Research Reveals 3 Dirtiest Places in the Office

When you go to work, you open the door to enter the office which is one of the dirtiest places in your workplace. Office furniture suppliers, Furniture at Work, conducted research that showed that office door handles contained the largest amount of bacteria that was 30 times more than germs on toilet seats of your office washroom.  

The study tested some places of a busy office to identify how many relative light units (RLU) they had, which showed the number of bacteria, germs, and other contaminants present in those areas. 

Research revealed that the dirtiest places were door handles used for entering the workplace because they contained 648 RLU. The next germy area in the office was the break room sink which had 487 RLU. And the third dirty area was the microwave door, containing 408 RLU. Toilet seats of the office washrooms had only 21 RLU, which proved that what seemed the dirtiest place was not as filthy as the door handles. 

The staff kitchen was one of the largest hotspots for bacteria and RLU. Three of the top five highest RLU counts in the office were discovered in the area where we're most likely to eat and make hot drinks. The top dirty places in the kitchen included the break room sink (487), followed by the microwave door (408), then the breakroom kettle (288), and the last one was the refrigerator (195).

In regards to workstations, the research showed that the office chair (222) was another germy area that we might not consider dirty but which contained a lot of bacteria. The desk phone (193), keyboard (176), and mouse (150) all had bacteria and germs more than 100 RLU, while the desk surface contained less than 100 RLU (90). 

And here are all the dirty places in the office with their RLU measurements:

• Door handles 648 (RLU)
• Breakroom sink 487 (RLU)
• Microwave door 408 (RLU)
• Employee’s mobile phones 345 (RLU)
• Breakroom kettle 288 (RLU)
• Toilet tap 239 (RLU)
• Office chair 222 (RLU)
• Kitchen refrigerator 195 (RLU)
• Desk phone 193 (RLU)
• Keyboard 176 (RLU)

A spokesperson from Furniture at Work said that when employees return to the office, many of them may feel nervous, and their research could help them know the areas that they should use carefully, keeping the best hygiene practices. The fact that the toilet seat contains 30 times fewer germs than an office door handle shows how it’s essential to maintain hand hygiene. 

This article was first published by CMM Online 

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