The do’s and don’ts of workplace housekeeping

Keeping the workplace clean, orderly and sanitary isn’t just an OSHA requirement – it’s the “simplest way to keep everybody safe,” says Mike Ezell, 
a senior safety consultant at the National Safety Council.

That’s because an untidy jobsite is an unsafe jobsite.

A lack of proper housekeeping can “cascade into a whole bunch of different possible injuries and hazards,” said Adrian Bertini, acting safety and health manager for Michigan OSHA’s Consultation Education and Training Division.

Those include musculoskeletal injuries, fire hazards, blocked exits, combustible dust concerns and chemical exposures.

“I don’t think people are always thinking about the relationship between a clean and tidy workspace and their safety,” said Luke Farley, commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Labor. “It’s more than just appearances.”

These do’s and don’ts can help guide your housekeeping efforts.

DO

Help workers build good habits.

Housekeeping can look different across various industries.

Whether the jobsite features scrap materials, spill hazards, stacked objects or generally untidy workstations, correcting bad habits (not cleaning up a spill immediately or not marking off the area around it until it can be cleaned up, for example) can help safety professionals build a strong safety culture, Bertini stressed.

“It keeps employees involved in hazard detection and awareness,” he said. “They’re going to be looking for things. They’re going to notice things more. If you get them interested and you keep them involved, they’re going to be more interested in participating in other things down the road.”

That could be a safety committee, for instance. “It helps with employee buy-in,” Bertini said.

Make leaders and supervisors 
drive the conversation.

Want workers to take housekeeping seriously? Then the messaging needs to come from the top.

“It’s the responsibility of leadership and supervisors to continue keeping it as an issue,” Ezell said. “They should be reminding folks of it and stressing the importance of even the smallest things not being ignored.”

Those messages should convey the ongoing importance of cleaner – and, again, safer – workplaces.

Start small.

To improve housekeeping, Bertini suggests starting with a schedule.

“It gives you and your employees that foot in the door toward participating in a positive safety culture,” he said. “Have a set schedule, a regular routine on how to do it that keeps people constantly involved.”

That’s especially true in changing work environments, such as construction, where Ezell previously served as a corporate safety director.

“Before I walk away, if I cleaned everything up and removed any hazards that might be present for somebody else coming along after me, I finished my job,” he said.

Put it in writing.

The National Safety Council recommends having written housekeeping policies and specifically including which “cleaners, tools and methods should be used under which conditions.”

This clearly spells out expectations for everyone tasked with housekeeping duties.

“It sets a standard for everybody to follow the same thing,” Bertini said. “Everybody knows what the policy is. They’ve read it, agreed to it, signed off on it.”

DON’T

Assume others will handle it.

OSHA requires garbage and other waste in construction to be disposed of “at frequent and regular intervals.” For maritime/shipyards, requirements for flammable and combustible substances, scrap and waste include disposal or storage in fire-resistant containers “at the end of each work shift or when the job is completed, whichever occurs first.”

The message: Housekeeping shouldn’t wait.

“Sometimes there’s the approach of, ‘We’ll get this taken care of at the end of the day,’” Ezell said. “That’s instead of it being a continuous effort. Where we go wrong most often is we don’t take that personal responsibility. That’s why it continues to be an issue.”

Rather than assuming someone else will correct the hazard, Ezell encourages everyone on a jobsite to follow this simple mantra: When you see it, you own it.

Wait for injuries to happen.

One of the biggest downsides of poor housekeeping is the greater risk for injury.

“When we look at injuries in the workplace – at slips, trips and falls, for example – many of those can be attributed to poor housekeeping,” Ezell said.

Navigating around unkempt materials, Bertini pointed out, can lead to poor ergonomics, along with sprains and strains. Other possible issues include being struck by falling objects or injured from protruding materials.

On multiemployer worksites, the risks can increase when various teams are working in the same vicinity.

“Sometimes, somebody else’s mess invades a workspace and creates hazards,” Farley said.

Forget to use the available resources.

“One of the things I’m fond of saying is that for every rule or regulation we enforce, we have a corresponding resource to help people get into compliance,” Farley said.

That holds true in North Carolina and other states, as well as with federal OSHA and safety-focused organizations such as NSC. In addition, State Plan programs and OSHA regional offices offer consultative services, training and technical assistance.

You can also find fact sheets, safety talks and checklists from multiple safety sources. (The June 2026 issue of Safety+Health includes information on free resources available to safety pros.)

Allow poor housekeeping to define you.

Farley visits workplaces all around North Carolina and says he can get an impression of their safety culture right away. “I instantly get a feel for a place when I walk into it,” he said. “You get a sense about their safety just by whether the place is clean or not.”

A lack of tidiness is often the first thing visitors see.

“When you see a place that’s very cluttered, with debris on the floor, it makes you want to look closer at some other issues,” Ezell said. “What else are they ignoring?”