Did you get your flu shot yet? Well you had better get on the ball as three accounts I visited last week had people out with the flu already, and it’s a nasty one this year!
The good news is the vaccine they have this year will actually work! Yay! I promptly went and got my flu shot last weekend – I hate being sick! And with it being flu season again, it’s even more important to stock up on hand sanitizer and sanitizing wet wipes.
I found this great article that speaks to how flu vaccines & hand hygiene are keys to preventing infection…
From Cleanlink News:
Flu Vaccine And Hand Hygiene Are Key To Preventing Infection
Health professionals and organizations are encouraging the public to take preventative measures to decrease the spread of illness during cold and flu season. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends “3 Actions to Fight the Flu:
Take the time to get a flu vaccine,
Take everyday preventative actions, including washing your hands with soap and water and if soap and water is not available use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and
Take flu antiviral drugs if your doctor prescribes them.
Everyone will tell you it’s the bathroom. True, but let’s step out of the potty for a minute and think about this.
Did you know you are supposed to lather up for 15 seconds to actually get the germs, feces and bacteria off your hands? Think about it, how many people actually do that?
They also cough & sneeze into their hands making it super easy to spread sickness. You’ve seen the “hand rinsers”… that does absolutely nothing! You have to actually wash your hands with soap to prevent spreading the nasties. Try singing happy birthday to yourself while you lather and rinse at the end.
Think about this scenario:
A person goes to the john and then, after, only rinses their hands. They touch the door handle to exit the bathroom. They go to the break room and grab the refrigerator handle while they get a snack out. Then they mosey over to the microwave, grab that handle to open it, stick in their frozen burrito (we won’t even go into what type of bathroom scene that causes) then press the button to warm it up. While they’re waiting, they grab the handle on the coffee pot to pour themselves a cup of coffee, and then go to the water fountain and press the button to get a drink. For a finishing act, they go over to the break room sink to fill their water bottle then turn the light switch off… these are all the public places they touch! To top it off, they then contaminate their keyboards, mice and phone. Think about all that sharing for a second…
How often are these areas getting cleaned and sanitized?
These are the office dirty dozen, the most contaminated surfaces:
Break room sink-faucet handles
Microwave door handles
Keyboards
Refrigerator door handles
Water fountain buttons
Vending machine buttons
Key boards
Computer mice
Coffee pot handles or dispensers
Desk phones
Door handles
Light switches
Invest in sanitizing wipes and sprays to keep these areas clean, but don’t make them hard to find. How about bowls of sanitizing wipes instead of candy? Hey, everyone’s always on a diet anyway, right?
AQC specializes in routine cleaning and sanitizing of… well, everything, including all those dirty little secrets in the office! If your office is in need of a professional, call us! We would love to help make your office a healthier place to work.
