An Overview of Cleaning Agents’ Health Hazards and Occupational Injuries and Diseases Attributed to Them in Sweden

Abstract

Using data from the Swedish Products Register, hosted by the Swedish Chemicals Agency (KemI), national occupational injury and disease statistics, and call records from the Swedish Poisons Information Centre (PIC) we characterize health hazards of marketed cleaning products and recorded injuries, disease, and incidents linked to cleaning or disinfection agents. The results show that cleaning agents pose many kinds of health hazards, although corrosion and irritation hazards dominate, in particular for the eyes (54% of all included products). Few products were recognized as inhalation hazards. The nature of the health hazards is reflected in the occupational disease and injury statistics and PIC records for eyes and skin but not for the respiratory tract. Among occupational disease cases attributed to cleaning or disinfection agents, 61% concern skin and 26% the respiratory tract. Among occupational injury cases 64% concern chemical burns. However, only a small part (<0.5%) of all reported diseases and injuries were explicitly attributed to cleaning or disinfection agents. On average, there were 11 cases of disease attributed to cleaning or disinfection agents per million workers and year. For occupational injuries the corresponding number was 8. The data concern a broad range of sectors and occupations, but notable sectors were healthcare, accommodation and food service, and manufacturing. Women were more likely to suffer from disease, men and women equally likely to suffer from injury. PIC cases were evenly distributed between men and women, but the clear risk cases more frequently involved men. Occupational diseases increased many-fold in 2020 while injuries decreased, which could be due to COVID-19 changing use patterns of cleaning and disinfection agents at work. We conclude that cleaning agents pose a variety of risks to a large part of the workforce, although particular attention for preventive efforts may need to be directed to the healthcare, accommodation and food service, and manufacturing sectors.

Perspectives and Attitudes of Newer New Jersey High School Teachers towards Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting Consumer Products Used in School Classrooms

“…This study also found that about a third of the participants experienced respiratory problems after working in their school, and about a third were relieved of symptoms, i.e., symptoms went away after leaving the school premises. This speculatively could be consistent with the idea that CSDPs are irritating to the respiratory tract, and after leaving the area in which these products are used, one can experience symptom relief [5,6,15,24]. This is not consistent with sick building syndrome, where "most" people in a building will feel ill and "most" will feel better after leaving the building [36].…”

“…A 2020 literature review reported that there was no significant transmission of COVID-19 through inanimate surfaces but agreed people should use disinfectant products [4]. In general, CSDPs have health risks when exposure occurs, i.e., if inhaled or if they get on the skin [1,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. These products, whether volatized or aerosolized, can be considered indoor air pollutants [14].…”

“…The chemicals in both cleaning and disinfecting products can contain many irritants, particularly to the eyes, skin, respiratory tract, and digestive tract [5,6]. Health care workers who were around or used disinfecting products more often reported higher rates of workrelated wheezing and watery eyes than non-users, and a nearly three-fold higher rate of asthma than the general U.S. population [10].…”

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“…Los productos de limpieza son mezclas de muchos ingredientes químicos y se asocian con irritaciones de las vías respiratorias inferiores como asma (Ahmed et al, 2022), EPOC, rinitis crónica (Dumas, 2021) y lesiones en la piel como quemaduras químicas (Kathare et al, 2022). La exposición a polvo de madera se asocia con cáncer de nasofaringe y senos paranasales (Mofidi et al, 2022).…”

Lipidomics Reveals the Effects of Detergents on Skin Surface Lipids in Young Adults

“…These chemicals have the potential to cause allergic contact dermatitis. In addition, these irritants may lead to impairment of skin barrier function, leading to ICD [21, 22]. Occupational groups (such as shampoo workers and medical staff.)…”