Before we start: this is general guidance, not legal advice. Some rules (DBS eligibility in particular) depend on the exact role and setting. Treat the linked HSE and GOV.UK pages as the final word.

COSHH: the chemicals you use every day

Many cleaning products are hazardous - bleach, descalers, oven cleaners, floor strippers. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) require employers to prevent or adequately control their staff's exposure to them. HSE's COSHH basics pages set out what that means in practice.

1. Do a COSHH risk assessment

HSE's guide to carrying out a COSHH assessment boils down to: identify which products are harmful (from the labels and safety data sheets), decide who could be harmed and how - splashes, fumes, skin contact - and decide how you'll control it. HSE is clear that PPE comes last - first look at safer products and safer methods.

If you have five or more employees, HSE says you must record the significant findings. Smaller firms should still write it down. Review it when products, methods or people change, or after an accident or near miss.

2. Keep the safety data sheets - but don't confuse them with an assessment

Suppliers of hazardous chemicals must give you a safety data sheet (SDS). Keep a current copy for every product you use. But HSE says plainly: "A safety data sheet is not a risk assessment."

3. Train your cleaners and keep a record

HSE's COSHH training guidance says staff should know the hazards and risks, what the assessment found, how to deal with spills and accidents, and should have access to the safety data sheets. Keep basic training records - who was trained, on what, and when.

Never decant chemicals into unlabelled bottles. HSE also lists skin disease among the common risks in cleaning - wet work and chemicals both play a part.

Do cleaners need a DBS check?

Short answer: it depends on where they clean and what the role involves. There is no single rule for "cleaners". In England and Wales there are four levels of check from the Disclosure and Barring Service:

Level What it shows Who can get one
Basic Unspent convictions and conditional cautions. Anyone working in England or Wales. No eligibility rules. Costs £20 at the time of writing.
Standard Spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings (subject to filtering rules). Only roles listed in law as eligible.
Enhanced As standard, plus any relevant information held by local police. Only eligible roles - typically those working with children or vulnerable adults.
Enhanced with barred list As enhanced, plus a check of the children's and/or adults' barred lists. Only roles that meet the legal test for "regulated activity".

How that plays out for cleaning:

  • Schools and childcare settings. DBS's own eligibility guidance for work with children names cleaners as an example. Someone working in a school can be in regulated activity - and eligible for an enhanced check with the children's barred list - if they work there more than 3 days in a 30-day period (or overnight between 2am and 6am), have the opportunity for contact with children, work there for the school's purposes, and the work isn't temporary or occasional.
  • Care homes, hospitals and other settings with vulnerable adults. Some roles may be eligible for an enhanced check. The test is different from the one for children - see the guidance for roles working with adults.
  • Offices, shops, private homes and most commercial sites. In most cases these roles won't be eligible for a standard or enhanced check, but you can ask staff to get a basic check. Clients who hand over keys often expect one.

Two things catch people out. First, you can't just pick the highest level. GOV.UK says it is unlawful for an organisation to apply for a check the role isn't eligible for. Standard and enhanced checks also go through a registered body or umbrella body, not straight from you. Second, DBS updated its eligibility guidance in September 2026, so older advice online may be out of date. Use the official DBS eligibility tool and the DBS eligibility guidance, or ask the client's safeguarding lead what they need and on what basis. Scotland (Disclosure Scotland) and Northern Ireland (AccessNI) run separate systems.

Right to work checks

GOV.UK says you must check a job applicant can work in the UK before you employ them - either online with a share code, or by checking original documents with the person present (British and Irish citizens can't get a share code, so you check their documents or use an identity service provider).

  • Record the date of the check and keep copies for the length of employment plus 2 years.
  • If someone's right to work is time-limited, re-check before it expires.
  • Check everyone the same way - you must not discriminate based on where someone is from.

The stakes are high. GOV.UK lists a civil penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker where the correct checks weren't done.

