Cleaning Products

Match the product to the surface

Most cleaning failures on site are a product used on the wrong surface rather than a product that does not work.

• Multi surface cleaner for day-to-day wiping down of desks, cabins, plant controls and general fittings.
• Hard surface cleaner in bulk for floors, walls and washable surfaces where the job is area rather than detail.
• Washroom and toilet cleaners, formulated for sanitary ware and limescale, which a general cleaner will not shift.
• Odourless foam aerosol where the space is occupied and a strong fragrance is not wanted.
• Tar and bitumen remover for the marks a general cleaner cannot touch: plant, vehicle bodywork and tools after surfacing work.
• Bleach for drains, hard floors and sanitary areas, never mixed with anything else.

Never mix products. Bleach with an acidic cleaner releases chlorine gas, and it happens in real washrooms because two bottles were used one after the other in a confined space.

Consumables are half the job

A cleaner without something to apply and remove it with is half a system.

Blue centrefeed rolls are the site standard for hands, spills and general wiping, and a 2-ply roll goes considerably further than a 1-ply one despite the price difference. Mixed rags suit heavy, greasy work where paper disintegrates and where you are going to throw the cloth away. Bleached dish cloths belong in welfare and food areas and should not migrate into the workshop.

Buy these by consumption rather than by job. They are the items that run out quietly and stop a welfare unit being usable.

Storing and decanting safely

Keep concentrates in their original containers wherever possible, because the label carries the hazard information, the dilution and the first aid advice.

Where you do decant into a spray bottle, label it with the product and the dilution. Store cleaning chemicals away from food, away from frost and out of direct sun, and keep them separate from each other so nothing can leak into anything it should not meet.

The eye wash station

A wall-mountable eye wash station belongs where the chemicals are used and stored, not in an office at the other end of the building. Someone with a splash in their eyes will not find a station they have to go looking for.

Mount it at a height a person can reach without seeing clearly, check the expiry dates on the pods, and make sure the route to it is one that stays clear.

For disinfection and hand hygiene specifically, see anti-bacterial cleaning products.