Working in a shared office can be a real nightmare for those of us who value neat, tidy, and sanitary spaces.  There’s really no way to control the effort coworkers will put into maintaining a clean office, which is why most business owners turn to professional cleaners and their staff to keep offices ship shape.  From keyboard to bathrooms, there are many germ-ridden places in your office…but what are the dirtiest spots you may never have considered?

Shared Equipment

You’ve probably peered into office keyboards and seen hidden crumbs, hair, and other signs that this piece of equipment is rather unsanitary.  Now imagine what you can’t see and recognize that for the most part, a keyboard is not a shared piece of equipment.  Equipment such as your photocopier can also be very dirty – in fact, when it comes to germs, the start button on a copier is among the dirtiest places in your office.  One sanitation study found that the start button may measure more than a billion colony forming units in a square inch whereas your average toilet seat has just over 3000.

Even shared kitchen appliances can be very germy.  The coffee pot handle, for example may have up to 110,000 colony forming units in a square inch and many of these microorganisms have been found to be antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  Whether this is simply because of the sheer number of people using the coffee pot, or the likelihood that those people are not washing their hands frequently enough, you’d have to imagine that other components of the office kitchen are equally germ-ridden.

Elevator buttons are likewise germ-infested.  You may have noticed that in many healthcare environments, administrators have taken to encouraging pressing buttons with elbows rather than fingers, and you’ll often find hand sanitizer dispensers next to elevator call buttons – consider using the hand sanitizer before or after (or even both) you enter or exit an elevator.

Workstations

We’ve already acknowledged that keyboards are messy, and given how much time your hand spends on a mouse, this too is a dirty component of your workstation.  But you may not have realized that even your desktop can be infested with bacteria.  Wiping keyboards, mouses, and desktops with anti-bacterial wipes can help cut down on the germs at your workstation.

The Kitchen

So, you’ve learned that the coffee pot in the kitchen is a germaphobe’s nightmare, but the single dirtiest place in your office kitchen?  Well, that’s the kitchen faucet.  Additionally, drains and the sinks themselves can have very high microbe counts making the kitchen sink often the dirties spot in a shared workspace.

So, what can you do to make your workplace more sanitary?  First and foremost, wash your hands regularly to prevent the spread of bacteria.  But also, as an employer or business owner, invest in regularly scheduled office cleaning to maintain the hygiene of your office and the health of your staff.