Two Instances Where Office Cleaning Can Actually Harm Employees
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Depending upon a cleaning crew to keep the office nice and tidy is not only a great investment into a business but also into its employees. However, when a cleaning crew is dusting, taking out trash, and vacuuming the office, proper cleaning procedures can be overlooked. So what happens when office cleaning isn’t helping employees do their best at work? Allergy and asthma sufferers can spend time dealing with attacks, miss work due to doctor’s appointments, and have less productivity due to being uncomfortable. Proper cleaning procedures and an air-cleaning system (such as those with an Aprilaire filter) can help. Here are two instances where office cleaning can aggravate health issues and what to do about them.
1. Stacks of papers, bookshelves, and window treatments are being dusted. Piles of paperwork, file folders, bookshelves, and blinds are some of the biggest contributors to dust in the office environment. When employees reach for their client’s files, sort through paperwork, or open or shut the blinds dust is released into the air. Even though night cleaning crews may use a feather duster to dust, they are only rearranging the dust, not removing it. This release of dust is a potential allergy and asthma-inducer that can lead to the aforementioned ill-effects on the employee as well as hurt the overall productivity of the business.
Solutions to improperly dusted offices:
• Consider installing an air filtration system, such as one that comes equipped with an Aprilaire filter. These types of systems reduce airborne dust and allergens by circulating office air through them, trapping the contaminants, and then releasing cleaned air into the office environment.
• Ask employees to file paperwork away in a covered filing cabinet. A closed cabinet will protect the papers from falling dust in the office and will therefore no longer be a source of dust collection.
• Inform cleaning crews that a feather duster should not be used in your office during cleaning. Ask that they use window cleaner and a cloth to wipe the dust off of the blinds once per week instead.
• Books and shelves should be dusted with a dust-catching product rather than a feather duster. It may cost several dollars to buy one for the cleaning crew (keep it in the office), but it will help books stay dust-free.
2. Old food in the refrigerator is taken out and thrown away. This may seem like a good idea, but it can also have harmful effects. If moldy or rotting food is jostled, the mold spores and bacteria are released into the air where they can cause respiratory issues.
Solutions to removing old food from the refrigerator:
• First and foremost, schedule a refrigerator cleaning every Friday. Employees should be instructed to remove any food from the prior week or it will be thrown away for them. Food that is not allowed to linger past its expiration date will have little to no chance of developing mold and bacteria.
• Instruct the cleaning crew to use a part-bleach solution when they spray and wipe down the inside of the refrigerator. This will destroy mold and bacteria and prevent it from getting into the air.
When an office is properly cleaned and the air is filtered with a purifier, such as one with an Aprilaire filter, it helps productivity and encourages good health. It takes little time and effort to make amendments to cleaning procedures so that employees spend more time at work and less time being out sick with allergies or asthma.
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