Athens University Custodial Risks: New Protocols for 2026

The fluorescent hum of the Athens University science building was a familiar sound for Maria Rodriguez on her early morning cleaning shifts. For years, the sharp smell of cleaners was just part of the job, a necessary evil for keeping labs and classrooms clean. But after a rough floor-stripping job in the chemistry department in late 2024, a cough and skin rash showed up and wouldn’t leave, putting a spotlight on the real dangers custodial staff face from chemical exposure.

The Daily Grind: Unseen Hazards in Athens University Custodial Work

Maria had been on the custodial team at Athens University for over ten years and took pride in her work. Her day-to-day routine meant using a whole cocktail of cleaning agents, strong disinfectants for bathrooms, heavy-duty degreasers for cafeterias, and specific solvents for whatever spilled in the labs. “We were told to just get the job done,” Maria told me in our first meeting, her voice still hoarse. “Nobody really talked about what was in those blue and yellow bottles, just that they worked.”

This kind of ignorance about what’s in the bottles is something I see in almost every chemical exposure case. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 is clear: employers have to provide a workplace free from known hazards. That means actually training people on the chemicals they use and telling them what the risks are. A National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report spells out the serious health risks from cleaning products, like respiratory problems, skin issues, and even long-term organ damage. At a huge place like Athens University, with tons of different chemicals, the janitorial staff are the ones who end up on the front lines of exposure.

The Incident: A Routine Task Turns Treacherous

The event that triggered Maria’s serious health problems was a quarterly deep clean in the chemistry department’s main lab. She was tasked with stripping old wax off the floor, which calls for a really potent alkaline stripper. She remembered seeing a skull and crossbones on the label, but the lab had terrible ventilation and all they gave her were flimsy latex gloves and a paper surgical mask. “The fumes were so strong, my eyes watered immediately,” she said. “I felt dizzy, but I pushed through. There was a deadline.”

A few days later, Maria had a hacking cough that got worse at night and a rash started spreading on her arms and chest. Her family doctor thought it was bronchitis and contact dermatitis, so he gave her antibiotics and creams. But they didn’t work. This kind of delay in getting the right diagnosis happens all the time in chemical exposure cases because the symptoms can look like a lot of other things. This is exactly why you have to report incidents right away and get the details right.

Legal Ramifications: Working through Workers’ Compensation in Georgia

When Maria’s health didn’t bounce back, she went for a second opinion with a pulmonologist at Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center. He was the one who suspected she had chemical-induced occupational asthma, and that diagnosis was the key to her workers’ compensation claim. In Georgia, the State Board of Workers’ Compensation handles these cases. For a claim to fly, the injury or disease has to be work-related. The job has to be the cause of the medical problem. Simple as that.

Proving that connection is the hard part in chemical exposure cases. We had to show that the specific chemicals Maria used at Athens University were the direct cause of her breathing and skin problems. That meant digging through her entire work history, identifying the chemicals, and lining it all up with her medical records, especially the detailed report from the pulmonologist. Georgia law (O.C.G.A. Section 34-9-1) includes occupational diseases under its definition of “injury.” The law defines an occupational disease as something specific to your job, think a coal miner’s black lung or, in this case, a custodian’s chemical asthma.

Athens University’s Response: A Shift Towards Proactive Safety

Maria’s situation, plus a few other reports from the custodial team, finally got Athens University to take a hard look at its safety procedures. Their Facilities Management and Environmental Health and Safety offices kicked off a full review in mid-2025. This led to some major policy changes that started in January 2026. I’ve seen many institutions drag their feet on these issues, but to their credit, Athens University saw how serious this was and acted.

The new safety rules for the university’s custodians are pretty thorough:

• Mandatory Training: Any employee handling cleaners labeled as hazardous now goes through a 16-hour certified training course on chemical handling, spill response, and using Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). They worked with local consultants to create the training, and it isn’t just a video, it includes hands-on demos and tests to make sure people actually get it.
• Enhanced PPE Requirements: The university now requires specific gear like chemical-resistant nitrile or butyl rubber gloves, goggles or face shields, and proper respirators for jobs with strong fumes. A safety officer is now doing weekly spot checks across campus, from the Lamar Dodd School of Art to the Ramsey Center, just to make sure people are following the new rules.
• Improved Ventilation Protocols: For jobs like floor stripping that create a lot of fumes or VOCs, the work has to be scheduled for off-hours, and they have to crank up the mechanical ventilation. If the built-in system isn’t enough, they have to bring in portable units.
• Chemical Inventory and SDS Accessibility: There’s a new digital system where every custodial closet has a QR code. Scanning it pulls up the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for every product in that closet. By March 2026, the new system was fully in place, giving instant info on chemical makeup, hazards, and what to do in an emergency.
• Medical Surveillance Program: Staff who work regularly with the riskiest chemicals can now get free annual health screenings, like lung function tests and skin evaluations, through a voluntary surveillance program.

These changes were a huge improvement. Handing out equipment is one thing. You have to make sure your staff understands why they need it and how to use it right. Other big institutions should look at what Athens University did here, it’s a good playbook for how to respond when you find a problem.

The Path to Recovery: Maria’s Journey and Lessons Learned

In the end, Maria’s workers’ compensation claim was a success. It took months of treatment with asthma medication and skin care, but her condition is now stable. She can’t do the same work she used to, she still has some respiratory sensitivity, but she’s back at work in a modified role with minimal chemical exposure. The settlement she received covered all her medical expenses, her lost wages from being out of work, and her future care. We won that case because we had careful documentation, solid expert medical testimony, and a firm grasp on Georgia’s workers’ comp system.

Her case is a textbook example of what any worker in this situation needs to know:

1. Report Immediately: Any suspected exposure or symptoms must be reported to a supervisor in writing, immediately. Waiting can kill a claim.
2. Seek Medical Attention: A worker needs to get checked out by a doctor, and it’s best to find one who knows about occupational medicine. You have to be totally clear about your job and what chemicals you think you were exposed to.
3. Document Everything: Keep a detailed log of everything: your symptoms, every doctor visit, all your medications, and any conversation you have with your boss or their insurance company.
4. Understand Your Rights: Georgia workers have rights under the Workers’ Compensation Act, and talking to an attorney is the best way to figure out the complexities of the system. The Georgia State Bar Association is a good place to start looking for one.

The new safety standards at Athens University exist because of the ordeal employees like Maria went through. Workplace safety is about protecting the people who keep the lights on, not just checking a compliance box. Employers are legally and ethically on the hook for worker safety. When they drop the ball, the fallout is bad for everyone. I often tell clients that prevention is always cheaper than a lawsuit, and Maria’s story proves it.