Office germs work just as hard as your employees. Bacteria and microorganisms work overtime contaminating high-touch surfaces and areas in your workplace, multiplying on the items people use and share each day. It’s no wonder the workplace ranks as one of the top places where people get sick. Not only will they be in obvious areas like restrooms, but they’ll also be in places like kitchens, desks and the refrigerator.
No matter where germs are, they pose a risk to the health and safety of your staff, guests and customers.
Workplaces have many shared surfaces that are touched by dozens of people with varying hygiene and handwashing habits. Although most offices have cleaning crews who perform cleaning duties like vacuuming, floor washing, and taking out the trash, surfaces and equipment may not be as regularly disinfected.
HOW GERMS SPREAD IN THE WORKPLACE
Contaminated Objects: Employees and clients can bring germs into your office via personal items. This includes gym bags, keys, water bottles, lunch bags, and purses. Microorganisms that live on the bottoms of shoes are also a potential way germs can be trekked in.
Contaminated Food: If an employee brings in food or a food container contaminated with E. Coli or salmonella, they risk spreading those germs to the rest of your staff. If the food comes into direct contact with any surface (think the microwave, kitchen counter, etc.) those harmful germs are now everywhere – and multiplying.
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SURFACES WITH THE MOST OFFICE GERMS
Just because you can’t see germs doesn’t mean they aren’t there. You can help prevent the spread of germs by following your cleaning schedule and protocol, and intentionally disinfecting the most common places germs do their dirty work.
Desks
Office employees spend 40 or so hours each week at their desks or workstations — a lot of time for exposure to germs. It’s been reported that the average desk is covered in around 10 million bacteria. Surprisingly, desks contain 400 times more germs than a toilet seat!
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Computer Mouse
Your computer mouse is usually contaminated. When someone sneezes, coughs, or eats with their hands and then touches a mouse, those germs are transferred. Though people may disinfect their desks or keyboards, the mouse is often forgotten.
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Keyboards
Employees probably aren’t thinking about office germs when they are using their keyboards to send emails, generate reports, or complete other tasks, but they should. E. Coli and Staph are known to reside on computer keyboards. One study done by Arizona University found that office keyboards host thousands of microbes per square inch.
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Hands
Hands are both the first line of defense and as well as the most vulnerable when it comes to spreading office germs. In fact, many studies have shown that most people don’t wash their hands properly. Illnesses that can spread through hands include colds and flu among many others. So hand hygiene matters.
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Kitchen and Other Door Handles
Handles in kitchens, break rooms, and in general office spaces are touched by many people, and frequently — refrigerator handles, microwave handles and cabinet handles. Imagine how many germs are transferred from hand to hand through these surfaces alone.
Floors
Shoes journey to many places. They travel to bathrooms, parks, grocery stores, gyms, sidewalks, and other areas, all the while collecting dirt and germs. After adventuring near and far, they walk into your office. While disinfecting floors may be more important in healthcare settings than for office buildings, regular cleaning with a good old fashioned mop and bucket is of course a good idea for both appearances and for hygiene.
Phones and Headsets
Even as most of us use email, instant messenger, and texting for communication in the office, the office phone and headset are still one of the primary offenders when it comes to office germs. These often overlooked pieces of equipment don’t get cleaned or disinfected often enough, even though they come into direct contact with our face and hands.
KILLING OFFICE GERMS
Helping to prevent the spread of office germs requires intentional cleaning and disinfecting with the right products and protocols for your place of business. In addition to hiring a cleaning service, you can help prevent the daily spread of office germs by investing in convenient products that employees can use to keep hands and surfaces clean, sanitized and disinfected:
- Advantage® Hand Sanitizing Wipes – FDA registered, textured sanitizing towelettes that remove 99.9% of common germs on hands and skin with no alcohol, bleach, ammonia, phenol, or hydrogen peroxide.
- FORCE2® Disinfecting Wipes – FDA Registered disinfecting towelettes that are effective against 51 pathogens. They are fast drying, and leave no dull or sticky residue for a powerful clean.
- Food Service No Rinse Surface Sanitizing Wipes – Kills 99.999% of bacteria* that can cause food borne illness on hard, non-porous surfaces in just 1 minute. the no-rinse formula makes sanitizing in kitchens quick and easy
A healthy and safe office starts with you as the leader or manager and trickles down to your employees and clients. Set the standard for healthy practices and cleanliness to combat the spread of office germs to keep everyone healthy, safe, and productive.
*Staphylococcus aureus (Staph), Escherichia coli (E. coli)