Usually when you think of reasons to clean the office, it’s because a clean environment is more welcoming. While this is true, a clean office space also leads to fewer employee sick days, better morale around the office, and better concentration among employees. Nobody wants to come to work and worry that they’re picking up germs. To keep your office space clean, these are the most important surfaces to clean in shared office spaces.
The Kitchen / Kitchenette
Your office may not have a full kitchen, but it no doubt has at least a Mr. Coffee or Keurig, a microwave, and a refrigerator (which gets a lot of mileage). Typically, these spaces and have some general-use culinary tools like a cutting board and a knife. There’s usually no dishwasher, so dish soap sits next to the sink along with a sponge or some paper towels.
It’s functional, but it’s also rarely hygienic (despite being the place where food is prepared or at least warmed). Office kitchens need the following surface cleanings throughout the day:
· Wipe down the microwave handle and interior
· Wipe down the fridge door handle
· Clean the fridge interior (at least once a week, old food needs to be thrown away, and shelves need to be wiped)
· Disinfect surfaces with spray and wiping
· Wipe down sink handles, the faucet head, and the sink interior
· Thoroughly wash the cutting board and knife with hot water after each use
· Don’t let water sit on the counter
· Wipe down the doorknobs and the light switch and switch plate
To remain sanitary as to not spread germs and sickness, kitchen areas need this kind of cleaning all day and throughout the day with a final thorough clean at night.
The Bathrooms
Bathrooms are equally hazardous as kitchen areas as there is a lot of splashing that goes on in bathrooms via toilets and sinks and thus a lot of germ and bacteria transference. The only time people wash their hands, which are used to touch everything in the bathroom is after they wash them.
While touchless soap dispensers, water faucets, and paper towel dispenses (as well as self-flushing toilets!) do a lot to cut back on how much is touched, all of these surfaces need to be wiped thoroughly.
Equally, the door handle, the light switch, stall doors and locks (in offices with stalled bathrooms), and countertops need to be cleaned with disinfectant spray. They need to be thoroughly cleaned with disinfectant chemicals every day. If you work in a high-traffic office, bathrooms need cleanings throughout the day on a schedule.
The Office Technology
Office technology (think phones, keyboards, the computer mouse, etc.) also need to be cleaned. These surfaces see a lot of touching and even if that touching is just from their owners, they need to be wiped down. Consider how often people drink coffee, snack, text on their phone at their desk (guess what they also do on the toilet), visit the restroom, eat lunch, etc. Bacteria and germs proliferate easily.
Not only should these objects be cleaned often, but it’s also prudent to keep hand sanitizer at the ready at one’s desk. (Also, wipe down your personal cell phone several times a day. Trust us.)
Doorknobs, Light Switches, Hand Railings, and Elevator Buttons
Regardless of how many are in your individual office space, the building your in may have several occupants and visitors on a daily basis. It’s thus important to wipe down surfaces that are touched by many hands throughout the day. Handrails, for example, are considered to be some of the most unclean places in an office.
Children, adults, the elderly, etc. use handrails to climb stairs or to balance along walkways (or to have fun in the case of children). Likewise, doorknobs, elevator buttons, and light switches see an equal volume of germ-spreading traffic. Because germs gather and spread quickly, these surfaces need more than one cleaning per day and a deep cleaning after hours.
Wipe Down the Meeting Table
Finally, in an office space, the board room may be used by multiple building occupants, which means that it can get dirty and unsanitary from multiple people’s coffees, crumb cakes, bagels, note pads, coughs, and sneezes. It won’t be a happy birthday for Brenda if the board room used for her party gifts her with a cold. Thus, meeting rooms need to be sanitized after each use. Wipe down the table, markers, keyboard, projector, chairs, and serving table(s) after each use with a disinfectant.
Keeping an office space clean can be a challenge if you don’t have someone staffed full-time for the role of cleaning…especially when it comes to the deep clean needed in the evening. This is why we at Advanced Cleaning offer nightly office-cleaning services. Major services as well as other areas of the office are thoroughly cleaned and sanitized with professional cleaning services.
