How Dirty is Your Desk ? Accountants and Lawyers are the owners of the dirtiest desks

A research conducted by Viking, a UK based supplier of office stationery (www.viking-direct.co.uk) as published by Telegraph.co.uk revealed out that lawyers, accountants and computer workers are the most unhygienic office workers in the country. While social workers are more likely to have mouldy food on their desks.

A study of desks by office supplies firm Viking in hundreds of offices across the country found poor levels of hygiene. Germs were found in almost two-thirds of computer keyboards, while some even had mould growing underneath. Phones and desks also had  germs, Viking found after analysing swabs sent in by hundreds of office workers (Telegraph.co.uk – 03 October 2011).

Although many of office desks are not germ free, most of office workers are not aware of the present of germs on their desks because actually sometimes they are invisible. According to the study, not more than 50 percent of workers who realize that their desks are not sterile.

Besides, the habit of having lunch at the working desks also influential to the healthiness and cleanliness of the office space. About 2 of 3 employees surveyed admitted that they are not always clean up their desks after eating lunch or having snack on it.

So, your desk may look clean, but who knows thousands of germs are already partying beneath.

Dr Lisa Ackerley (Viking hygiene expert) has several tips to help you keep your desk away from germs :

1. Clean your keyboard and desk regularly with an air duster to get into all of the tiny spaces followed by antibacterial wipes, particularly if you hot desk
2. Always wash your hands with soap and warm water after going to the toilet. It should take the same time as singing the song “Happy birthday to you” twice. Hand washing should be followed up by using hand sanitizer gel
3. Use anti-bacterial wipes to clean your office space, not a cloth, that way the germs are killed and the cloth is thrown away, no chance of the bacteria surviving and spreading around the office. It is also worthwhile keeping a container of anti bacterial hand gel on your desk to use throughout the day
4. Wash your hands when you arrive at work (or get home) and use a sanitising gel throughout the day
5. If food falls on the floor – bin it! (Many people believe that if you drop food on the floor, so long as you pick it up within 5 seconds, it will be safe. WRONG!)
6. Clean your desk and telephone with an anti-bacterial wipe and use anti-bacterial gel on your hands.

(Source : http://www.vikingdirtydesks.co.uk/)