CoSHH in the home

It’s time to bring out your rubber gloves and frilly cleaning aprons as iHASCO goes all CoSHH in the home!

We all know that most workplaces use chemicals in one way or another, but we often forget about the chemicals we use in our homes and would certainly never think of them as being relevant to CoSHH.  Almost all cleaning products contain some chemicals, there are the obvious ones such as bleach, pesticides for the garden, limescale remover and oven cleaner, but even washing up liquid and furniture polish can cause damage to your skin.

But how many of us would don a lovely pair of yellow gloves to wash up or polish…? I know I don’t! 

CoSHH principals state that what you should look to do is remove the need for any chemicals in the first instance.  However, when cleaning grease and grime we all know that’s not possible, so we need to replace these household chemicals with non-harmful, natural substitutes.  The web is packed with recipes for homemade cleaning products made from normal store cupboard ingredients and they are cheap, easy to make and safe – for some jobs, all you need is a lemon! 

Where you can’t replace your cleaning products you should follow these simple steps to protect yourself.

• First and foremost, always read the label!  All chemical products should have information on the risks of use, what protective clothing to wear, how to store safely and what to do in case of contact with skin or eyes.
• Secondly never remove the labels, swap containers or mix products.
• Use products only as directed.
• Finally, if contact does occur and you need to seek medical attention, take the product with you. 

So, ‘Hands that do dishes can be as soft as your face’ by following simple CoSHH guidelines, dig out your pinny, raid your fruit bowl and get cleaning!