What does it mean to do ‘regular’ cleaning? That could be sweeping, vacuuming, and possibly even mopping floors and carpeting. For most of these situations, a breather mask is not going to be necessary. Neither will a dust mask.
Some people prefer to where dust masks when cleaning.
That is certainly fine and if any of your maintenance personnel have requested dust masks, even though it may not seem reasonable or practical, it is absolutely essential that you provide them this simple health feature.
Now, what about for other types of cleaning?
It may involve stripping, buffing, polishing, or waxing the floor surfaces throughout the facility. If that’s the case, depending on the type of equipment and cleaning solutions that are being used, proper safety measures are going to be essential.
This may include more effective masks.
If the cleaning solutions being used in any type of project are strong, if they produce vapors that could potentially irritate a person’s eyes, nose, throat, or skin, that needs to be taken into consideration. First check to determine whether these cleaning solutions are permissible to be used, by law, in your particular facility. If they are, determine whether or not there’s a more effective, environmentally safe, and healthy cleaning solution that could substitute.
If not, if this particular cleaning solution is absolutely essential to make sure the facility or floors are clean, then be certain to protect your maintenance personnel, even if they are not aware of the risks or seem to shrug them off. Remember, as a commercial property owner or manager, it is your responsibility to keep everyone safe, even from themselves. Liability is a huge issue these days, and if full face masks, breather masks, or simply dust masks are going to help improve safety, encourage their use and, when necessary, demand it.