Cleaning Products in School

Specialties School

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Does anyone check on the cleaning products used in the school? Recently at the middle school where I'm subbing, I had kids who had reactions on their forearms, some similar to a contact dermatitis, some more of a burn. At first I just monitored the situation but then spoke up to janitor staff because I was concerned about number of kids. It turned out that the machine that dispenses the cleaner was dispensing incorrectly and that is most likely the cause of the reactions.

Has this happened in anyone's schools? Do you know what products your school uses? Is your school using more of a "green" cleaner? The product in the school I'm in is hospital-grade and very strong.

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Specializes in Home Health,Dialysis, MDS, School Nurse.

I honestly have no idea what the cleaning staff use. Its not "green" though as after my bathroom is cleaned, my eyes water and I sneeze for a bit its so chemical smelling. Nice catch though! I'll have to remember to consider that if I get rashes.

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There was a related post a while ago.

https://allnurses.com/school-nurses/hand-sanitizer-is-1038650.html

The hand sanitizer part is a joke, but everything else the law covers isn't. If you had the resources to investigate what's being used, that'd help make a case for getting people on board with this training. Our school is small enough that I have a say over most of what comes in, so I can keep our kiddos in mind. Nothing "green" in our school, but pesticides and cleaning products are very separated from what students would have access to. Aside from custodian-only materials, kids just use hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes.

All you'd need to do is remind admin that everyone using some of these chemicals has to go through a long training and they'll probably stop using it.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

The school itself uses green cleaners. In my office, it's a bit more germ warfare. I figure that I have to "live" in here, I am the one that does the immediate clean-up. I'm using Sanitex, I'm using the red top cloths, I'm Lysoling what I want. I took one sick day last year - and that's because I broke my arm. (knocking on wood so i don't jinx myself)

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Specializes in kids.

The school facilities takes care of that and having all MSDS sheet on file at the central office

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