It's not difficult to keep an office clean, it just takes a little bit of thought. Here's some handy pointers to preventing spread of the swine flu virus.
Be nice to your visitors and deliverymen -- and don’t trust 'em!
- Make sure there are tissues and anti-bacterial gel for visitors / couriers at the reception desk and any other entrances (particularly the post room) and a waste bin with disposable liner. You can always ask visitors when they arrive if they would like to know where the loo is. Most will be happy to oblige if they have been travelling for an hour or two!
Office routine
- Ask cleaners to pay extra attention to light switches, door handles, stair rails and of course desk tops, using normal office cleaning products. The flu virus can survive on hard surfaces for 24 hours. Cleaners often do several offices, so to prevent bugs travelling they need to be extra thorough.
- Clean all shared equipment: staplers, photocopiers, scanners, office trolleys and document baskets, adhesive tape dispensers with computer sprays and cleaners.
- Clean handles or areas of frequent contact (scanners / copier lids) and keep a box of disinfectant wipes next to the machine/s.
Shared rooms and facilities
- Toilets, kitchens and store rooms. Whatever your cleaners should be doing, each individual should also think about transmission points: flush handles on WCs, taps, door handles, the door panel you push for opening and closing, white board felt tip pens and dusters, projectors, etc.
- Provide sanitising gel in toilets and kitchens. Paper towels are more practical than cloth towels, which are great breeding grounds for bugs.
- Be as particular in the office kitchen (maybe it is just a tray with a kettle, teapot, coffee jar and teabag pack) as in the loo. Get rid of dirty tea towels… Have your own mug for tea and coffee. It's more eco-friendly and hygienic and can reduce cross-infection. Use a clean teaspoon and wash after use.
- If you are using communal mugs left out in the kitchen, wash them before use, even if they appear to be clean.
- Cover any food left out in the kitchen. Keep wiping the fridge door handle down and think how many people handle the office carton of milk each day…
- Watercoolers, stand-alone drinks machines, food dispensing machines. If an outside contractor fills these for you, make sure machines get a good wipe down afterwards – remember the contractor has been going from building to building all day every day and that is the classic way to distribute bugs if someone is infected.
Stand by your desk
- Clean your own desk surface regularly and every day. Same for computer equipment – screens, keyboards, mice, mousemats. They are in the direct line of a sneeze or cough.
- If you are hot-desking, wash your hands before using equipment that has been used by someone else that day and clean the keyboard and screen with a wipe before you use it.
- We all tend to borrow pencils and biros, but beware of those with chewed ends!
