Coughs, colds, hoarseness – winter is with us, and with it the risk of catching an infection. An office environment in particular offers optimal conditions for viruses and bacteria: many people within closed, often poorly ventilated rooms and many shared surfaces such as door handles and desks. This is exactly where numerous germs lurk, getting there through coughing, sneezing, and touching and surviving there for hours, days or even months.
Germs on office surfaces – an invisible risk
There are about 10 million bacteria on an average office desk – which is 400 times more than on an equally average toilet seat, and a computer mouse is covered with three times more germs than the flush button of a toilet. A study by the American Society for Microbiology also proved that viruses from a single door handle in an office were transmitted to more than half the workforce in just two hours. The study took samples from light switches, lift buttons, coffee pots, water taps and computers at intervals of two hours and revealed that up to 60 per cent of staff in the building were already contaminated. A Danish study verified that such conditions also have clear disadvantages for employers: it found that employees in open-plan offices have 62% higher sick leave than those in single offices.
Washing and disinfecting hands – the basis for good hygiene in offices
Washing hands remains the most vital aspect for more hygiene within the workplace. Good hand hygiene can reduce respiratory illnesses by an impressive 21% and diarrhoea by 31%, according to a US study. If touch-free dispensers are used for soap and towel paper, this also significantly reduces contact surfaces once again, thus cutting the risk of infection.
Where hand washing is not possible, disinfection dispensers or sanitiser stands are an alternative to breaking infection chains. However, these should not only be placed at 'typical' positions such as entrance areas or the lift, but – given the high germ counts detected there – at other critical points in offices, for example at the photocopier where countless people press the same buttons, or in the kitchen and break room where employees always touch the same cupboards, coffee pots and surfaces.
Hygiene – an issue for employers
Good infection control and professional hand hygiene are also major issues from a business perspective: sickness results in lost work, costs, and lower productivity. Ultimately though, the issue of health at work concerns us all: we bear the responsibility to protect others and ourselves. Satino by WEPA makes an important contribution to this with information and professional solutions for optimal hygiene on location.
Make sure that both you and your workforce stay healthy. We have precisely the right solutions for contemporary hygiene – for your office as well.
