Trabalho, Educação e Saúde - TES (Work, Education and Health) is an open access scientific journal, edited by the Joaquim Venâncio Polytechnic School of Health, from Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.
This study aimed to understand the hospital cleaning work from the workers' perspective and to describe, from their viewpoint, the impact the hospital environment has on their daily life and work. It is a qualitative case study that uses hermeneutics as its theoretical and methodological support. Data were collected through non-participant observation and interviews were carriedout with five cleaningworkers at a university hospital. The analysis was based on reading, seeking for the units of meaning contained in the transcript of the empirical data, which allowed for distribution into two categories: Daily hospital cleaning work and reflections on the outsourcing of the hospital cleaning workers' lives. At the hospital that was studied, female labor and the constant concern with health risks, especially biohazards, predominated. Outsourcing has a direct impact on the workers, as it makes them feel less valuable from the social and human viewpoints. The study points to the need for hospitals to offer a more welcoming environment for outsourced cleaning workers, upon whom so much physical and mental demand is imposed.
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