#1) The Telephone

No surprise here. The more buttons, the more areas for gunk to build up! Further to that, the phone is designed to sit right by your face, so if it is not tended to on the regular, it can become filled with a lot of undesirable microscopic bits and pieces.

To keep your phone clean, use a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol and swab the area around the button, the receiver and the mouthpiece. Then, spray a microfiber cloth with disinfectant, and wipe the entire phone down including the body and the entire receiver.

If you take over a new office space and notice (unthinkable) ear wax built-up in the receiver or gunk in the mouthpiece, take a dry cleaning toothbrush, gently brush out the debris and then proceed to clean the phone as described above. Now, it’ll be all yours!

#2) The Keyboard.

Also, probably no surprise to you, the keyboard is crumb king of the office. Unplug your keyboard and stand it upright. Starting at the top, blast your keys starting from top to bottom with a can of compressed air (don’t keep your face too close, or else you’ll get blasted with your own nasty keyboard crumbs!). Let them all fall to the surface, you’ll wipe them up after. Once this is done, use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to swab around each key (this is an alternative to removing each key, which is terrific but time-consuming). Finish up the job by spraying a cloth with disinfectant and wipe the keyboard. Now, wipe up that terrible crumb collection and plug your keyboard back in. Note – if your keyboard is cordless, remove the batteries so that whatever buttons you press, your computer won’t know the difference.

#3) The Mouse.

Just like the keyboard and phone, the mouse is another great example of something we use every day, but something we probably don’t clean nearly as much as we should! If you indeed would like to clean your computer mouse, we’ll apply the same principles we did to the other two items to the mighty mouse. Turn it off or pop out the batteries. If you have debris stuck in the mouse, use some compressed air to blast it out or a dry cleaning toothbrush. Hold the mouse upright and brush down so that you don’t re-populate your mouse with its own debris. This is great to to around track wheels and buttons. Once done, take a microfiber cloth sprayed with disinfectant and wipe the mouse down. If you notice dust built up on the bottom of your mouse, use a small and sharp item like a toothpick or a corner of a sticky note to scratch it out.

#4) Anything in the office kitchen

Now, I know I said we were covering 5 things here – but there’s a bunch of things in the office kitchen that I feel I should bring to your attention. So we’ll count this as an umbrella point, cool? Unlike the items in your home kitchen, all of the items in the office kitchen are communal and that means they are used by everyone. The point I’m trying to make here is that the faucet, the coffee maker, the microwave, the water cooler, the fridge, even the vending machines and the water fountains – they all get touched by you and they get touched by everyone else in your office.\

#5) Pretty much everything else at the office

Okay so the wheels have completely come off of this “top 5” blog I suppose because the truth is there are way more than 5 things in your office that are dirty, grimy and greasy; any point of contact like a switch, or a button, or a handle can all harbor germs. Yes, your office is a big soup of OPS (other people’s stuff) that you really can’t control. You don’t know their hygiene and cleanliness practices yet you are exposed to it each and every day. The good news is, you are probably not sick every day so your body is strong enough to handle most of the germs and bacteria you are exposed to, but you can certainly take some measures to make things a little cleaner and prevent those cold and flu bugs when ’tis the season.

Your office probably has a cleaning service – but the question is – do they clean ALL of these areas? Maybe they catch everything by the sink – but do they clean the light switch in the boardroom on a regular basis? What about buttons on the photocopier – or the handrail

on the stairs? Manage your expectations about your office cleaner. They are hired to do basic work (unless your company pays more for a more detailed service – lucky you!). However, if folks in your workplace are constantly getting sick it may be time to have a chat with the office manager, who in turn can have a chat with the cleaning service and ensure things like points of contact and heavily used electronics are being effectively disinfected. After all, what manager wants all their staff off with colds and flus?

It is near impossible to avoid germs entirely, but there are a few simple things you can do to reduce your exposure to them and in addition, you’ll even lower your risks of getting sick such as using disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizers, washing hands often, and yes…masks.

Sounds like too much work? Contact us and we will take care of it for you!