10 important rules that can keep office employees safe from infections

Did you know that hands are responsible for 80% of the spread of common illnesses. A simple act of washing your hands at least five times a day can significantly decrease the frequency of colds, flu and other infections. Not only will it keep you infection-free, it will also help to prevent the spread of infectious diseases to others.
While we work hard to keep our homes clean and bacteria-free, what about our office spaces, not to forget our computers and keyboards.With most of us spending hours in front of the computers and rarely cleaning them, it is hard to imagine, how dirty our desks can get.
Keyboards have been shown to harbour high levels of bacteria on them and when these are being used by multiple people in an office, one can only imagine the level of contamination. Researchers have discovered an even more alarming fact – the average desktop has 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat.So, how do these bacteria get there? The answer is simple, most of the bacteria that reside on individuals, usually on their skin, mouth and nasal passages. Therefore, majority of bacteria that are found on laptops or desktops originated from our hands. The good news is most of these bacteria won’t hurt you as long as your immune system is healthy, however, a cut on your fingers may still lead to an infection in some cases. Therefore, it is in your best interest to take care of your health and that of others. This is especially important when sharing a computer with others in an office, for example, if a person using a keyboard is down with a common cold, it is likely that you may catch the infection from using the keyboard later on.

What you can do?

It is important to keep in mind that not everything you touch needs to be sterile to be safe. We are surrounded by bacteria, most of which won’t harm us. It won’t necessarily harm you if your keyboard has some bacteria on it. However, there are some bacteria that might make us ill, so it’s a good idea to wash your hands before and after using the keyboard. Washing your hands before and after using a shared computer is all the more important and you should urge others to do the same as well.
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Furthermore, eating at your computer is not a smart idea either, you probably transfer bacteria from your lips to the keyboard when you eat and then type.

Regular soap and water are effective for everyday hand washing to kill bacteria. A special antibacterial soap is routinely not required outside of hospitals and other medical facilities. If your hands are not obviously unclean or oily, you might even skip hand washing and use an alcohol-based hand massage instead.
In summation, not only does washing your hands save you from getting sick, it also lowers the possibility of infecting others. You can spread the germs on your hands to other people if you don’t properly wash your hands before you touch them. The bacteria that dirty hands leave on communal items like doorknobs, keyboards, and other equipment in the home or office can also make other people sick.

(Author: Dr. Aashish Chaudhry, Managing Director- Aakash Healthcare)