Risk assessment
Cleaning risk assessments for offices, tenancies, and windows
Cleaning RAMS fail when they ignore the chemical, the wet floor, and how the windows are reached. An office clean is slips, COSHH, and manual handling of waste. An end-of-tenancy clean adds sharps hidden in rubbish. Window cleaning is work at height.
Cleaning products are COSHH even when they are bought from a supermarket. Mixing bleach and acid is a foreseeable harm and belongs on the chemical hazard, not on a slip hazard. Water-fed poles and anchors are a work-at-height decision. Needles in rubbish are a waste and infection hazard.
No law requires a document called a RAMS. The duty is to assess risk under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3, and to plan the work safely.
What to decide before the job
- The products in use, their dilution, and a ban on mixing unless the data sheet allows it.
- Wet-floor signs and the order of rooms so people are not walked through a wet exit.
- How windows above the ground floor are reached, and what is not stood on.
- Sharps procedure for void properties: do not pick up a needle with a bare hand.
Every hazard below is from the RAMSPack library and is marked draft – awaiting competent review. Use it as a starting list, then change it for the site. It is not HSE approved.
Worked example: Commercial office clean
Routine clean of an occupied or closed office: floors, welfare rooms, desks, and waste removal to the client's store. It is not construction work and it is not a deep clean of a clinical area.
Order of work
- Sign in if the client requires it. Note fire exits and the first-aid point.
- Put out warning signs before wet mopping. Clean from clean to dirty areas.
- Use the labelled dilution. Keep chemicals in the original or a labelled bottle.
- Empty waste to the agreed store. Do not compact bags by hand if they may contain sharps.
- Remove signs only when the floor is dry. Report defects such as broken lights or leaks to the client.
Chemical burns or fumes from cleaners, including mixing incompatible products
Who might be harmed: Cleaners and office users
Before controls: 9 Medium. After controls: 3 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Do not mix products. Bleach and acids together can release toxic gas.
- Wear the gloves the safety data sheet names. Wash splashes off skin.
- Store products locked if the client requires it, and away from food.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992; Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981.
Slips on wet floors
Who might be harmed: Cleaners and office users
Before controls: 12 Medium. After controls: 4 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Use warning signs. Mop in sections so a dry route remains.
- Wear footwear with grip. Leave signs until the floor is dry.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992; Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981.
Manual handling of waste, water buckets, and vacuum cleaners
Who might be harmed: Cleaners
Before controls: 9 Medium. After controls: 4 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Do not overfill buckets or bags. Use a trolley on long routes.
- Empty the vacuum before it becomes too heavy to carry.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002; Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992; Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981; Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 34 (duty of care for waste).
Lone working in a closed building
Who might be harmed: Cleaners
Before controls: 8 Medium. After controls: 4 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- There is no lone-working regulation. Assess it under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
- Agree a check-in with a supervisor. Know how to leave the building.
- Do not work at height alone. Report anyone who should not be in the building.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992; Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981.
Start this commercial office clean RAMS
Other cleaning tasks in the library
End of tenancy clean
Clean an empty domestic property at the end of a tenancy, including kitchen appliances, bathrooms, and floors. It excludes removal of rubbish hoards that block exits, and it excludes asbestos or mould remediation.
- Skin and eye injury from oven cleaner or descaler. Read the label. Wear eye protection. Keep the product at arm's length when spraying, or use a cloth instead of a spray where the label allows.
- Fall while cleaning the top of cupboards or a shower screen. Use a proper step that is high enough. Do not stand on the edge of a bath.
- Electric shock from a wet appliance or a damaged lead. Unplug before cleaning. Do not use a lead with a cracked sheath.
- Needles or broken glass hidden in rubbish. Do not push rubbish down by hand. Use a dustpan for glass.
Window cleaning
Clean external and internal glass on a low-rise property, preferring a water-fed pole from the ground so that ladders are not the default.
- Fall from a ladder. Avoid the ladder where a pole or a platform can do the work.
- A pole or ladder touching an overhead line. Look up before raising a pole or a ladder. Keep clear of overhead lines.
- Strain from a long water-fed pole and from carrying the water system. Use a harness or a shorter pole section where the reach allows. Take breaks.
- Trips on hoses and water on a public path. Run hoses along edges, use signs, and warn people. Do not flood a pavement in freezing weather.