Where is the Germiest Spot in an Office?

North Americans spend as much as 90% of time indoors, yet we know very little about the microbes that share our indoor spaces with us. Using very modern ways to identify microbes, a study was conducted in office spaces in three major urban areas – New York, San Francisco, and Tucson – to determine the effects of city, surface, and gender on the quantity of certain classes of bacteria found in those spaces. Five surface types were researched – chair, desktop, keyboard, mouse, and phone.

The study found that there was a significant difference in the amounts of bacteria between the cities, genders, and surfaces. They found spaces primarily occupied by men were consistently more contaminated than spaces occupied by ladies. Although all 5 surface types were found to be contaminated, chairs and phones were the most contaminated.

For those looking to disinfect office space, one should consider beginning where the most bacteria are found. According to this study, the dirtiest place in the office are the chairs and phones used by men.

Ideas for this blog were gathered from here. To learn more about using HOCl as a disinfectant, see here.