It’s not just the floors and the bathrooms that need a deep clean.
When most of think of ‘office cleaning’, we think of someone polishing the floors or emptying the trashcans; maybe cleaning the bathrooms and making sure the toilet paper dispensers are full and the soap isn’t dripping all over the counters.
But in fact, when it comes to keeping a workplace clean in a way that helps prevent the spread of colds and flu, there are lots of areas more dirty than your floors and easily as germ-riddled as your bathrooms.
If you’re serious about reducing the spread of germs in the office (and let’s face it, a healthier workforce is a more productive workforce), here are the 10 places you should disinfect right now.
1. Computer keyboards
Combine constant touching with hands that may not be clean + the fact that most people sneeze and cough all over their keyboards (especially laptops) + the 7+ hours/day that workers spend on their computers, and it’s not surprising that the CDC says computer keyboards are one of the dirtiest places in the office. Our recommendation is to provide all your computer-based employees with disinfecting wipes – and remind them to use them once or twice a day.
2. Computer mouse
Don’t forget that not everyone uses a laptop with an internal mouse. A computer mouse is subject to the same handling – and even some of the same sneezing and coughing – as a keyboard. Which means they need the same kind of regular disinfecting.
3. Telephones
For almost the same reasons as keyboards, plus the added germ-spreading abilities of the microscopic droplets of saliva that end up on desk and cellphones, it’s estimates that telephones harbour 25,000 germs/square inch. Again, wipes can be the answer.
4. Photocopier/printer
While it’s true that offices are reducing the amount of documents they print and photocopy in favour of digital files, the photocopier buttons are still touched by multiple hands, probably hundreds of times a day. And more hands mean more germs. A bleach or antibacterial-based cleaner should be used to wipe down the buttons at least once a day.
5. Water cooler
It’s great that your employees are drinking water all day long – but it also means they’re refilling those bottles they keep at their desks, and that means less-than-clean hands touching the spigot, possibly hundreds of times a day. And the added bacteria-friendly element of water means this is another area that needs special attention on a daily basis.
6. Elevator buttons
In 2014, Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital found that elevator buttons are more likely to be colonized by bacteria than toilet surfaces. Fully 61% of elevator buttons showed microbiological growth – aka live bacteria. While your office building may not have quite as many germs as a hospital, your elevator buttons are almost certainly colonized by more bacteria than you thought. Wiping surfaces with an alcohol-based cleaner multiple times a day will help reduce the risk.
7. That old cleaning sponge in the kitchen
Every office kitchen has one: A cleaning sponge (or maybe a cloth) of indeterminate age that sits damply on the faucet, used by everyone to clean coffee mugs or the Tupperware they brought their lunch in. Studies have shown that even a 3-day-old kitchen sponge in a family home is almost always a breeding ground for thousands of bacteria; the one in the office, which has been around longer and used by many more people, is exponentially worse. Office kitchen sponges should be replaced – or at least bleached thoroughly – at least every week.
8. Pens
We may be using our computers or smartphones to take notes more often these days, but almost all of us still use pens in the office at least part of the time. And unless you’re one of those people who carefully hoards your personal pens, chances are that the next pen you reach for has been though a whole lot of hands (and in and out of the mouths of your pen-chewing colleagues). So while you’re wiping down your computer, you should probably do any pens on your desk as well.
9. Microwave oven in the kitchen
We’ve all been grossed out by an office microwave at one time or another: When lots of people heat up lots of lunches in the same small box, and no one feels compelled to clean up the resulting food spatters, you get a breeding ground for bacteria. Add the fact that lots of people are touching the handle and buttons and you’ve basically got an overlooked disease vector. Keep antibacterial wipes handy – and remind employees to use them whenever they’re using the microwave.
10. Office door handles
Discouraging but true: Studies show that lots of people don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom. Employees often have to touch three or four doors/doorhandles between their desk and the washroom – which means three or four surfaces that are repeatedly contaminated. Tell your cleaning company that part of their nightly routine must be to disinfect door handles and you’ll at least mitigate the damage.
A healthy office is really about establishing routines.
Sure, once you start thinking about it, it can seem like every surface and tool in your office is a hotbed of germs and bacteria that will fell your workplace. But there’s no need to panic. A healthier workplace is really about giving your employees some guidelines, providing them with the right products (like wipes and disinfectants) and then making daily disinfection a part of the company culture.
Your employees will thank you.
