How to create a better office environment with furniture, supplies, and products

In college I was a mathematics and science major. Some of the microbiology experiments I participated in were real eye openers into the world of germs. Granted we were students; none of our work was peer reviewed but it did have to pass under the nose of a genus professors.

Some lessons learned from college science courses:

One experiment I did was to grow bacteria – but first I had to get sample starter growth. I was able to inoculate and grow dishes full of gross stuff with one clean swab of the following items:

• One ‘clean’ cafeteria tray 
• The inside of a dictionary that was hidden under a stack of dictionaries
• One penny
• The underside of my desk

Lesson number one. You can’t hide; bacteria is everywhere and it last for flippin’ ever. Translation for office workers clean your office items and clean them often. You won’t get all the germs but cleaning everyday can help stop germ build-up.

Read more about office germs... 

We did one experiment where we cleaned the floor than swabbed it to see which areas of cleaned floor were still covered with bacteria. We used different cleaning methods but each cleaning was just one minute. We used:

• Lysol
• A general purpose disinfectant cleaner
• Hand sanitizer
• Hot water and soap
• Hot water and a scrub brush
• Cold water

Guess which one worked best; meaning it showed the least bacteria? The hot water and scrub brush actually. Translation; when cleaning office items scrub stuff down. When washing your hands use hot water and don’t simply use hand sanitizer. The more people use sanitizing cleaners the more we grow new germs that are immune to said sanitizers.

In one experiment we washed our hands for five minutes (five minutes!) using hot water and soap. Then we covered our hands in germ glow and shined a special germ glow light on them. Not one person had perfectly clean looking hands and everyone forgot their rings. Office translation – you are not washing your hands as good as you think. Try harder. At night maybe soak your hand jewelry (rings, bracelets, etc) in hot soapy water.

Other good ways to avoid catching the office illnesses this autumn include:

• Get a flu shot.
• Stay healthy by being healthy – eat well and exercise.
• Get plenty of rest at night and on your days off.
• Stay home if you get sick and if a co-worker shows up urge them to go home.
• Wipe down frequently used office items each night (keyboard, mouse, chair handles, etc).
• Sneeze into your elbow if you don’t have a tissue and hope that others follow your example.

Here’s how to tell if you have a cold or the flu.