An office cleaning risk assessment is a written check of what could hurt the people who clean your premises, and what you do to stop it. In the UK it follows the five steps in HSE guidance: find the hazards, decide who could be harmed, set controls, record the findings and review them. For cleaning, the hazards are mostly wet floors, chemicals, manual handling, lone working and electrical equipment. This guide shows you how to build the assessment, how it fits with a cleaning scope, and who is responsible when a contractor does the work.
TL;DR
- The law expects a risk assessment for cleaning work. The core duties come from the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 and COSHH 2002.
- Follow five steps: identify hazards, decide who might be harmed, set controls, record significant findings, review. If you employ five or more people, the findings must be written down.
- Cover slips on wet floors, chemicals (COSHH), manual handling, lone working and electrical equipment. Control at source first, PPE last.
- Pair the assessment with a scope of work listing areas, tasks, frequency, equipment and products, so everyone knows what is being done and how.
- Review after any change in products, equipment, staff or routine, and after any accident or near miss.
Table of Contents
- What the law expects for office cleaning
- Who does the assessment: you or the cleaning company?
- The five steps, applied to an office
- Hazards to cover, and the controls that work
- Putting scope and risk assessment together
- A worked example: a small open-plan office
- When to review and what to record
- Common mistakes
- Perspective: what we see on the ground
- Booking office cleaning with us
- FAQ
- Sources
What the law expects for office cleaning
There is no single "office cleaning regulation". Several general duties apply together, and your risk assessment is how you show you have met them.
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, every UK employer must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees at work. That includes your own cleaners if you employ them directly. If you use a contractor, the contractor is the employer of its cleaners and carries that duty for them, but you still control the building they work in, so the two of you need to share information about it.
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 require every workplace, including its furniture, furnishings and fittings, to be kept sufficiently clean. The same guidance says landlords or managing agents of business premises have duties for the common parts and facilities within their control. So a managing agent responsible for shared corridors, lifts and washrooms cannot treat cleaning safety as a tenant's problem alone.
The third piece is the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. HSE's COSHH guidance explains that employers must assess the risks from hazardous substances and take steps to prevent or control exposure. Most cleaning products fall into this, from descaler to oven cleaner to bleach.
Put simply: a cleaning risk assessment is the general workplace assessment, applied to cleaning tasks, with a COSHH assessment for the products and a manual handling check for the equipment.
Who does the assessment: you or the cleaning company?
Both, in different ways, and it is worth settling this before the first clean.
If you employ the cleaners. You write the assessment, supply the equipment and products, train the staff and review the controls. HSE says you can do this yourself or appoint a competent person to help, and that you should involve workers, because they know where the real problems are.
If you use a contractor. The contractor should hold its own assessments for the work it does: general cleaning, COSHH for its products, and manual handling. Your job is to give it site-specific information it cannot know in advance: where the floors are different, which rooms hold electrical or server equipment, where the fuse boards are, whether the building is empty at night, how the alarm and keys work, and what to do in an emergency.
A sensible handover covers:
- the contractor's written assessments and method statement, which you read rather than file
- the list of products and equipment used, with safety data sheets for each product
- site hazards and access arrangements, in writing
- who the cleaners contact if something goes wrong, and who at your end can be reached out of hours
- how you will both review it, and how often
If you are choosing a team, our vetting checks for office managers cover the questions to ask before anyone starts.
The five steps, applied to an office
HSE's five steps are the standard method. Here is what each looks like for a cleaned office.
Step 1: Identify the hazards
Walk the building as the cleaner would, at the time they would be there. Do the real route, not the one on the floor plan. Note wet floors and stairs, storage cupboards, where chemicals are kept and mixed, heavy bins, vacuum cleaners that have to be carried upstairs, trailing leads, high shelves and windows, poor lighting, and any room the cleaner enters alone.
Ask the cleaners. HSE is clear that workers' experience matters, and a ten-minute conversation will often find things a walk-round misses, such as a door that sticks or a bin store that is badly lit.
Step 2: Decide who might be harmed and how
The cleaner is the obvious answer, but not the only one. Office staff working late can slip on a freshly mopped floor. Visitors, security staff and other contractors share the same corridors. Think about people who may be more vulnerable: new or inexperienced cleaners, young workers, pregnant workers, and anyone with a health condition that makes certain products or tasks riskier. Write down the person and the type of harm, for example "cleaner: back strain from carrying a vacuum up two flights".
Step 3: Evaluate the risks and decide on controls
HSE puts control measures in an order of priority: remove the hazard, replace the material or process, organise the work to reduce exposure, apply practical measures, and only then rely on PPE. Gloves and goggles matter, but they are the last line of defence, not the first.
The main hazards and their controls are covered in the next section.
