How Clean Is Your Workplace?

At this time of year, many of us embrace the annual spring clean—but it’s usually our homes that get all the attention. What about our workplaces? With shared spaces and frequently touched surfaces, your office or workspace might be harbouring more germs than you think.

When it comes to workplace cleanliness, most employees don’t give it serious consideration. Unless you work in an environment that has to be clinically clean e.g a laboratory, healthcare facility or food preparation business – it is easy to confuse cleanliness with ‘tidiness’.

Essentially, if your workstation is tidy and organised that is typically all you’ll be concerned with, however communal workplaces are often much dirtier than the average home, which can have an impact on absenteeism and general productivity.

Research has found that a desk in an average office carries around 10 million bacteria, which is 400 times more than the average domestic toilet seat. This might immediately strike you as a fact that is hard to believe, until you start to consider how easy it is to spread germs in the workplace.

Common ways to spread germs in the workplace

No matter your business sector, your workplace likely has multiple people sharing common facilities such as door handles, stair rails, light switches, taps, and kitchen appliances like kettles, fridges, and microwaves. Frequently touched surfaces, including computer equipment and phones, are often in communal areas, increasing the potential for germ transfer throughout the day. Then consider some of these facts:

• Not everyone washes their hands regularly, in fact one in three people admit they don’t wash their hands after using the toilet.
• People are often touching their hair, face and worktop surfaces.
• People eat at their desk and leave crumbs.
• Bins aren’t always emptied regularly.
• Food waste isn’t always cleaned up from worktops or desks.
• People are often ill but okay to be at work resulting in sneezing and coughing.
• Windows aren’t always opened to create a flow of clean air, and not all workplaces have an air conditioning system which filters and regenerates to improve air quality.

Against this backdrop, it is a little easier to understand how millions of germs can quickly accumulate on workplace surfaces shared by people with varying hygiene habits and standards.

In addition to this, dirt and germs can accumulate in ‘unseen areas’. These can include high level areas, windowsills, electrical cable trays, pipework and even void areas behind or under a desk. These ‘out of sight’ areas are perhaps the worst example of germs and bacteria being allowed to build and spread. Dirt even accumulates in a keyboard, and ask yourself how often you actually clean your keyboard? Or your mouse?

How to maintain a clean and healthy workplace

Discuss with your boss. After all, and is a basic expectation of any employee. Share this blog, have a candid conversation and get the ball rolling to create a safer and cleaner working environment. No one should go to work and run the risk of picking up an illness simply through poor standards of health and hygiene, but a high number of sick days and escalating absenteeism rates is a common issue in workplaces with poor standards of hygiene and cleanliness.

to a professional cleaning company such as CSA Cleaning to ensure that a regular routine of dedicated cleaning takes place to address the key areas of the workplace where dirt, germs and bacteria accumulates. So, on a routine basis this should tackle:

• Welfare facilities
• Touchpoint surfaces (door handles, light switches etc)
• Worktops and desk surfaces
• Communal kitchen and break areas
• Windows
• Emptying bins
• Proper waste disposal
• Floor cleaning
• Replenishing hand wash dispensers
• Periodical deep clean of all ‘non-regular’ areas

A professional cleaning company will work with an employer to establish a suitable cleaning schedule that addresses the key areas on a daily or weekly basis as appropriate.

This allows for an efficient cleaning routine without interfering with the everyday operations of the business.

Every business is different, which will have an unique impact on the cleanliness and hygiene standards required to maintain a safe and healthy workplace, so a professional cleaning company will assess each business as an individual case, to identify what is required to maintain high standards.

This will result in a clean, hygienic and professional workplace, where sickness and absenteeism is reduced and workplace morale and productivity rates will improve.

If you need a professional workplace cleaning service, then contact our team at CSA Cleaning today.