Good Housekeeping is the Foundation For a Safer Workplace

Every supervisor, every manager and anybody in a leadership position should understand that poor housekeeping contributes to poor safety.

Go and have a look at your workplace and ask yourself these ten questions.

Are all travel ways clear of obstructions?

Are they properly marked?

Is there any rubbish on the floor?

Is the workplace free from flammable materials?

Is it clean and tidy?

Is there any accumulation of rubbish in corners?

Are all the tools in a safe usable condition?

Are they stored in their proper places?

Is the machinery and equipment clean?

Is the floor slippery from moisture or oil and grease?

Your answers will indicate the areas that require attention and enable you to start the establishment of housekeeping standards. The ultimate question to ask yourself when you have inspected the workplace is, "Are there any unnecessary things in the workplace and are all the necessary things in their proper places?"

Housekeeping in any organization is the cornerstone of efficiency and the maintenance of operating standards. If you are going to increase safety levels, first of all to improve housekeeping. A tidy workplace reduces the opportunity for accidents, incidence and prevents wasted energy. It also has the effect of making the greatest use of precious space. Keeping things in order is the first step of doing everything right, if you can't manage the housekeeping, you will find it very difficult to manage the business.

Good housekeeping will ensure safer production and greater productivity at lower costs. This alone makes the return on investment well worth it.

Without a doubt, a messy working environment contributes to unsafe work practices, undesirable incidents and ultimately, workplace accidents. From a leadership point of view, poor housekeeping is often a reflection of the levels of leadership within the organization.

Housekeeping inspections should be a regular part of leadership activity. During these inspections it is possible to recognize hazards and note them for action. It is also a great opportunity to identify unused inventory that can be returned to the store. If everything is discovered that represents a serious risk or potential danger then action should be taken immediately. Over a relatively short period of time, housekeeping will improve and so will safety. The investment in time is relatively short and it is an ideal job that can be delegated to a supervisor or manager.

The most effective way to conduct housekeeping inspections is to invite someone from a different department to inspect your workplace and then you can inspect theirs. This creates the opportunity for looking at the area with a fresh set of eyes.

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The bakery is awash in plushy ducks when Duff is commissioned to do a cake for Aflac's Pediatric Cancer Center in Atlanta. Then Duff, Geof and Elena head out to NAMM where they check out the latest and greatest in the music world and create an upright, oversized guitar for the 20th anniversary of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Duff also gets a little birthday surprise from the folks at Good Housekeeping when he stops in for some cake and a magazine spread.

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Cleaning Floors : How to Clean Finished Hardwood Floors

Cleaning finished hardwood floors involves making a solution of a quarter cup of vinegar, a gallon of water and a tablespoon of Murphy's Oil soap to pull up excess dirt. Keep finished hardwood floors dust-free and shining with cleaning tips from the owner of a housekeeping service in this free video on cleaning floors. Expert: Cyn Deer Bio: Cynthia Deer is a single mom who's been cleaning up after her family for decades. Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

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Housekeeping and Safety in the Workplace - How This Concept Will Reduce Your Work Related Injuries

To some, the concept of safety housekeeping is a new one. However, if your goal is to reduce worksite injuries, you need to embrace the idea of safety housekeeping. What is it? Quite simply, it includes keeping the work area clean and tidy, keeping floors, doorways and emergency exits debris free at all times, and finally it is an awareness of potential hazards that exist in our workspace.

There are several very distinct benefits of an orderly and house kept work area. These include: improved workplace efficiency, an assist to fire prevention on the worksite, a noted increase in employee morale, and finally, less employee injuries. It is this last point that appears to offer the most financial benefit. Obviously if you have an employee who injures himself on the job, you will have costs associated with medical treatment, lost wages, and lost productivity. Even if you have workers' compensation insurance coverage who will pay some of these costs, keep in mind that you will ultimately pay in the form of increased insurance premiums.

So what does a good safety housekeeping program consist of? First and foremost an investment in employee training should be a top priority. Employees need to be trained on the concepts of keeping their work areas safe of debris, cleaning up after their shift, placing warning signs when a spill occurs, job site inspections and more. Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of safety housekeeping is that your employees will have a hyper sensitive alertness to work place safety. Remember, an aware workforce is a safe workforce.

In order to implement a proper safety housekeeping initiative, there will likely need to be an initial expenditure for supplies. Some thought should be given to buying storage bins for loose or scattered work materials. Also, spill control supplies should be at several locations throughout the target facility. Finally, dust and dirt removal should be accomplished through a powerful and HEPA certified unit.

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Tips to Better Dusting - Keep Your Home Dust Free

Dusting seems like a simple concept: take a cloth or feather duster and wipe it over surfaces that have collected dust. Viola! You have a dust-free house. Unfortunately it is not that easy. Sometimes when you dust, all you are really doing is moving the dust around. At times, the act of dusting is just getting the dust particles into the air where they can wreak havoc with your allergies.

If you have bad dust allergies or suffer from asthma, you should consider wearing a dust mask (found in the hardware section of most stores) to keep the dust particles out of your lungs. Even if you do not have these issues, if you need to dust a particularly dirty area, you should consider using one of these masks also.

Here are some other tips to help keep your house dust-free.

Dust from Top to Bottom
When you dust higher surfaces, some of the dust inevitably falls onto surfaces below. To save yourself from having to dust the same surface more than once (or to have an already dusted surface look dirty by the end of the process), be sure to dust higher areas first.

Dry Dust First
Always dry dust (with a cloth or duster) first. If the area needs to be wet dusted (using polish or other cleaner) only do that after you have removed the excess dust with a dry dusting.

Use Mats
Having floor mats both inside and outside of the entrances of the house will help reduce the amount of dust and dirt that gets tracked into your home on the bottoms of shoes.

Have the Right Tools for the Job
This can vary from room to room. Feather dusters may be great for getting into those hard to reach places on shelves, but might not get the job done for larger surfaces. That dusty ceiling fan may need a microfiber cloth on an extendable pole. You might want to invest in a electrostatic cloth, but dryer sheets are also a nice, cheaper alternative.

Brush Your Pets
By brushing your pets, you will reduce shedding hair and dander that can accumulate in your home.