Office hygiene has taken on new importance in recent years, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still certain areas where germs can thrive.
New research by professional cleaning materials brand Chicopee has revealed the worst germ hotspots in Britain’s offices – and it doesn’t make for pleasant reading.
The long-term effects of the pandemic have meant businesses are becoming more conscious of keeping communal areas safe for workers returning to the office, so it has never been more important to have a clear picture of the danger areas for harbouring germs and bacteria.
Researchers swabbed the main touchpoints in offices to test for aerobic bacteria, yeast and mould.
The swabs were then incubated and tested to find the amount of colony-forming units per cm2, revealing the worst offending areas for high levels of viable bacteria and fungal cells.
The research found that the computer mouse was the dirtiest touchpoint in the office, ranking the highest of all the tested areas for bacteria colonies per agar – a staggering 250. 225 yeast colonies were also identified on the mouse surface, almost double the level of all other areas tested.
The kettle was the second dirtiest area within the office environment, due to the high levels of mould present on the surface and 200 colonies of yeast, followed by the fridge.
On the fridge, a staggering 130 colonies of bacteria were present on the swab sample, making it one of the most infectious areas in the workplace.
The worst office germ hotspots
The germ hotspots of the office as revealed by the study were:
- Computer mouse (580 combined colony forming units)
- Kettle (336.6 combined colony forming units)
- Fridge (295 combined colony forming units)
- Laptop (264.8 combined colony forming units)
- Bathroom lock (188 combined colony forming units)
- Hand sanitiser bottle (175.5 combined colony forming units)
- Printer (100.5 combined colony forming units)
- Light switch (99 combined colony forming units)
- Desk phone (96.5 combined colony forming units)
- Kitchen cupboard (67.9 combined colony forming units)
Other key areas which saw a high level of germs and bacteria included a laptop, bathroom lock and hand sanitiser bottle. The hand sanitiser bottle came top for the level of mould formation following the incubation period.
Interestingly, the toilet seat did not even make the top ten germ hotspots, with the toilet swab actually producing 11 times less combined colony forming units than a computer mouse.
Potentially the most common touch point in the office is the desk, but compared to other areas the desk swab actually produced the lowest amount of combined colony forming units, 4.8 in total. That’s 120 times less bacteria, yeast and mould than found on the computer mouse and 36 times less than the hand sanitiser bottle.
Eileen Calder, product manager at Chicopee says: ‘It was no surprise that touchpoints that are contacted by multiple people and warm, humid environments, such as the kettle, are a breeding ground, but these are spots that could potentially be missed during a robust cleaning regime.
‘The research has revealed just how important it is to keep office environments clean, using quality products multiple times a day to minimise risk – we recommend wiping down areas such as kettles and kitchen spaces after every use to stop the spread of bacteria and keep build up of cells to a minimum, and ensuring everyone in communal spaces has access to effective and easy to use cleaning products.’
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