The long awaited spring is finally here! It is time to shed the remnants of what was a very long and difficult winter with a spring clean of your office. This year, consider a more enhanced cleaning program, so you can get the best clean from your commercial cleaners.
De-Clutter Offices
Cluttered offices are much more difficult to clean. In fact, commercial cleaners are often instructed to not move items on desks or personal items in the work area in order to dust and clean. When offices are cluttered, this leaves a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and viruses.
You may want to consider having a spring cleaning party at lunchtime, order pizza, bring in large garbage and recycling bins and de-clutter the office. Once surfaces and floors are de-cluttered, cleaning staff can do a much more thorough office cleaning.
Clean and sanitize surfaces and objects that are touched often
Germs thrive on human touch, so any high touch surfaces such as telephones, keyboards, desk surfaces, elevator buttons, etc…, should be cleaned and sanitized. A recent study by researchers at San Diego State University revealed that offices could be contaminated with more than 500 types of bacteria. The researchers looked for bacteria on computer mice, desktop surfaces, chairs, computer keyboards and telephones in 90 offices.
While it is good practice to regularly clean and sanitize these high touch surfaces, a special effort should be made during the spring, after cold & flu season. Consider workstation sanitizing, as well as chair and fabric divider cleaning to not only remove contaminants, but also to protect your valuable assets.
Carpet Cleaning
Even with the use of winter mats, there is no doubt…winter can be wearing on your carpets. Along with the debris that is tracked into the office during the winter months, dermatologists estimate that average adults shed over 300 hairs per day from various parts of their bodies and approximately 300,000 skin cells.
A full restorative carpet cleaning should take place at least once a year to remove the accumulation of soil build up in higher traffic areas within your facility. This carpet maintenance will remove contaminants and undesired substances such as allergens from your carpet, which improves indoor air quality. Many studies now suggest carpet that is cared for properly may actually reduce the amount of airborne allergens in the indoor workplace environment.
Cleanout the break room refridgerator
According to a survey from the Home Food Safety program, 67% of those surveyed say that they store their lunch in the office refrigerator and over 20% report that their office refrigerator is rarely or never cleaned.
While it is important to rid your refrigerator of expired food on a regular basis, having an organized and publicized clean out a few times a year, not only informs staff that you are looking out for their welfare, but also encourages better practice for keeping the refrigerator clean all year round.
Start this spring by notifying everyone in the office that the cleaning staff will be cleaning out the break room fridge on a particular day. Anything that should be kept, such as coffee creamer, should be marked before the clean up starts. Cleaning staff can remove all other items and give the refrigerator a good cleaning and sanitizing.
Computer Room Cleaning
Maintaining a clean computer room is an essential practice. Computers and their peripherals are all susceptible to damage from environmental contamination. The most typical of these is dust. An excessive amount of dust will reduce the heat transfer of electronic components and ultimately shorten the lifespan of your equipment.
Hiring professionals that have a specialty in computer room cleaning can help reduce computer equipment failure resulting from environmental contamination and overheating.
Air Vent Cleaning
While air vent cleaning has not been shown to actually prevent health problems, it can help to improve indoor air quality for those that are more sensitive to airborne dust. Additionally, a clogged ventilation system will not perform correctly and could increase operating costs. It is good practice to clean all air vents in your office annually and change out all the air filters regularly.
So, make your office sparkle and breathe in the clean, green, sunny Spring this year!