How to Ensure High Hygiene Standards in the Workplace

March 28 2019 - A poorly cleaned office space can cause havoc to your company's reputation but also risk the health of your employees. You need to ensure there are high hygiene standards in place, otherwise you run the risk of breaking the law but also reducing employee morale - and we all know that low staff morale means a decrease in productivity.

It's not difficult to ensure your office is up to code and sparkling. Here are easy ways to keep your office hygienic.

Regular Cleaning

Most offices use cleaning staff, hired from external cleaning agencies, to keep their facilities as clean and tidy as possible. While these cleaning professionals will be excellent at their job, they may not be as thorough as you'd expect. They may, for instance, neglect to clean some areas of your office - not out of laziness, but out of a simple lack of awareness.

To ensure your staff are enjoying the highest levels of hygiene maintenance possible, you should liaise with your cleaning staff to show them every area that you expect to be cleaned. This should include especially areas like toilets, kitchen areas and commonly-shared facilities, which should be cleaned daily without fail.

Ensure cleaning staff sign off on these areas on pinned-up cleaning sheets.

Replacements and Fixes

Another way to ensure a more suitable level of hygiene maintenance in your office is to update your current facilities, getting rid of older materials in favour of more cleaning-friendly surfaces. A good example of changes that improve hygiene in important facilities is the panelling for your toilet cubicles. New toilets, without marks, scratches or dents, will harbour less bacteria that can harm your staff. What's more, they are easier to clean.

The same goes for kitchen equipment. Old kettles with limescale are naturally less healthy for your staff than newer, clean models. Old sinks and cupboards can, over time, become slightly mouldy - a safe haven for harmful bacteria that your staff might encounter in their day-to-day work.

Finally, you shouldn't forget computer keyboards, screens and 'mice'. Regularly touched, if you've got old and slightly broken computing equipment, it's advisable you replace them in order to reduce the risk of infection.

Staff Culture

The final tip is a managerial tip to promote a staff culture of cleanliness and healthy conduct. Whether you decide to do this via a short presentation to staff or in an ongoing drive to improve staff hygiene over time, it's poor staff behaviour that can sometimes lead to germs being transferred from surfaces to the people who use them.

Even simple steps like putting up printed-out signs in kitchen, toilet and other shared facilities, or asking your staff to operate a 'clean-as-you-go' policy, will help reduce the risk of illness in the workplace. Encouraging handwashing regularly is perhaps the finest managerial intervention you can take in this respect.

To keep your staff healthy and free from illness in the workplace, ensure that you're doing your utmost to maintain excellent levels of hygiene in the office space that they use week-in and week-out.

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