With scorching summers come new, sometimes hidden risks that browbeaten, slightly sweaty HR employees must confront. And if tempted to soak in your hot tub to reflect on these matters – think again.

HR is not short of bogeymen. As if the extreme heat, the World Cup with all its risks, changes in employment law and offensive banter weren’t enough, there is also an unseen enemy growing in strength as the summer heat progresses. And it can strike without warning as we write the first email of the day.

Say hello to the growing bacteria threat.

Apparently these microscopic organisms are thriving as the humidity and temperature soar. Digital workspace solutions provider DTP Group has contacted Personnel Today to warn us that although office kitchens and bathrooms tend to get regular attention from cleaning teams, the items we interact with most throughout the day are often overlooked.

The firm said it conducted a scientifically controlled experiment to reveal which office items carry the most bacteria, and the results suggest there’s one thing office workers should be paying more attention to this summer, their desks.

The office item that you would expect to be cleaned the most, the desk, showed the highest bacterial load in the test, with 4.5 times more bacteria than the mouse.

Dr Primrose Freestone, associate professor in clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester, who took part in the research, said: “The bacterial counts of desk, keyboard, and laptop were the highest of the swabs and are not surprising as they involve hand contact, and hands, palm and fingers are known to be very well colonised by both their endogenous microbiome and whatever the hands encounter.

“It is what we pick up microbiologically that explains why we need to wash our hands so often. The screen has fewer microbes as it is touched less, and the mouse is used by only one hand, so again this explains the fewer counts.”

Warm, humid conditions are well known to help bacteria multiply faster, which means the germs already living on commonly-touched office surfaces may be more active during sustained hot weather.

Eating at one’s desk was obviously dismissed as a no-no by the study as, yes, bacteria like our food.

But before you rush out to buy extra cleaning sprays there is another risk to consider. Personnel Today’s official know-it-all tells us that anti-bacterial agents cause the organisms to mutate and develop defences, contributing to the creation of “superbugs” and lessening the effectiveness of medical remedies.

And, wait, there are more horrors: household cleaning sprays, disinfectants, detergents, and polishes often contain VOCs (volatile organic compounds); carbon-containing chemicals that easily evaporate into a toxic gas at room temperature that with prolonged exposure can cause some fairly horrendous conditions.

Eco products that don’t contain VOCs or encourage bacteria to become true monsters may be the answer, or it’s a case of out of the petri dish and into the fire.

We were also contacted by a firm called Hydrosense advising about the growing “urgent” risk of legionella in hot tubs as the temperature went past 35C. Well, that doesn’t affect us, we agreed, perplexed. There had not been any mention thus far of a company hot tub. At this point our HR colleague, with an anxious look on her face, suddenly announced she had to leave early and was last seen clutching a number of cleaning materials while making for the station.

 

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Source: www.personneltoday.com

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