Anglian based IT cleaning company Keep IT Clean is challenging businesses in Cambridgeshire to consider the extent of their workplace cleanliness as spring is just around the corner.

Whilst a thorough spring clean will work wonders for improving office aesthetics, dig deeper and there’s another good reason for a workplace spring clean. Take a closer look at your desk and you may start to notice the dirt that accumulates on the mouse buttons, the muck in your keyboard that seems to come from nowhere, those crumbs stuck between your keys as a result of eating at your desk as well as the grime wiped on the side of the keyboard by colleagues that have borrowed your desk.

Although this may sound unpleasant it does illustrate a serious message for office management. Recent research into the cleanliness of offices shows that the average desk is capable of harbouring 10 million nasty microbes. Many of which cling onto equipment and can trigger allergies and common bugs such as colds, coughs and flu but more worryingly serious bugs like listeria and salmonella. In one study a microbiologist suggested the removal of a keyboard as it had 150 times the recommended limit of bacteria.

Statistically, that particular workstation was five times filthier than a toilet seat that was swabbed in the same test. When the IT equipment you use is shared with colleagues such as ‘hot desk’ environments the problem intensifies.

Claire Burke is a director of Keep IT Clean, a specialist IT equipment cleaning company with contracts spread across Cambridgeshire. She has experienced firsthand the perils of not keeping office based cleaning up to scratch: "We deep clean workstations with a focus on phones, mice, keyboards and desks. They can get unbelievably dirty to the extent of becoming a hazard to people’s health. When IT cleaning is neglected dirt and germs accumulate over time. A common nasty is crisps under the keyboard, you can always tell if clients eat salt and vinegar crisps because you can smell the vinegar!"

Tim Anderson is Branch Manager of Grahams Plumbing Merchants in Cambridge who have been contracting Keep IT Clean for 3 years, "We employ Keep IT Clean’s services because it is in the best interest of our staff. We have to be accountable for hygiene and our employee’s health and it’s a service that accommodates both factors."

Surprisingly, despite the dangers of employees becoming ill, management rarely see office cleanliness as a top priority. However, a thoroughly spring cleaned workplace environment has many distinct advantages. Whilst limiting the spread of infection which is a chief cause of sickness and absence, regular cleaning also extends equipment lifetime, helps to project a professional image and improves staff morale by proving that their wellbeing is a priority to their employers.