Bathrooms should be clean all year long and, if you’re getting your facility services through Sparkle, they definitely are. When the cold season comes around, however, the need for cleanliness intensifies, especially in the bathroom. You don’t want your clients or employees to get sick. So how can you protect them?
Places to Watch for
It’s often surprising to learn which places are the dirtiest at the microbial level. For example, your cellphone harbors around 10 times more bacteria than a public toilet seat. This is for a few reasons, but primarily because toilet seats are regularly cleaned as they are seen as dirty. Cellphones, on the other hand, are the beneficiaries of common, personal use, and the bias that goes with it. This relationship between perception and treatment plays out on most bathroom surfaces.
As a result, it’s the things that are thought to be clean which tend to be the most dirty. That means nothing is safe, unless you know what isn’t and clean them properly. Here’s a rundown of the surfaces to hit with the spray when it’s time to clean:
Door Handle and Lock
The last thing you touch before leaving the bathroom should be the cleanest, as the logic goes. People wash their hands when done, and those washed hands open the door. It should at least be one of the less dirty places in the bathroom. Right? Nope.
A bacterial surface culture analysis of various bathroom surfaces by seniorliving.org found 50,007 CFU (colony forming units) per square inch on the door handle. For contrast, the toilet handle had 10 CFUs present.
The door handle is an unfortunate nesting ground for bacteria for many reasons. A major one, though is the fact that damp hands are far more likely to pick up bacteria than wet hands.
Sink Faucet Handle
Sink faucet handles are another unexpected source of bacterial presence. It’s another surface that everybody touches and expects to be clean. Unlike the door handle, the sink faucet generally has a good supply of water around at all times. The presence of water makes bacterial colonization easier and, as a result, the sink faucet handle had around 3,063,463 CFU.
How to Limit Seasonal Cold and Flu Exposure
There are several ways to limit your employees’ and clients’ exposure to seasonal cold and flu.
1. Implement Strict “Don’t Come in if Sick” Policies
Keeping sick employees at home is one of the best ways to limit the presence of germs in the workplace. Fears of employees taking advantage of such a policy shouldn’t outweigh the dangers of working one genuinely sick person. That employee’s presence will increase the risk of other people getting sick. Plus, their performance will slack, and their sickness will be prolonged.
2. Train Janitorial Staff to Address Bacteria Hotspots Regularly
One of the best ways to combat bacteria hotspots is to disinfect them regularly. This means training your janitorial staff in the location and effective cleaning procedure of these hotspots.
3. Have Access to Top-of-the-Line Hand Care Products
Keeping your employee’s hands truly clean is vital to their health and safety. Effective hand care products are a vital component in a healthy work environment. You don’t want just quality, but a consistent supply. What good is an empty container?
Sparkle Has Your Restrooms Covered
With an experienced and reliable facility service provider like Sparkle Uniform and Linen Services, your hand care supply will never go out. That means protection for your employees at all times. For more information, give us a call at (661) 634-1130, visit our website, or ask about a free quote!
