Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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I was worried about going into my weekend estate agency job last week as I'd been laid up with what appeared to be the flu and really wasn't feeling well, but as I was needed I reported for work, having resolved to touch as little as possible, to wash my hands after blowing my nose, coughing or sneezing and to disinfect all the equipment and key sets I'd touched, before leaving for the evening.
As it turned out, I needn't have been concerned, since the entire team seemed to be suffering from the same affliction! I suppose it's not surprising, how quickly such bugs spread - particularly when so many of us are hot-desking these days. All it takes is one colleague to suffer a hygiene lapse and he or she can take the entire department down.
I found myself about to unload the drainer when I decided I ought to wash my hands again before doing so, just in case... but how many others are that fastidious? Unsurprisingly perhaps, the latest survey by Initial Washroom Hygiene has revealed that it's the items we touch when making 'a cuppa', which are more likely to spread germs than, say, the toilet (which tends to be thoroughly and regularly cleaned), with extremely high bacterial readings taken on anything from the tea tin to the kettle, fridge door and cutlery drawer handle - you can see the full story below.
Of course, it's not just coughs, colds and flu that can be spread when people aren't hygiene conscious - as those 'enjoying' a cruise on the 'Ovation of the Seas' have discovered this week. Apparently some 200 of them have been struck down with a stomach bug - bad enough when you're on dry land but surely so much harder to bear when on the open seas, surrounded by moving water...
One of the passengers has shared on Facebook a video of corridors being sprayed by crew members wearing protective clothing, in an operation that has been going on day and night in an effort to prevent the bug from spreading to the other 5,600 people on board. The ship is to be thoroughly sanitised in Sydney, its next port of call. I only hope that new passengers boarding the ship at Sydney will take heed of the hygiene instructions they'll no doubt be given, and ensure that they're not responsible for a further outbreak once the ship leaves port...
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Yours,
7th December 2017