Cleanliness in the Workplace

Cleanliness in the Workplace.

Put down that biscuit, push away that mug and take your hand off your computer mouse. This is going to be uncomfortable but compelling reading….

Considering the current situation and the worldwide lock down based around the spread of a certain virus, I thought I would take a protective gloved, face masked look at the facts and figures around general cleanliness in the workplace.

I always assumed that the workplace, with the sheer number of occupants and tasks that happen within it each day would mean that the office was not as clean an environment as it could be. However, the facts and figures based around germs, potential for cross contamination and people’s personal habits are both shocking and incredibly scary.

Did you know for instance, that the average keyboard has over 7,500 bacteria living on it, that’s more than 3,000 microbes per square inch. Which then begs the question, if that’s your own keyboard just how healthy is hot desking where there is a shared terminal and keyboard? Even your computer mouse has over 1,500 microbes per square inch. Now when you compare that to the toilet which has less than 50 you can see just how filthy your workplace truly is. (incidentally, your toilet is far cleaner than your toothbrush which the British Dental Journal and the University of Manchester say has over 10 million bacteria – (scary but true and you really don’t want to know what makes up 60% of the contaminant). 

Just as scary is the statistic that it would take one person with a virus just four hours to contaminate 50% of all the equipment and employees within their vicinity. Perhaps with the magnitude and new awareness of the ease of infection, employees and more importantly employers, will realise the dangers of presenteeism, and accept that a sick member of staff should stay away from the workplace.

Facts, figures and scary bits:

According to studies at the University of Arizona, 90% of office cups contain germs and bacteria that could make us ill. Horrifyingly, 20% of the mugs tested also had traces of faecal matter.

Norovirus can survive for weeks on surfaces if not properly sanitised.

Only 61% of UK office workers wash their hands after going to the toilet. (equally germs are spread from toilets being flushed without the lid closed. Within 60 seconds of someone flushing a toilet, bacteria, urine and faecal matters can be spread across a 6 foot area and stay airborne for up to 2 hours… Now think back to the toothbrush comment).

The average person touches their face sixteen times per hour, yet their hands also come in to contact with around 10 million bacteria per day.

While it’s true that germs are spread through coughing and sneezing, 80% of infections are spread through contaminated surfaces.

Surveys have shown that up to 10 million bacteria live on your unclean desk and the bacteria Staphylococcus on 60% of those desks it checked. 

Air quality in a closed space can be up to 500% worse than outdoors.

According to a report from the Centre for Economic and Business Research, poor office hygiene is costing the UK £13.7 billion in lost sick days.

26% of respondents to a SMC Premier Cleaning survey, admitted to eating at their desk at least 1-3 times per week and of those only 11% will clean their desk properly after eating there.

Cleanspace.com tell us that to ensure your cleaning with antibacterial cleaner is effective, it must be left to rest on surfaces for 30 to 60 seconds before being wiped away.

Perception

Those are the scientific facts but what about the way it affects the users of the work space, not the actual illness but how they perform, interact and perceive the business and its employees. Well for a start, surveys show that 57% of co-workers judge their colleagues based on the cleanliness and tidiness of their desk.

Studies have shown that perception plays a significant role in employee’s performance, in particular, how we discern our work environment affects how we operate within it. A clean tidy environment promotes focus and professionalism and a negative response is created by an untidy space. Equally an unclean, cluttered office has a detrimental psychological effect, as physical clutter can result in mental confusion, leaving employees unable to concentrate.

Staff will rate their importance to a business by how they are treated by that business and a large proportion of that is down to the working environment. If the business doesn’t operate a thorough cleaning regime then they are perceived as uncaring and disinterested in the wellbeing of the user, leading to less engaged and lower performing employees.

To promote cleanliness in the workplace it’s important to not only wash your hands on a regular basis throughout the day but also to regularly disinfect and clean desks, keyboards, mouse (or is that mice) and phones. Eat and drink in designated areas not at the desk and use washing up liquid or a dishwasher to keep things clean. Carry antibacterial gel around with you and if you’re ill stay at home. And please, please, please… wash hands after eating and especially after using the toilet.

Stay well and healthy…

#wellbeing #workplace #cleanliness #covid-19 #coronavirus #bacteria #germs