Most offices and workspaces tend to be neat and tidy. The cleanliness of the business’s premises is important for customer impressions. It can also reflect their service ability. Cleaning staff are often employed by companies to keep their office clean for customers and visitors. This does not necessarily mean a workplace is clean, or is free of dirt.

Professional contract cleaners can help you achieve cleanliness in your office by providing services such as sanitation. For Office Cleaning Gloucester, visit https://biggreencleaning.co.uk

Office cleanliness: the dirty truth

1. The toilet is cleaner than office equipment

Office desks and equipment are up to 400x dirtier on average than toilet seats. The cleaning staff tend to focus their attention on toilets and flooring, and neglect the computers, printers, and office stationery. Desks and equipment are the dirtiest areas of an office in terms of microbes and germs. A computer keyboard contains over 3000 bacteria per square inches, and a mouse up to 1,600 microbes. On average, the office toilet seat contains around 50 microbes.

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The average computer keyboard contains around 16 million microbes. How does it get that dirty? Unwashed hands is the simple solution. Every day, office workers’ hands come in contact with 10 million bacteria. Regular hand washing can significantly reduce keyboard contamination. Thirty percent of employees admit that they wash their hands with only water and no soap after going to the toilet.

2. Bacteria thrive on office desks

A typical office desk is 100x less hygienic than a countertop in a kitchen. In fact, two out of every three workers eat their lunch at the desk. The surface of the desk is covered in crumbs and spills. One in five workers at the office do not wipe their desks clean before lunch.

In terms of desk cleaning, 75% of workers say they do it occasionally. 11% of employees admit to never cleaning their keyboards, and 20% say they don’t wipe their mouse. Fewer than half of workers claim to clean their keyboards at least once a month. It is alarming that 80 percent of all infections and diseases are transmitted by touching surfaces contaminated, rather than by coughing and sneezing.

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3. The microbes that survive can live longer than we thought

The microbes that cause common colds are able to survive on surfaces for up to 50-hours. This is the shortest period of time a bacteria can live. Influenza is able to survive up to 60-hours, Hepatitis can last up to 160-hours and Norovirus for 350-hours. E.coli can survive up to 500 days on an unclean surface. This is almost 1.5 years.

In an office, cleanliness and desk sanitisation are essential. They may look clean, but they are not. It is important to remember that a tidy desk does not always mean a clean one.