Desk Hygiene 101: How Dirty Is Your Office Desk?
As an office worker, you likely spend a lot of your day at your office desk. But have you ever stopped to think of the cleanliness of your workspace? While the occasional coffee spill or clutter of post-it notes might seem harmless, unseen bacteria can be potentially harmful to you or your co-workers.
The cleanliness of our office workspace plays a huge role in both our overall health and productivity. Disregarding our desk hygiene can lead to a variety of health concerns, ranging from common colds to more severe illnesses caused by the harmful bacteria.
In this blog post, we’ll delve into the hidden world of office desk germs, highlight the types of bacteria that might be lurking around your workspace, reveal the shocking statistics of a dirty office desk, and provide effective cleaning tips. Lastly, we’ll recommend cleaning products perfectly suited for your office desk!
The Unseen World on Your Office Desk
It’s easy to glance at the surface of your office desk and assume it’s clean, especially if you’re good about tidying up your desk. However, looks can be deceiving. Your desk may be a breeding ground for a vast number of bacteria. A study by the University of Arizona found that the average office desk harbours 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat.
Consider the items on your desk you touch frequently: your keyboard, mouse, and phone. These are prime spots for bacteria to thrive. For example, Bobby Caina Calvan of the Seattle Times noted that the average mobile phone is home to 25,127 germs per square inch!
Do you eat lunch at your desk? We understand, it’s convenient during a hectic workday. However, this can cause further cleanliness issues. Food crumbs can become a haven for bacteria, and the potential for cross-contamination can boost the risk of foodborne illnesses.
It’s not just harmful bacteria that pose a threat though. Dust, pollen, and other allergens can collect on your desk. For those co-workers with allergies, this can become a serious issue, potentially causing respiratory issues and further discomfort for you or your co-workers.
Having discussed the risks of unclean office desks, let’s delve into solutions to address this.
How To Clean Your Office Desk Effectively
While it may be daunting to know where to start with cleaning your office desk thoroughly and well enough to remove any harmful bacteria or allergens, adopting a regular cleaning regimen will be able to help you the most. See the points below for some great tips for this.
- Regular Cleaning Routine: You can integrate desk cleaning into your routine. By wiping down your desk with disinfectant wipes or a cleaning solution at least once a day, you effectively reduce the number of bacteria.
- Keyboard Clean: Every now and then, turn your keyboard upside down and give it a tap. You may notice that crumbs and debris will fall out. Add this with a brush and compressed air to dislodge smaller bits that may be lodged in there. Most keyboards also give you the option to remove each key individually, giving you a better idea of what is underneath.
- Eating At Your Desk: If you regularly have lunch at your office desk, you might want to invest in desk mats or trays. These can capture crumbs and also are easily cleaned or replaced. Remember, after you’ve eaten, it’s good practice to wipe down your desk.
- Hand Hygiene: It’s a great idea to have a small hand sanitiser on your desk, such as a 100ml bottle. This is great for when you need to leave your desk for a meeting, to go outside or for other activities and then when you come back, you can apply a small amount of hand sanitiser, and this will help mitigate any bad germs and keep you hygienic when you’re at your desk.
- Cluttered Desk: Make sure to regularly organise your workspace to reduce areas where dust and microbes can lurk. Places like your phone and monitor can be hotspots for dust and allergens.
Products For Your Office Desk
Now that we have discussed and understood what type of bacteria can lurk on the surfaces of our office desk and some top tips on making sure our desk is effectively cleaned with a regular cleaning regimen, we will now list the perfect cleaning products to get this accomplished!
This fragrance-free sanitiser is the best way to clean your office desk in the most eco-friendly way possible. Supplied as a box of 10 easy-to-use sachets, you simply drop one in the spray bottle, fill it to 750ml with water and shake gently.
All soluCLEAN products are sustainably derived, never test on animals, made in the UK and Vegan Society approved.
Watch their animation below.
The Jangro Spray & Wipe trigger bottle is perfect for wiping down your desks and other surfaces, although created to remove stains, grease, and such. It’s also a highly effective sanitiser against bacteria.
Due to being in a 750ml trigger bottle, it is ready to use without any added steps or solutions to create.
These cleaning wipes are made from 100% recycled fibres. They are also great for hard surfaces due to being strong and thick.
These will be perfect if you eat at your desk and need to remove any bacteria or crumbs around the office desk. Furthermore, they are lemon scented, leaving a pleasant smell throughout your workplace and are essential for any office workplace.
Wrapping Up
To wrap this up, we have pinpointed how dirty your office desk can actually be and the shocking number of bacteria that can lurk on your office desk. From this, we were able to give you expert tips on how to clean your office desk effectively, reducing the risk of harmful bacteria and allergens, such as having a regular cleaning routine, cleaning your keyboard thoroughly, decluttering your desk and much more. Furthermore, we were able to suggest you the perfect products to optimise your desk cleaning routine.
Looking to create the perfect desk cleaning routine? Looking no further than Wessex Cleaning Equipment, where we stock over 2,000 cleaning products that can optimise your office desk hygiene and fight any harmful bacteria and allergens on your desk.
With more than 2,000 different cleaning products, equipment and machinery!