Step 4: Record the findings
If you employ five or more people, you must record the significant findings: the hazards, who might be harmed and how, and what you are doing about it. Even below that threshold, a written record is the easiest way to prove the work was done and to brief new cleaners. HSE also says assessments should not rely on paperwork alone. A neat form with no change on the ground is worthless; the aim is that the risks are controlled in practice.
Step 5: Review
Risk assessments go stale. The review triggers are covered below.
Hazards to cover, and the controls that work
This table is a starting point. Adjust it for your own building.
| Hazard | Typical example in an office | Practical controls |
|---|---|---|
| Slips and trips | Mopped corridors, wet washrooms, kitchen spills, trailing vacuum leads | Wet floor signs, cleaning in sections, drying before reopening areas, cable management, good lighting |
| Hazardous substances | Bleach, descaler, oven cleaner, limescale remover | COSHH assessment per product, safety data sheets, no decanting into unlabelled bottles, no mixing, ventilation, gloves and eye protection where the data sheet requires |
| Manual handling | Carrying vacuums on stairs, full bins, moving furniture | Wheeled trolleys, lighter equipment, a vacuum on each floor, splitting loads, training |
| Awkward postures | Long spells of vacuuming, wiping, bending in washrooms | Task rotation, long-handled tools, adjustable equipment, breaks |
| Lone working | Evening or early-morning cleans in an empty building | Check-in routine, charged phone, known location, emergency contact, safe access and exit |
| Electrical equipment | Vacuums, floor machines, damaged leads | Visual checks before use, report and remove faulty items, keep liquids away from sockets, no cleaning of live equipment |
| Working at height | Dusting high ledges, internal glazing | Proper steps rather than chairs, nothing beyond safe reach |
| Dust | Sweeping, dry dusting | Vacuuming and damp methods in place of dry sweeping |
Slips on wet floors
Slips are the most visible cleaning risk. Controls start with the method: less water means less to dry. EU-OSHA's guidance on slips, trips and falls for cleaners points to microfibre systems, which use less water and chemical than traditional wet mopping. That is European guidance rather than UK law, but it complements the HSE approach.
If you manage a larger site with entrances, car parks and walkways, these ways to reduce slip hazards on walkways are worth a read alongside your internal floors, because the route from the street to the lift is part of the same risk.
In practice: put signs out before the floor is wet, not after; clean one section at a time so there is always a dry route; and tell the building's occupiers when floors will be wet.
Chemicals and COSHH
HSE's COSHH guidance says you identify hazardous substances using product labels and safety data sheets (SDS), and manage risks from processes that give off dust, fume, vapour, mist or gas. For an office, that means a short list: every product the cleaners use, where it is stored, how it is diluted, what protective equipment it needs and what to do after a splash or spill.
The cheapest improvement is usually to reduce the range of products. Fewer chemicals means fewer data sheets, less chance of mixing the wrong ones, and simpler training. The same HSE page notes that workspaces designed for easy cleaning, with smooth surfaces and dust-free methods such as vacuuming rather than sweeping, reduce exposure in the first place. If your tender includes environmental criteria, our guide to turning ecolabels into tender rules covers how to ask for lower-hazard products without lowering standards.
Manual handling and posture
HSE's page on managing cleaning risks explains that musculoskeletal problems among cleaners often come from pushing, pulling, lifting and carrying, or from awkward postures held during vacuuming and wiping. It also says a manual handling assessment should consider the individual capacity of the cleaner, the loads involved and the working environment.
So ask practical questions. Is there a lift? How far is the cupboard from the farthest floor? Are the bin bags overfilled? Could a second vacuum live on the top floor? These are cheap fixes that remove injuries rather than just describing them.
Lone working
Many offices are cleaned out of hours. A typical example method statement from a published cleaning template lists a charged phone, a communication routine and supervision arrangements as standard controls for lone workers. Add the specifics for your building: which door the cleaner uses, whether the alarm needs setting on exit, and who answers if they call.
Electrical equipment
Cleaning equipment takes a beating. Make visual checks of plugs and leads part of the routine, remove damaged items from use and report them. Make sure the cleaner knows which sockets and equipment are off limits, such as server rooms or specialist machinery.
Putting scope and risk assessment together
People searching for the risk assessment often want the scope of work too, and the two documents should agree with each other. A task you have not put in the scope has not been risk assessed, and a hazard you have not written down is unlikely to be controlled.
A practical office cleaning scope sets out:
- Areas: floors, zones, washrooms, kitchens, meeting rooms, reception, stairwells, and what is excluded (server rooms, locked offices, specialist equipment)
- Tasks: for example vacuuming, dusting, bin emptying, surface and desk wiping, washroom cleaning, kitchen cleaning
- Frequency: daily, weekly, monthly or periodic, such as evening cleans five days a week with deeper work at set intervals
- Equipment and products: what will be used and who supplies it
- Access and timing: when cleaners arrive, how they get in and out, who is on site
- Standards and checks: how quality is inspected and what happens if a visit falls short
That structure matches what the method statement example describes: the scope is a shared reference for client and contractor about what is expected and how the work is done safely.
