Is Your Office Making You Sick?

If you've been noticing more absences around your office, don't be alarmed: It's the peak of cold and flu season. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the season typically lasts anywhere from late December through March, but peaks in February. With the long hours most of us put in at the office these days, spending more time at your desk means a greater chance of germ build-up--and illness.

So, what can you do about it? In the last few years, we've been bombarded with messages from the media about how germy our lives have become--from Oprah's expose on household germs, to the Today show's testing of hotel room cleanliness. We've also heard plenty of antibacterial products promising to keep our homes and offices cleaner. But do they really work? Just how effective are these products in preventing the spread of germs, and ultimately, illness?

We consulted with a microbiologist from the University of Arizona at Tucson to get the truth about germs in the workplace. Dr. Charles P. Gerba, a nationally known expert on household microbes and intestinal diseases, is one of the first microbiologists to intensely study bacteria counts in the workplace. Along with The Clorox Company, Gerba and his team of researchers have tested thousands of samples in hundreds of offices throughout New York, Chicago, Florida, San Francisco, Arizona and Oregon. Gerba has learned that many factors go into creating a germy office--from office location to gender to occupation.

Getting Down to the Nitty-Gritty
From his studies, Gerba has discovered that in most work environments, offices and cubicles have higher bacteria levels than surfaces in common areas. What spot in your office space is friendliest to germs? Telephones topped the charts in most offices across the United States, followed by desks and computer keyboards. "The phone is typically the dirtiest piece of equipment in an office because it goes straight to your mouth, and you never clean or disinfect it," Gerba says. All this germ talk leads us to our next topic: office sickness. Gerba points out that thanks to their high-bacteria counts, New York offices experience the highest number of viruses and colds.

So how can you protect your office from becoming a comfortable spot for bacteria to grow? Gerba suggests these simple steps:

• Wipe down your desk and surrounding items with a disinfecting wipe once a week.
• Keep a hand sanitizer at your desk and use it throughout the day.
• If you tend to eat at your desk on a regular basis, think again--this behavior is inviting bacteria to grow at your fingertips.
• Wash coffee mugs and glasses on a regular basis.
• If you're sick, don't go to work.

By using these tips, employees and employers could potentially cut absenteeism in half. That means reducing the typical two-to-three colds per employee each year. That figure doubles for workers with children.

It's a simple solution for a nasty issue. And offices across the nation are taking notice: Gerba says he's noticed a decline in the number of bacteria in most offices he's tested over the last four years thanks to the use of antibacterial products. "We see more use of disinfectants and hand sanitizers than we used to in offices," he notes. If office hygiene hasn't been adopted yet in your workplace, now's the time to set some guidelines and arm employees with the protection they need to ward off unwanted desk buddies.

For more tips on keeping your office germ-free, visit the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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