With an average of 8 hours a day, 5 days a week spent in the office, it’s no wonder when one employee arrives at work stuffy with flu, others soon follow! Illness causing germs easily spread through a workplace via contaminated surfaces, airborne droplets and person-to-person contact leading to a slow down in productivity and more sick days needed away from work.
This makes cleanliness at the workplace not only aesthetically pleasing and uplifting for employee morale; but a vital line of defence against bacterial and viral infections. Identifying and regularly cleaning germ-spreading ‘hotspots’ can help prevent the rapid spread of illnesses among staff.
6 Common Germ Hotspots in Offices:
1) ELEVATOR BUTTONS & DOOR HANDLES
If your office building is in a storey building, you and everyone entering your workplace or neighbouring offices, will most likely use the elevator – that’s a lot of people pushing elevator buttons daily. The same applies to everyone who enters and exists your office door…
Elevator buttons and door handles are two very ‘high contact’ surfaces which are frequently overlooked during daily cleaning.
2) OFFICE DESKS & ACCESSORIES
Your office desk, computer keyboard and mouse, phone, office supplies like staplers, pens, files and more all get handled by yourself as well as many of your coworkers on a daily basis. The average office desk contains around 21,000 bacteria, viruses and fungi per square inch! This makes your desk space one of the most high-risk areas you come in contact with daily!
3) COMMUNAL EQUIPMENT
Printers, copiers, phones, cash registers and any other shared office equipment can be a haven for bacteria / viruses to flourish and spread among coworkers. Many of these are rarely cleaned and are used by almost all staff on a daily basis making them a primary hotspot area.
4) KITCHEN / BREAK ROOM
The kitchen / break room is usually shared by all staff members. Whether you bring your own coffee cup and lunch or not, the majority of items in this area are used by everyone you work with – from tea spoons to the fridge / microwave.
5) BATHROOMS
Although bathrooms are generally designed to promote hygiene, they are also a ‘hotspot’ for bacteria, viruses and fungi. Germs of all kinds accumulate on counter tops, taps, door handles, toilet seats etc. Moreover, the bathroom area also attracts the growth of mold which can lead to respiratory illnesses…
6) CARPETS
Often overlooked and ignored, carpeting in your office can be an ideal place for microorganisms to accumulate and grow. Between dirt and water droplets traipsed in from outdoors leading to a build-up of fungi, to viruses from coughs and sneezes; carpet fibres make an ideal host to all manner of illness causing germs. These are then disrupted into the air through the bustle of foot traffic spreading potential illnesses among staff.
DID YOU KNOW?
CLiCK Cleaning offer deep cleaning & Enzyme treatments which not only remove 99.9% of viral & bacterial contamination. With over 15 years’ experience in the cleaning industry, CLiCK Cleaning are able to tailor our cleaning service to suit your requirements, as well as provide Monthly Contracts to suit your needs.
We use Specialist Industrial Equipment with Quality Cleaning Products that are SABS, NRCS Approved, HACCP Compliant (Food Safe) and certified Green by Eco-Choice South Africa.
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