Today Enviro USA, Inc. is going to talk about Bleach and the harmful effects of using it in a commercial setting.

Bleach is used quite frequently, but it is not always the best choice in cleaners. It has been proven to be a very strong, corrosive chemical and highly toxic. In a commercial setting it can not only damage your client’s building furnishings, such as carpets and leaving corrosive damage behind on other surfaces such as wood and counter tops, but think about the health risks of the people who work there. Not only are you putting your client’s employees at risk but you are putting your crews at risk as well.

Let’s look at the ingredients and see what they can do to you!

Sodium hydroxide : also known as lye and caustic soda – The solid and its solutions are corrosive. Sodium hydroxide is odorless; thus, odor provides no warning of hazardous concentrations. Sodium hydroxide does not produce systemic toxicity, but is very CORROSIVE and can cause severe burns in all tissues that it comes in contact with.

Sodium c10-c16 alkyl sulfate : May cause serious eye injury at concentrations above 10%; Highly concentrated aqueous solutions can cause severe irritation or burns to skin demonstrate corrosive effects to rabbit skin and severe eye irritation with permanent corneal effects

Disodium distyrylbiphenyl disulfonate : Topical application has been shown to irritate the skin & eyes. Animal Studies have shown low doses of this ingredient to cause irritation and organ effects at low doses. It’s best that individuals with sensitive skin only use this ingredient in rinse-off products, or avoid it all together.

Myristamine oxide : Causes serious eye irritation

Hydrogen Peroxide : This is the least harmful of all the ingredients and can be used in place of bleach.

Chlorine : Is highly corrosive and most harmful chlorine exposures are the result of inhalation. Health effects typically begin within seconds to minutes. Following chlorine exposure, the most common symptoms are airway irritation, wheezing, difficulty breathing, sore throat, cough, chest tightness, eye irritation and skin irritation

Sodium Carbonate : Symptoms such as breathing problems, eye swelling, coughing or eye irritation and redness are commonly associated with sodium carbonate.

Please when using this cleaner remember to use safety precautions:

Bleach contains very harmful chemicals that can easily cause second degree chemical burns if the product is being used in a concentrated form. Adding water to the product could reduce the hazardous nature to a great extent by diluting the product. Some of the harmful effects that are caused by bleach when mixed with ammonia or other cleaning products are as follows:

Bleach should be put on your banned cleaning product list. Today there are a number of bleach alternatives that clean and fight germs all while being environmentally friendly.