Here's a very simple rule that will make life on the job much safer. Don't mix chemicals. Often, novice cleaners will decide it's a good idea to mix and match cleaning chemicals. This is almost never a good idea and it can be a dangerous one.

It's a bad idea because many times the two chemicals will counteract each other. Like mixing an acid with a base; they tend to cancel each other out. It's dangerous because you can create toxic fumes. Mixing chlorine bleach and ammonia is the best known example. This creates chloramine gas fumes which can be very harmful and possibly even lethal. Mixing chlorine bleach with acids such as vinegar can release chlorine gas which can be as deadly as chloramine.

On a positive note, the single best general purpose cleaning safety tactic you can use is both cheap and easy. Wear gloves. On a day-to-day basis a cleaner can come into contact with dozens of cleaning products not to mention all sorts of dirt and grime and surfaces that are splintery, rough or sharp. It pays to spend a little extra to get the best quality gloves. The cheap ones not only will wear out sooner they won't protect you as well.

Another simple but effective safety measure is to vent fumes from harsh cleaning products such as ammonia, chlorine, and pine oil products. This doesn't require expensive machinery, a cheap electric fan placed in a window to pull fumes out of the room will do nicely.

If your business does house/apartment cleans there is a great little trick you can use to avoid exposure to nasty fumes and to speed up your cleaning work.

Have the homeowner apply oven cleaner to the oven the night before your appointment. After that, they can't use the oven for the rest of the evening, to let the cleaner work. When you or your crew arrive the next morning the cleaning product will have done its job -- the oven will be very easy to clean and you and your people won't have to deal with the oven spray.

If you can't remove a hard to clean spot on a counter top in a few seconds with a cleaning pad, spray and maybe a little nonabrasive Comet or similar product, stop trying. Use a scraper. As well as removing dried-on food and the like from counter tops scrapers can also be used to remove gum or other oily or waxy lumps from floors.

To use the scraper, keep the surface you will be scraping wet and hold the scraper at a low angle to it. Never use a scraper that is nicked or warped, they'll cut the surface you want to clean. Scrapers are cheap, when they start to show wear get a new one.

You won't need a scraper very often but when you do it will save you valuable minutes of cleaning time and hours (seemingly) of frustration trying to take up that little bit of gunk or dried on goo.