How clean is your desk

HOW CLEAN IS YOUR DESK? Where is the place your mind goes when you hear the words bacteria ridden? Toilet seats? The corner of the fridge where that tomato has been rotting? The discarded gym shorts under the bed? You're probably looking at Let's talk hygiene it right now: notebooks scattered around, a pen at the office- how clean is your desk, really? between your teeth, a greasy smudge on your mouse from breakfast. Here's an eye-opener for you: a recent study has claimed that the average office desk is 400 times dirtier than the average toilet seat. According to the study, 8 in 10 people in the UK work in offices. Those 8 in 10 people spend an average of 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, in their offices. If we spend so much of our time in the office then how come we treat it so badly? How come our toilet seat at home is cleaner than our office? In one year in the UK, 131 million days were lost due to sickness, costing the economy £29 BILLION. Bad office hygiene can make you sick, make others sick, and decrease productivity, as well as causing unnecessary stress. And to think, most of it is avoidable with some common sense, and by promoting a healthy and hygienic office environment. This is where a clean and tidy desk comes in. WHY YOU NEED TO START PAYING ATTENTION TO DESK HYGIENE Unfortunately for us, bacteria and viruses can survive on hard surfaces A huge 80% of infections are spread through contaminated surfaces, rather than through coughing and sneezing as most people believe. for up to 72hrs; plenty of time to spread through the entire office. It is the surfaces that people touch most, where the germs are lurking in their thousands if not millions! An appalling statistic has been established that 32% of office workers don't wash their hands after visiting the toilet! And these are the hands that come in contact with more than 10 million bacteria per day! One of the most commonly So you can imagine how easy it is for touched surfaces in the germs to spread. workspace is your Desk. One single bacterium can multiply into more than 8 million cells within 24 hours. This means that office desks, computer keyboards, door handles and kitchen/break-room spaces, are potential breeding grounds for bacteria that may cause headaches, breathing and skin problems, depleted energy levels and viruses. The average office desk has more than 10 million bacteria hiding on it. To contrast this, the average toilet seat only has 49 bacteria microbes per square inch! One person carrying a virus will infect 50% of all equipment and employees in their vicinity in just FOUR HOURS! In addition to cleanliness and hygiene, a And would you eat your lunch of a toilet seat? No, that's disgusting! Yet 2 in 3 office disorganised desk can introduce more problems for working people; workers eat at their bacteria ridden desks, and 1 in 5 don't even wipe it down before doing so. Having a disorganised desk leads to a decrease in productivity (both for the guilty party and their colleagues), an increase in workload, and lots of wasted time. 21% admitted that having a while 20% said a workmate's In a survey, 41% said they believed a tidy workspace makes people more productive; cluttered desk has somehow messy space has had a negative impact on how much they were able to get done in their working day. increased their workload, KEEP THAT DESK CLEAN STAY HEALTHY AND KEEP PRODUCTIVITY HIGH It's important to schedule a bit of time each week to give your desk a tidy up and clean with proper cleaning products. To get rid of any crumbs and dust you should turn your keyboard upside down and bang it on your desk, or alternatively use a spray duster. Give the desk itself, mice, phone and keyboard keys a once- over with an anti-bacterial wipe as well. Just to quickly reiterate, our desk is where a lot of the We all have a responsibility - always wash your hands properly after using the germs that you pick up get transferred to. A dirty, messy desk also reflects badly on you, so it makes sense to keep it looking spick and spam! office washroom and while you're at it, check out these classy and practical office work desk designs by Workplace Furniture. WORKPLACE 00000FURNITURE