Challenges and need for further research and actions
A number of challenges for the sector remain. The data and research available clearly suggest that the
prevalence of health problems in the cleaning workforce is high. However, most studies give only a
fragmented view of the cleaning occupation, the focus of most of the studies in cleaning being indeed
on specific elements of the cleaning work or health outcomes, rather than on the cleaning occupation
as a whole. There is therefore a need for scientific studies adopting a global approach of the risks and
issues for the sector, taking in account combined exposure to several risk factors. Efforts should be
made to develop monitoring systems and health surveillance in cleaners, down to the level of the
different types of cleaning jobs, in order to be able to better identify the risks, the groups at risks, the
health problems and the needs for prevention.
Last but not least, although social partners increasingly collaborate at the European level and strive to
produce and disseminate health and safety information for the sector, there is still a need to improve the
situations in terms of workers’ access to training and the awareness for OSH down to employers, “host
companies”, cleaners themselves, and even to further actors whose work highly impact on the OSH
situation of cleaning workers such as architects or designers and manufacturers of hotel room furniture
or cleaning equipmen