Insurance: what's legal, what's commercial

Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement for most employers. GOV.UK says you need it as soon as you become an employer, from an authorised insurer, with cover of at least £5 million. There are limited exemptions (for example, if you only employ a close family member). GOV.UK states fines of up to £2,500 for every day you're not properly insured, and up to £1,000 for not displaying the certificate where employees can see it.

Public liability insurance isn't generally required by law, but almost every commercial client and tender will ask for it - often with a minimum level of cover stated in the contract. Read the insurance clause before you sign.

Lone working

Early-morning and evening office cleans are often done alone. That's allowed, but HSE says you must manage the risks before people work alone. Your risk assessment should think about violence, health and medical suitability, stress, and the site itself - for example an isolated or rural building.

HSE's guidance on supervision and monitoring says you must keep in touch with lone workers. That can mean agreed check-in times by phone, knowing where people are, alarms, and a reliable way to confirm they've finished and left safely. Staff should know the procedure, and it should be tested.

Working at height: high-level cleaning basics

High dusting, light fittings, high windows, atrium glass and signage all count. HSE defines work at height as work anywhere a person could fall a distance liable to cause injury if there were no precautions - so a stepladder counts. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 require the work to be planned, supervised and done by competent people. HSE's order of thinking is:

  1. Avoid working at height where you reasonably can - extension poles and water-fed poles often let the job be done from the ground.
  2. Prevent falls where you can't avoid it, using a safe existing place of work or the right equipment.
  3. Minimise the distance and consequences of a fall where the risk remains.

Ladders aren't banned. HSE says they can be a sensible option for low-risk, short-duration tasks, but shouldn't automatically be your first choice. Powered access, rope access and specialist window cleaning need proper planning and trained people.

What commercial clients and tenders ask for

Commercial clients want evidence, not just a clean building. Every client is different, but these come up again and again in tenders and contract reviews:

  • Your policies and assessments - a health and safety policy, risk assessments, COSHH assessments and safety data sheets for the products you'll use on their site.
  • Method statements - how you'll do specific tasks safely, such as deep cleans, high-level work or washroom cleaning.
  • Staff vetting and training - evidence of right to work checks, DBS checks where the role is eligible, and training records.
  • Insurance certificates - employers' and public liability, with expiry dates.
  • Proof of attendance - who was on site, when they arrived and when they left.
  • Quality audits - regular inspections against the cleaning specification, with scores, photos and actions taken.
  • Accreditations - some tenders ask for third-party certifications or memberships. Ask which ones they actually score before spending money.

Keeping records - and proving every clean was done

A paper signing-in sheet, a WhatsApp photo or a cleaner's word won't hold up well when a client disputes an invoice or an auditor asks for three months of evidence.

Good records for each clean answer five questions: who did it, where, when (arrival and departure), what was done against the specification, and how well - checked, with photos of anything that was missed or damaged. Across many sites, that only works if every cleaner records it the same way, on the spot.

Keep compliance records together too - COSHH assessments, safety data sheets, training, right to work, DBS outcomes (stored in line with DBS guidance), insurance and audits - with expiry and review dates.

A cleaning company compliance checklist

  • Written health and safety policy and general risk assessments (written down if you have five or more employees).
  • COSHH assessment for every hazardous product, reviewed when products or methods change.
  • A current safety data sheet for every chemical you use, available to staff.
  • COSHH and task training recorded for every cleaner - who, what, when.
  • Right to work checked before day one, dated, and copies kept for employment plus 2 years.
  • DBS checks at the right level for each role and site - checked against the eligibility guidance, not guessed.
  • Employers' liability insurance in place (at least £5 million) and the certificate displayed.
  • Public liability and any other cover your contracts require, with expiry dates tracked.
  • Lone working procedure: check-in times, contacts and what happens if someone doesn't check in.
  • Work at height planned - avoid where possible, right equipment, trained people.
  • Site-specific method statements and risk assessments that cleaners have actually read.
  • Proof of attendance for every visit, plus regular quality audits with photos.

