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

Juhi Aggarwal (), Maryanne L. Campbell, Midhat Rehman, Kimberly T. Nguyen and Derek G. Shendell ()
Additional contact information
Juhi Aggarwal: NJ Safe Schools Program, Rutgers School of Public Health (SPH), Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
Maryanne L. Campbell: NJ Safe Schools Program, Rutgers School of Public Health (SPH), Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
Midhat Rehman: NJ Safe Schools Program, Rutgers School of Public Health (SPH), Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
Kimberly T. Nguyen: NJ Safe Schools Program, Rutgers School of Public Health (SPH), Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
Derek G. Shendell: NJ Safe Schools Program, Rutgers School of Public Health (SPH), Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increased reported use of chemical cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting products (CSDPs), which created public concerns about negative health consequences for both children and adults in public schools. A subset of newer teachers shared experiences regarding safety and health (S&H) while working in school-based settings through a series of online surveys. Surveys were provided to teachers who completed work-based learning supervisory trainings provided by the New Jersey Safe Schools Program between October 2021 and June 2023. The participants answered questions focusing on CSDPs purchased for school use, their attitudes towards CSDPs, their use of personal protective equipment, and symptoms employees may have had due to CSDPs. A total of 205 teacher participants successfully completed the surveys. Over 25% of the teachers did not know where their CSDPs originated from, as they were provided by the school. Most participants “sometimes”, “not often”, or “never” read labels for CSDP ingredients or looked them up on healthy product apps. The participants (60%) tended to wear gloves while cleaning/disinfecting but did not wear masks. A third of the participants experienced respiratory health problems after working at school. Overall, the data suggest that more education on S&H regarding CSDPs needs to be provided to New Jersey teachers.

Keywords: occupational health and safety; work-based learning; cleaning products; disinfectant products; sanitization products (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/2/211/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/2/211/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:2:p:211-:d:1337220

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().