Keeping your home nice and tidy renders a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. However, it also requires investing a significant amount of effort, including the use of various tools and equipment, as well as physical work. All this provides enough opportunity for accidents, injuries, and other risks to your health.
Reliable professionals from NW Maids in Tacoma are sharing with you the essential methods to follow in order to keep both yourself and your family safe while handling cleaning equipment. Keep reading to learn more about how best to do it.
How to stay safe while cleaning?
Typical health risks you can encounter while cleaning involve harsh chemicals that are usually found in disinfectants and other products designed to remove stubborn build-up, bacteria, or stains. However, there’s also the risk of physical injury which can occur in situations where you’re not careful enough. The following tips will help you prevent any health issues and stay safe:
Protective gear
Direct contact with certain chemicals such as bleach can significantly harm your health. If you accidentally ingest or inhale such a chemical, it can lead to serious consequences. However, even using soapy water in direct contact with your skin can dry it out by removing essential oils. To ensure maximum safety during your cleaning sessions and minimize health risk, it’s essential that you wear protective gear such as facemasks, rubber gloves, and safety goggles.
Instruction labels
When you have a lengthy housekeeping experience behind you, and you’re well aware of all the do’s and don’ts, you tend to bypass checking product labels. However, you can find valuable and sometimes unexpected information on these labels, about both efficient and proper application of the product and safety precautions you need to follow while using it.
This step is particularly important if you or any of your household members suffer from asthma, allergies, and other conditions related to the respiratory system.
Storage
Proper product storage is another essential step regarding safety, and you can also find it on the product’s label. You can also follow some general guidelines that say you should find an enclosed place that your children and pets can’t reach and ensure it’s not directly exposed to sunlight. However, some products can have specific requirements when it comes to safe and proper storage.
Mixing
Dealing with extremely stubborn stains or highly soiled areas may tempt you to use two or more products simultaneously for a better result. However, it’s strongly recommended not to do so, since the mixture can yield particularly dangerous substances that can seriously affect your health.
For instance, mixing together products that contain ammonia and bleach creates a toxic vapor that, when inhaled, leads to potentially fatal consequences. To make sure you’re not running any risks, never mix two products together without first doing a thorough research.
Physical fitness
Household chores require a significant amount of physical effort that includes lifting and stretching. Therefore, you should be careful when performing tasks that make you go beyond your reach, balance, or strength.
You should also be aware that there are proper ways to do certain activities that prevent or minimize the possibility of injury. For example, if you need to lift a heavy object, you should focus on bending your knees and not the waist as many people naturally do.
If there’s an area you can’t reach or a really heavy object that’s difficult to manage, ask a household member for help and if there’s no one around, better leave that task for the next time. Additionally, if you do some warm-up exercises before you take on the chores, you can reduce the risk of getting injured and prevent any strains.
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