If you want to turn the task list into something you can audit, our four-tier office cleaning checklist for facilities managers is a ready structure. For the area that most often has no clear owner, see the daily office kitchen cleaning routine.
A worked example: a small open-plan office
Take a 20-person office on two floors, cleaned by a two-person team three evenings a week. This is an illustration, not a template to copy.
- Walk the route. The team enters by a side door, stores equipment in a ground-floor cupboard, and carries one vacuum to the first floor.
- Hazards found. Carrying the vacuum upstairs, a wet kitchen floor next to the main walkway, bleach-based washroom cleaner stored under a sink, and a cleaner working alone on the first floor for part of the shift.
- Controls chosen. Buy a second vacuum for the first floor (removes the carry). Put out wet floor signs and mop the kitchen in two halves. Move chemicals to a labelled, lockable cupboard, with data sheets in the same place. Agree that the two cleaners check in by phone at set points, and that the team lead holds the building's emergency contact.
- Record. Write a one-page assessment listing each hazard, who is affected and the control. Because the office has more than five employees, this record is required.
- Review. Revisit it when the team changes products, when a new cleaner starts, or after any near miss.
Notice the order: the first fix removes the hazard, and only the chemical task relies partly on protective equipment.
When to review and what to record
HSE says to review whenever something significant changes. For cleaning, that usually means:
- new equipment or a new type of floor machine
- different products, or a supplier changing a formulation
- a new cleaning process or a change in hours
- new staff or a change of contractor
- an office move, refurbishment or layout change
- an accident, a near miss, or a worker reporting that a control is not working
When you review, update the record with what changed and why. Keep the date. If you cannot say when you last looked at an assessment, assume it needs another look.
Common mistakes
- Copying a generic template. A template is a prompt, not an assessment. If it does not mention your stairs, your storage or your hours, it has not been done for your office.
- Relying on PPE. Gloves are the last control, not the first.
- Ignoring out-of-hours working. The risk of an injury with nobody nearby is different from one in a busy office.
- Treating the contractor's paperwork as the end of it. Read it, check it matches what actually happens on site, and give them the site-specific information they need.
- Never reviewing. A change of product or a new member of staff can quietly undo the controls.
Perspective: what we see on the ground
The assessments that work are short and specific. We find that most problems in offices come from the gaps between people: nobody told the cleaner which cupboard is locked, nobody owns the kitchen, nobody knows which products are in the store. A clear written scope, a short list of products with their data sheets, and a plain-English checklist solve most of it before a risk assessment is even opened.
That is how we run our own service. Our cleaners are vetted and DBS-checked, arrive in uniform, and work from written checklists, and we supply all products and equipment, so the client does not have to wonder what is being used in the building. If a clean falls short of the agreed standard, our 72-hour re-clean guarantee applies. Our advice to office managers: agree the scope first, assess the hazards against that scope, and review when anything changes.
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Booking office cleaning with us
We offer office and commercial cleaning, with a free quote rather than a published price, because the right price depends on the size of the space, the frequency and the scope you agree. Our office cleaning page covers the Harrow and Watford service and how to ask for a quote. You can also see our other services and prices or start from our homepage.
FAQ
How do you do a risk assessment for cleaning?
Follow HSE's five steps: identify the hazards, decide who could be harmed and how, set controls, record the significant findings and review them. Walk the route the cleaner takes, talk to the cleaners, and write down specific controls rather than general statements. Apply a COSHH assessment to the products and a manual handling check to the equipment.
What risk assessments are required for an office?
There is a general workplace risk assessment under health and safety law, and a COSHH assessment where hazardous substances such as cleaning chemicals are used. Other assessments depend on the work: manual handling, display screen equipment and fire risk, for example. For cleaning, the general assessment, COSHH and manual handling are the core three.
Do I have to write the assessment down?
If you employ five or more people, you must record the significant findings: the hazards, who might be harmed and how, and the controls. Smaller employers do not have to by law, but a written record helps with training, handovers and proving what was done.
Who is responsible if a contractor cleans my office?
The contractor is responsible for its own staff and for assessing the work it does. You are responsible for giving it accurate information about your premises, and landlords or managing agents have duties for common parts under their control. Ask for the contractor's assessments and check they match how the work is really done.
How often should the assessment be reviewed?
Review it whenever something significant changes, such as new equipment, products, staff or processes, and after any accident, near miss or worker concern. There is no magic interval, so many businesses also set a regular date, such as once a year, as a safety net.
Sources
- Risk assessment: Steps needed to manage risk, HSE
- Manage the risks, HSE cleaning guidance
- How to carry out a COSHH risk assessment, HSE
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
- Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, guidance L24
- E-Fact 37: Slips, trips, falls and cleaners, EU-OSHA
- Cleaning method statement: completed example
- Ways to reduce slip hazards on walkways