Question: " We have an employee that suffers from OCD and sprays her office with Lysol. She sprays so much that the people in the other offices are coughing and complaining. How can we approach her nicely to stop her from using the spray? Does OSHA list anything?
Thanks!
"
Steve’s Answer:
Personally I am always happy to have occupants who are willing to help clean. Frankly, I wish we could come up with ways to get occupants to do even more cleaning, especially of things like their computer keyboards & mouse and telephones. Frankly the science is pretty clear that if we clean the things that people touch --- especially those things they share we can reduce the incidence of illness, which of course can reduce absenteeism and improve productivity.
Thus my recommendation is NOT to make them stop, but rather to get them to use the appropriate products. So you might consider replacing the product she is bringing from home with one that you supply to her.
In this way you not only would be sure to meet all of OSHA's requirements to have Material Safety Data Sheets on file and that the bottles are appropriately labeled, but you can also make sure the product will both be effective and reduce potential negative health and environmental impacts ---- what I would define as a "greener" product.
Some of the things to look for might be an EPA Registered disinfectant that you purchase as a concentrate and properly dilute into a spray bottle that can be refilled to reduce packaging and transportation impacts.
If the current product is bothering her coworkers, it is likely due to the high level of VOCs either from the aerosol propellant or the ingredients themselves. Thus look for a disinfectant that is lower in VOCs.
If her coworkers are extremely sensitive, you might consider using disinfectant that has no added fragrance and little overall odor to speak of --- I state it this way because some products have strong scents due to their "functional" ingredients (the stuff that makes the product work) and not from fragrances which are "cosmetic" and added just to improve the products scent. So the problem or improvement is not confined to the use of lack thereof fragrance.
One last thing to consider is to give her some "microfiber" wiping cloths and have her clean with these. These microfiber cloths have been used in Europe for about 30 years and are now just finding their ways into many cleaning programs. Not only do these microfiber cloths clean better than traditional cloths or paper towels, but they can clean WITHOUT any chemicals at all --- just water works well for most cleaning applications.
My only recommendation about buying microfiber cloths is to buy high quality ones (they make cost $2 to $4 each) because unfortunately there are no standards for microfiber cloths and some companies sell extremely low quality ones that aren't worth the money and don't perform well. But they are reusable/washable so they last a long, long time.
Hope this helps,
Steve
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