Occupational Exposures Among Domestic and Industrial Professional Cleaners

Details

• Personal Author:
  Arif AA ; Delclos GL ; Hughes PC
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Despite being a large part of the workforce, cleaners remain a relatively understudied occupational group in the USA. AIMS: The aims of this focus group study were to identify and characterize occupational exposures, symptoms and job tasks among domestic and industrial professional cleaners. METHODS: Twelve focus group sessions were conducted in Lubbock, TX, and Houston, TX. Participants were asked about their job tasks, type of products they use to clean, bodily symptoms, job training and work environment. RESULTS: Out of 99 attendees, 79 domestic and industrial cleaners participated actively in the focus group sessions. Three general themes emerged regarding cleaning professionals' work experiences: (i) job training, (ii) chemical exposure and use and (iii) competence. Domestic cleaners demonstrated significant skills deficit across each of these three themes as compared to industrial cleaners. Domestic cleaners reported more frequent exposure to respiratory irritants and sensitizers and also reported adverse respiratory symptoms as compared to industrial cleaners. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this qualitative study are consistent with earlier findings from quantitative studies placing domestic cleaners at risk of exposure to chemicals that are respiratory irritants and/or sensitizers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Chemistry Hypersensitivity Inhalation Exposure Irritants Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory Hypersensitivity Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Cleaners Chemical-cleaning Chemical-hypersensitivity Chemical-properties Chemical-reactions Dry-cleaning-industry Exposure-methods Focus Group Inhalants Janitors Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Occupational-health Occupational-respiratory-disease Occupational Asthmagens Occupational Health Quantitative-analysis Respiratory-hypersensitivity Respiratory-irritants Statistical-analysis Training Work-analysis Work-environment Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices Worker-health Worker-motivation Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  0962-7480
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  458-463
• Volume:
  58
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035422
• Citation:
  Occup Med 2008 Oct; 58(7):458-463
• Contact Point Address:
  Ahmed A. Arif, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223
• Email:
  aarif@uncc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Performing Organization:
  Texas Tech University, Health Sciences Center
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20040901
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational Medicine
• End Date:
  20070630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6c49975121db47b67005491095cd46591be7fb6c004ed0b7ba706f0e05ddd000befdfbdbc5deaf654f5bde4c36abd475bbf1dcc5e3dbcbdaa25303ac4968f382
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187284/cdc_187284_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 72.94 KB ]