Is Your Desk Dirtier Than Your Toilet Seat?
Over the past year, many people’s work from home desk set up has been getting a lot of use. But do you know how many germs are lingering on that workspace? When did you last clean your office or home desk? I’m not talking about straightening up and putting things away. When did you last sanitize? Even though it might look clean, many people neglect to thoroughly scrub and disinfect their workspace. And as a result, your desk is probably dirtier than your toilet seat.
Fasthosts, an internet access provider, conducted a study by swabbing different areas of the work from home set up. Samples were taken from the desk, the mouse, and keyboard and then compared them to other household objects. And the results show that our desk is dirtier and has more germs than a toilet seat! Based on the swabbing results, the home desk is by far the filthiest part of the home with an average cleanliness RLU (Relative Light Unit) score of 606! As it turns out a standard toilet seat is much cleaner than a desk with a registered RLU score of 209.
While most people think to clean their bathrooms and kitchens regularly, the home office doesn’t get the same treatment. And you don’t think of it as getting as dirty, so it’s slightly understandable why. Whether in the office or at home I always try to leave my desk straight at the end of the day, but it’s only every so often I take the cleaner and truly wipe it down. More often than not I do that on a slower day when I’m looking for something to do.
The dirtiest items:
Dr Jonathan Cox, a microbiologist from Aston University, explains that each key strike both deposits and picks up microorganisms. Therefore, it’s crucial to wash our hands before we eat at our desks and disinfect the surface and our work devices regularly. Most people probably never questioned the cleanliness of their desk chair, but the seat and arms of your chair can harbour a plethora of germs.
So make it a point to keep some Clorox wipes nearby and just wipe down all your office surfaces at least once a week.
You can find the full study here: https://www.fasthosts.co.uk/dirty-desks
