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If you work in hopsital housekeeping on a daily basis you might want to take a moment to read this.

You may be tasked with keeping the hospital free of bacteria and harmful viruses, however, the solutions you’re using to clean the hospital may be doing you and the patients more harm than good.

A study conducted at 6 Mass. hospitals found that housekeeping employees at those hospitals were at a much higher respiratory risk due to the solvents and cleaning products they used on a daily basis.  Made up of a complex mixture of various chemicals including solvents, fragrances, surfactants and disinfectants, the possibility of respiratory irritation while using hospital cleaners is high. The risk becomes higher when the hospital worker is cleaning with multiple solvents in a small, unventilated area such as a washroom.

While we might think hospital housekeeping is keeping us safe from bacteria and germs, in actual fact the solvents they use to “clean” could be causing more harm than good. However, should a hospital be equipped with a proper air filtration system from Electrocorp then the risk for respiratory illness lessens. Also, switching to products such as the Australian-made AUSSAN which is an organic hospital-grade disinfectant could also reduce the risk of occupational respiratory illnesses associated with hospital housekeeping staff.