The landscape of occupant health in commercial buildings is rapidly evolving. From basic safety standards to prioritizing health, productivity, and comfort, the focus has shifted significantly.

Health statistics

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, American adults spend more of their waking hours between Monday and Friday at the workplace than anywhere else—including home, according to the 2022 American Time Use Survey (U.S. Department of Labor, June 23, 2023). Additionally, on average, nearly one-third of all workers devote five hours at their workplace on weekends. So, it stands to reason that offices, factories, clinics, and other work facilities have become hubs for exchanging not only goods and services but also viruses, bacteria, and other sources of infection.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates between 5% and 20% of all Americans contract flu annually. Contaminated surfaces and direct human contact spread up to 80% of all infections. Adults touch their hands to their faces an average of 23 times per hour, presenting hundreds of opportunities each day to transfer illness-causing organisms into our bodies. Once an infection takes hold, the next step is usually the doctor’s office, followed by the sickbed, resulting in thousands to millions of dollars in lost productivity from employee absenteeism. In fact, according to a National Health Interview Survey, influenza alone is responsible for 200 million days of diminished productivity and 75 million days of work absence.

Avoiding the germs

Fortunately, knowing what surfaces pose the greatest risk for disease transmission at work allows organizations to implement effective cleaning practices, which can help reduce these risks and minimize infections.

Ultimately, employers must educate employees on what precautions to take to help avoid the top germiest places in their workplace:

• Telephones: Multiple employees still use telephones in many workplaces. Office phones harbor more than 25,000 germs per square inch. Instruct users to clean handsets and keypads with sanitizing wipes throughout the day.
• Elevator buttons: Scores of people use elevators every day, often before they have time to get to their workstations or wash their hands. If possible, avoid direct contact with elevator surfaces. Consider using your elbow rather than your hand to push the buttons. Do you want to guess where bacteria and germs lurk the most in the elevator? They’re on the “1” or first-floor button.)
• Water fountains: Public drinking fountain spigots can harbor as many as 2.7 million bacteria per square inch. As an alternative, use a sports bottle or bring bottled water from home.
• Keyboards: Like telephones, keyboards are often used by multiple people, making them easy ways to transfer germs. In fact, they can contain more than 200 times as much bacteria as a toilet seat.
• Bathrooms: Tagged as the “epicenter of cross-contamination” and the “bio-hazardous waste transfer station,” facility bathrooms are one of the germiest places of all. Pathogenic E. coli and other fecal toxins often contaminate nearly every surface; individuals who wash their hands before leaving encounter germy door handles. As a solution, use paper towels to turn faucets off and on, close the toilet lid before flushing, and open the door before exiting.

Employ a hygienic cleaning system

Consider a shift to a nightly, health-focused, hygienic cleaning system to clean surfaces and remove germs and soil effectively. Prudent use of hospital-grade disinfectants kills harmful organisms. The system includes advanced soil removal techniques to capture and remove dirt and germs, proving that health-focused, hygienic cleaning reduces health risks. Studies have shown that employing an effective surface disinfecting and cleaning protocol can reduce absenteeism by as much as 50%.

Combining this cleaning method with an aggressive hand hygiene program provides a hygienic barrier to help reduce the risk of illness and improve the quality of work life for all building occupants. Including EPA-registered, hospital-grade disinfectants in your cleaning compounds helps reduce the overall risk of illness by killing harmful organisms on surfaces in your facility. Their prudent use, especially in the germiest areas mentioned above, is a critical component of an effective daily, hygienic cleaning system. It’s essential to disinfect during nightly cleaning and provide employees with disposable disinfecting wipes to wipe down high-touch areas throughout the day.

The introduction of backpack vacuums with HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filtration is another element of hygienic cleaning that can help reduce airborne germs and improve overall indoor air quality. The backpack platform provides an increase in productivity of 70% when compared to traditional upright vacuums. The HEPA filters the air down to 0.3 microns, preventing the release of harmful germs from recirculating back into the air.

Another key factor of an effective hygienic cleaning system is the use of microfiber textiles in cleaning cloths instead of cotton, other fabrics, or disposable paper towels. Most cloths and rags don’t sufficiently remove soil and germs; they actually spread them around and contribute to cross-contamination. By contrast, microfiber is a very fine, round synthetic fiber that undergoes chemical treatment to split the individual round strands into open, star-shaped channels. These channels have proven to be 99% more effective at capturing and removing bacteria and soils.

When using microfiber cloths, workers must frequently turn and change cloths to maintain their germ and soil removal capabilities. Additionally, color-coding the cloths assigns each color to a designated workplace area, preventing cross-contamination.

Empower employees with information

Finally, employers should empower employees with the proper information and tools to protect themselves. Communicate this with flyers, emails, and periodic meetings to remind them about the importance of proper hand hygiene to minimize transmission. Stress the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers and keep sanitizing stations visible and well-stocked.

Organizations can promote a healthier environment by combining effective cleaning and disinfection practices with comprehensive worker hand hygiene education. This proactive approach enhances employee well-being and ensures a more robust workforce, resulting in fewer absences and increased productivity.

Peter J. Sheldon Sr. is the chief strategy officer at Anago Cleaning Systems, one of the world’s leading franchised commercial cleaning brands and a leader in technological advances relating to business operations and facilities services with over 1,800 franchisees across North America.