Keeping Your Office Clean from the Spread of Germs this Flu Season

As the weather drops and winter approaches, you might be looking forward to trick-or-treating with the family, hosting Thanksgiving dinner and company holiday parties. However, one thing is coming with the change of seasons that you are not looking forward to: the flu. While there is no cure to the flu (just ways to treat the symptoms), there is a lot you can do to prevent the flu from spreading around your workplace to begin with.

Clean Contact Points

Any good commercial janitorial service will leave you with a clean office. However, we take it one step further than that, paying extra attention to the parts of the office that are touched by many hands throughout the day. This includes objects such as door knobs, toilet handles, stair rails, light switches, faucet handles and fridge doors. Properly sanitizing and drying these surfaces decreases the spread of germs and stops an illness from being passed back and forth endlessly around an office space.

Properly Disinfect

What cleaning products are your current office cleaning service using? We use a number of disinfecting and sanitizing solutions from a list that we have perfected over years of service. Different surfaces require different cleaners to ensure that they are properly disinfected. One big mistake office workers often make when it comes to sanitizing surfaces is thinking that just spritzing or wiping a surface with a disinfectant wipe is good enough. In reality, disinfectants need to be applied to an entire surface, allowed to sit for a specified amount of time, and then wiped completely dry.

Clean the Cleaning Supplies

Properly sanitizing cleaning supplies is something people often overlook. But, if you think about it, it should really be one of the most obvious steps. How well can you clean a surface with a dirty sponge or mop? A good commercial cleaning company will properly disinfect and dry all of their cleaning supplies and replace them frequently as needed. Additionally, keeping certain products specified to certain areas keeps from spreading germs, for example, having designated bathroom supplies and or not using the sponge that you cleaned the kitchen with to wipe down desks.

Pay Attention to Shared Objects

Things like switching from a shared hand towel to paper towels or air dryers and having a box of tissues at each employee’s desk, rather than one communal box help cut down on the spread of germs. Anything that is being shared by multiple employees increases the risk of a flu outbreak in your office space. This includes shared office supplies such as copiers, printers, staplers and paper cutters. While it isn’t always practical for each employee to have their own printer at their desk, it is a good idea to make sure that your janitorial company is aware of these shared supplies so they can make sure to give them the extra attention they need.

Keeping these tips in mind will help set you up for an illness-free winter season, or at least reduce the spread around the office. And, of course. Encourage your employees to stay home if they’re not feeling well, and maybe ask your cleaning company to give their office an extra once-over while they’re out.