Most Common Cross-Contamination Culprits in the Workplace

The term ‘cross-contamination’ is most commonly used when talking about food prep or health care facilities, but cross-contamination can occur anywhere, including the workplace. The word simply refers to bacteria being spread between people, surfaces, food, and other common touch points. It’s a particularly big concern for employers during cold and flu season, when some employees may be coughing or sneezing on their hands and then touching things that other employees will also touch. As you can imagine, that’s a recipe for ending up with an office full of sick people who are either missing work or—even worse—coming into work while they are contagious and infecting more people.

In order to cut down on cross-contamination, remind employees to wash their hands after they touch any of the following common sites for germs, and talk to your cleaning company about steps they are taking to sanitize your workspace.

Hands. This is obviously a big one for people who work in an industry where they frequently come into physical contact with other people. Remind employees to cough or sneeze into a tissue or their arm rather than their hands and to promptly wash their hands if they do sneeze or cough on them. You should also encourage employees to wash their hands after they have shaken hands or engaged in any other kind of physical contact.

Door handles. Your employees use door handles to get in and out of the building and the bathroom every day, so it’s no surprise that this commonly-touched feature is also a common site of cross-contamination. The refrigerator and microwave door handles are also sites of cross-contamination, so remind employees to wash their hands immediately before they eat.

Keyboards. People who work at computers all day are likely to find that their keyboard is home to a whole host of germs—which is particularly problematic for people who eat at their desk. Employees can cut down on the cross-contamination here by regularly wiping their keyboards down with Q-tips dipped in isopropyl alcohol (after turning off the computer, of course).

Phones and other office equipment. Phones that are shared by multiple employees are especially likely to be sites of cross-contamination. Other office equipment that is likely to be covered in bacteria include vending machines (particularly the buttons), drinking fountain buttons, and the buttons on printers and fax machines.

Food. This is largely an issue because employees may not wash their hands before eating their lunch—or they will wash their hands, but then they will touch a cross-contaminated refrigerator handle, microwave handle, or countertop.

If you’re worried about the cold and flu running rampant at your workplace (which is a reasonable thing to be concerned about), ask your cleaning company about their process for preventing cross contamination. A good janitorial service should disinfect common touch points and remove pollutants, rather than just moving them from one surface to another.

Bio

Chris Walker runs Eagle Building Maintenance and Janitorial with his father Dan Walker. Since 1995, they’ve provided commercial cleaning services in the New Jersey area. The company was established with a simple belief that quality workmanship and open communication are the keys to true customer satisfaction.

Learn more about their janitorial services here, or get a free estimate by calling 888-730-1123.