There are likely some secret areas in your office space you wouldn’t automatically think are dirty or unsafe.
Keeping an office space free of dirty areas is imperative in keeping all workers safe from germs, and the winter months bring on a lot of bad weather as well as bad colds, which lead to increased bacteria and viral presence in the workplace.
When you want to keep your office areas clean, you automatically think of cleaning the typical germ hotspots such as phones, door knobs and of course, bathrooms.
A study by the research group Kimberly-Clark Professional swabbed over 5,000 offices of all walks and discovered that some unexpected places hold plenty of bacteria.
The swabs were analysed to measure levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a molecule found in all animal, vegetable, bacteria, yeast, and mould cells. If a surface has a substantial amount of ATP, chances are that bacteria and viruses are alive and well.
Connect Cleaning Group is committed to providing the highest quality hygiene services and cleaning products in the Newcastle/Hunter region, and we wanted to share some “secret” areas we pay particular attention to in office cleaning that many others overlook.
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Break room sink taps
Even though your employees are using the sink to clean up, they may be dirtying their hands even more.
The majority of your staff will have touched the tap before washing their hands, then touch the tap after they wash, so the taps stay dirty.
The way to combat this is to make office employees aware of this and leave alcohol wipes on the counter for people to wipe the taps before and after using them. This creates a safe office hygiene practice and will help to reduce sickness and illness. -
Microwave door handles
This is similar to the taps because all employees use the office lunch room around the same time.
The microwave is one of the dirtiest areas of the office kitchen because many employees will not clean it in between cooking.
The handle especially as it gets opened and closed in between touch food and the sink without hands being washed in between. Over time those little pieces of food and germs can fester and become very unsafe. -
Keyboards
This one may be the most guessed from this list because it is something everyone in the offices use all day, everyday.
They are breeding grounds for germs, food crumbs and other gross substances.
Employees use their keyboard during other tasks, such as using the phone, eating and even biting nails which can lead to germs spreading rapidly.
Employees should be aware of the amount of bacteria that can sit on their keyboards and encouraged to wipe them down regularly with alcohol wipes or disinfectant. Readily available hand sanitiser will assist in this even further.
An office space will never be 100% germ free, but you can get pretty close by having a dedicated team of professionals looking after your hygiene and general cleaning services. So you, too, can ensure the secret dirty areas of your office space are once again, safe.
Our flexible office contract cleaning services are tailored to the unique cleaning needs of our customers, whether cleaning is needed daily or weekly, during or after office hours, or involves any special instructions.