Common mistakes cleaning companies make

  • Treating safety data sheets as the COSHH assessment. They're an input, not the assessment itself.
  • Asking for the "highest" DBS check for everyone. Standard and enhanced checks are only for eligible roles, and requesting one that isn't is unlawful.
  • Starting new starters before the right to work check. It has to happen before employment - not in their first week.
  • Letting insurance or training lapse unnoticed. Expiry dates sitting in a drawer don't send reminders.
  • No check-in system for lone workers. If nobody notices someone hasn't finished, the system has failed.
  • Relying on paper sign-in sheets. They get lost, filled in later, or can't be produced when a client disputes a visit.

How software helps you prove compliance

The hard part isn't any single rule - it's doing all of them on every site, every week, and being able to show it. DuoApp is job, team and site management software, and our cleaning company software page shows how it's set up for cleaning firms. Here's what it does for compliance:

  • Recurring cleans that don't get forgotten. Set up each site's cleans as recurring tasks - weekly, monthly, quarterly or a custom interval. The next one appears when the last is completed or a set number of days before it's due, and overdue ones are highlighted. See projects & tasks.
  • Proof of attendance. Optional clock-in and clock-out on the cleaner's phone, which can be checked against the site boundary at that moment. You get a live list of who's on site and attendance reports to send a client. See site attendance.
  • Quality audits with evidence. Build checklists with pass / fail / N/A checks, photos, signatures and timestamps, with a full audit trail. They work offline and sync later. See quality control.
  • Staff documents with expiry warnings. Store DBS outcomes, training certificates and insurance against each person with expiry dates, get warnings before they lapse, and optionally block work for anyone whose documents aren't current. See document compliance.
  • Method statements people have actually opened. Mark a method statement or risk assessment "required to view". Cleaners are notified, can't sign off their work until they've opened it, and it re-locks when you issue a new revision.
  • Clients see only their own sites. Add a client as a user who sees only their own work - their attendance and audit results, nothing else - at the same £10 per user per month.

DuoApp doesn't write your COSHH assessments or do DBS checks - those still need a competent person. It makes sure every clean leaves a record you can show. It runs on iOS, Android, desktop and browser, with a 14-day free trial and a free onboarding session with a real person. See how it fits on our cleaning company software page.

Frequently asked questions

Do cleaners need a DBS check?

Not always. Anyone working in England or Wales can get a basic check, and many clients ask for one. Standard and enhanced checks are only available for roles that are eligible under the law - for example, a cleaner working regularly in a school while children are present may be eligible for an enhanced check with the children's barred list. Check each role against the DBS eligibility guidance on GOV.UK.

Do cleaning companies need a COSHH assessment?

Yes, if your staff use hazardous cleaning products, COSHH applies. You need to assess the risks and control them. If you have five or more employees, HSE says you must record the significant findings. Safety data sheets help you do the assessment, but they are not the assessment.

Is employers' liability insurance a legal requirement for a cleaning company?

For most employers, yes. GOV.UK says you need it as soon as you become an employer, with at least £5 million of cover from an authorised insurer. There are limited exemptions, such as only employing a close family member. Public liability insurance is not generally a legal requirement, but most commercial contracts ask for it.

Can cleaners work alone?

Yes. Lone working is allowed, but HSE says you must manage the risks before people work alone. That means a risk assessment, and a way of keeping in touch - such as agreed check-in times and a reliable way to confirm someone has finished and left safely.

How can a cleaning company prove a clean was done?

Record who cleaned, where, when they arrived and left, and what was done against the specification - with photos and a quality check where possible. Doing this on a phone at the time of the clean, rather than on paper sheets filled in later, gives you evidence you can send to a client or auditor.

A reminder: This guide is general information, not legal advice. Last checked October 2026.