Health and Safety at Work
Learn about your right to a safe workplace, the risks cleaners face and how CAIWU supports workers challenging unsafe conditions and protecting their health.
Your Health Should Never Be the Price of Your Job
Every day, cleaners carry out physically demanding work that keeps workplaces safe, hygienic and functioning. Yet the people responsible for maintaining these environments are often exposed to risks that threaten their own health.
From handling hazardous cleaning chemicals and lifting heavy waste containers to working with inadequate equipment or excessive workloads, unsafe working conditions can have serious consequences.
No worker should have to risk their health or safety simply to earn a living.
The Risks Cleaners Face Every Day
Workplace injuries and illnesses are not always caused by sudden accidents. Repeated physical strain, exposure to harmful substances and inadequate working arrangements can cause lasting damage.
Cleaners may experience back injuries from heavy lifting, skin conditions from cleaning chemicals, slips and falls, or exhaustion caused by understaffing and unrealistic workloads.
Employers have legal responsibilities to assess workplace risks, provide appropriate training and equipment, and take reasonably practicable steps to protect workers' health and safety.
However, identifying a hazard does not always mean an employer will take appropriate action.
When workers raise concerns about unsafe conditions, those concerns deserve to be taken seriously.
Safe Working Conditions Are Worth Fighting For
Outsourced cleaners may face additional difficulties when responsibility for workplace conditions involves both their cleaning company and the organisation that controls the premises.
Workers should not be left dealing with dangerous situations while companies argue over responsibility.
At CAIWU, we support members in raising health and safety concerns, challenging unsafe working practices and demanding that employers take appropriate action.
When hazards affect entire cleaning teams, collective organisation can help workers press for safer equipment, manageable workloads and better working conditions.
Your health is not expendable. Your safety should never be negotiable.
Join CAIWU and stand alongside workers organising for safer workplaces, dignity and respect.