3 OF THE MOST SURPRISING PLACES GERMS ARE HIDING IN YOUR OFFICE

Monday, February 26, 2018   Commercial

Sweep the floors, wash the windows, sanitise surfaces in the bathroom – most of us know the basics of cleaning an office space.

But what about the areas you aren’t even thinking about? Dirt and bacteria tend to hide in those places that rarely cross our minds, creating an unhealthy and unpleasant environment for customers and staff.

Don’t let your business suffer from weak, unprofessional cleaning – here are three spots to make sure you don’t miss.

1. The walls

Walls hold onto dust and grime, causing them to look unattractive over time.

Walls hold onto dust and grime, causing them to look unattractive over time.

Cleaning your walls regularly will keep your workplace looking bright and open. It will also help protect the walls themselves, maintaining their life expectancy and reducing the need to repaint or paper.

Dirty walls don’t just look bad either – they can also worsen air quality. Pollutants, dirt, oils, allergens and the dust from HVAC systems all absorb into your walls and make their way into the air you breathe everyday.

While you can spot clean walls on your own, you need professional cleaning products and special equipment to do the job effectively. Make sure you ask your commercial cleaning service to do this very important service at least once a year to prevent build-up.

2. Buttons

Think about how many times you use buttons throughout the day. Before noon, most people have already pressed buttons on their phone, keyboard, microwave and coffee machine.

The buttons in your building’s lift are among the filthiest. An Open Medicine study shows that the lift buttons in hospitals have more bacteria on them than surfaces in public toilets. A similar report from the University of Arizona confirmed these findings in other public spaces – lift buttons have as much as 100 times more bacteria than a toilet seat.

Lift buttons have as much as 100 times more bacteria than a toilet seat.

That’s why it’s so essential to hire a commercial cleaning company who is attentive to even the smallest surfaces in your office.

3. Shared kitchen appliances

The kitchen in your office may look pretty clean. The dishes are put away, the benches have been wiped down – but what about the appliances themselves?

Things like your communal microwave, refrigerator, toaster and coffee machine are often overlooked in routine kitchen cleanings. We get it – it all comes down the tragedy of the commons. No one technically owns these appliances, so nobody takes the time to thoroughly scrub them between use. Instead, we live in denial – hoping a co-worker will step up to the task.

The result? Germ ridden coffee machines and other appliances. A study from the University of Valencia in Spain looked a 10 office Nespresso machines and found between 35 and 67 major types of disease-causing bacteria.

Want to find out more about making your workplace a healthier, safer place to work?

 Contact the team at ACW Commercial today.