Cleaning and Janitorial Safety Course: Lessons 2026

Lesson 1: Hazards of cleaning work and your rights

Cleaning looks simple, but it has real hazards. The main ones are:

• Chemicals that can burn skin and eyes or give off harmful fumes
• Wet and cluttered floors that cause slips, trips and falls
• Needles, broken glass and body fluids in garbage and washrooms
• Lifting and repeated motions that strain the back, arms and shoulders
• Working alone, often at night, when help is not close by

Training your employer must give

Under WHMIS (the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System), employers must have an education and training program for every worker who works with or may be exposed to a hazardous product. The training must be specific to your workplace: its products, its labels and its procedures. This course is background knowledge only and does not replace that training.

Your three rights

• The right to know about hazards and get training and supervision
• The right to participate, for example by reporting safety concerns
• The right to refuse work you believe is dangerous to you or others

Lesson 2: WHMIS labels and safety data sheets

WHMIS has four main parts: classifying hazardous products, labels, safety data sheets (SDSs) and worker education and training.

Supplier labels

A product from a supplier comes with a supplier label in English and French. It must show:

1. The product identifier (name)
2. The supplier's name, address and phone number
3. Hazard pictograms
4. A signal word: Danger or Warning
5. Hazard statements
6. Precautionary statements

Workplace labels

A workplace label is needed when a product is made at the workplace, when it is poured (decanted) into another container, or when the supplier label is lost or unreadable. It shows the product name, safe handling information and a reference to the SDS.

If you pour a product into a container and use it right away yourself, a full workplace label may not be needed, but the container must still show the product name. If the bottle will be used later or by other people, it needs a full workplace label. Rules vary by province, so follow your site's procedure.

Safety data sheets

An SDS has 16 sections. Three are very useful for cleaners:

Your employer must keep SDSs readily available to workers who use the product.

Some products sold for home use are consumer products. They are excluded from WHMIS supplier label and SDS rules, but workers should still be trained to use them safely.

Lesson 3: Using cleaning chemicals safely

Never mix bleach with other products

Health Canada warns that it is never safe to mix bleach with other cleaning products. Mixing can release toxic gases such as chloramine. These can burn the eyes, cause light-headedness and can even be deadly. Never mix bleach with:

• Ammonia-based products, such as many glass cleaners
• Acids, such as vinegar
• Toilet bowl cleaners that contain ammonia or acids

Safe habits

• Read the label and follow the directions every time.
• Open windows or doors, or run exhaust fans, for fresh air.
• Wear the protective equipment the label or SDS calls for. For bleach, Health Canada suggests goggles and rubber gloves.
• Make only as much diluted bleach as you need, and do not store leftovers.
• Keep every product in a labelled container.

If someone is exposed, call a Poison Centre or get medical help right away. Have the product label or container with you.

Chemical in the eyes

Start flushing right away. First aid advice cited by CCOHS is to rinse with lots of water for at least 15 minutes. If you wear contact lenses, do not delay flushing to take them out. Remove them as soon as you can while you flush. Know where the nearest eyewash station is before you start work.

Lesson 4: Preventing slips, trips and falls

Cleaners make floors wet many times a day, so they must protect themselves and everyone else. CCOHS calls good housekeeping the most basic way to prevent falls.

• Clean up spills right away and mark wet areas with warning signs.
• Keep walkways and stairways clear of carts, buckets and bags.
• Cover or move cables that cross a walkway.
• Keep work areas well lit and report burned-out lights.
• Wear footwear that suits wet or oily floors.
• Walk at a pace that suits the surface, watch where you are going and take corners wide.

Lesson 5: Garbage, sharps and body fluids

Garbage and washrooms can hide used needles, broken glass and body fluids. Germs such as HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C can spread through needlestick injuries.

Routine practices

Routine practices are infection control habits that protect workers. You treat all blood and body fluids as if they could be infectious. Gloves are single use, and gloves do not replace hand hygiene. Wash your hands with soap and water when they are visibly dirty, and clean them before putting on and after taking off gloves.

Handling garbage and sharps

• Do not carry garbage bags close to your body. Hold them away from your legs.
• Never hold a needle or blade with your hands. Use a tool to grasp it.
• Put sharps straight into a puncture-resistant sharps container.
• Never recap a needle.
• Report any needle you find.

If you are stuck by a needle

1. Rinse the area well with running water, and wash gently with soap and water.
2. If blood got in your eyes, nose or mouth, flush with running water.
3. Report it to your employer right away.
4. Follow the advice of a health care professional for any testing or treatment.

Lesson 6: Lifting, strain and working alone

Lifting and repeated work

• Use carts, trolleys and lifting equipment whenever you can.
• Share heavy loads with another worker.
• Keep the load close to your body and do not twist your spine.
• Bend at the knees and lift smoothly.
• Take breaks and rotate tasks so the same muscles are not used all shift.
• Report early signs of pain or strain.

Working alone

Many cleaners work alone in empty buildings. CCOHS recommends a check-in procedure with regular contact, a named contact person and a plan if you miss a check-in. Keep your phone close by and charged.