all you need to do is wash your hands after use.
“Warning” could mean that the solution is of moderate toxicity.
“Danger” could mean that the solution will give you permanent damage if you handle it incorrectly or are in its vicinity when it’s open without the proper equipment—this happens a lot when you have to deal with fumes that can cause eye irritation.
This is a particularly important part of safely handling chemicals—you’ll need to understand these protocols in your workplace.
Handling chemicals at your workplace should be easy. However, it doesn’t come without its dangers. As long as you stay informed and use the tips above, you can easily avoid accidents.
