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Posted By Junebug
http://www.thisislondon....icle-9668995-details/Don't+eat+at+your+desk!/article.do
Article in the Evening Standard about germs and filth that can be found at desks and why we should not be eating at our desks.
This guy has caused mass hysteria in my building - ahh the joys and its not even Friday yet.
Oh and by the way my disclaimer before i get any well he's right comments - i do agree people should take breaks etc, should not be forced to eat at their desks, it is unhygienic etc etc etc
I just don't like the unbalanced opinion - there are germs everywhere, and i am sure my personal mobile phone is worse than my work phone. At least i wipe my work phone down regularly and we have a good cleaning regime in place etc etc etc.
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Posted By Gordon P
Junebug,I must agree. But there is also the choking hazard. People eating at their desk and quickly swallowing to answer the phone or talk to a colleague.
GP
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Posted By Descarte
Im sure the BBC news site reported a year or 2 ago a study which showed that the average keyboard harbours more bacteria than a toilet seat.
It may have reduced people eating at their desk but I cant say I approve of eating in the toilet cubicles now either.
Des
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Posted By Junebug
Folks, you have both made me laugh out loud, my boss things i'm mad!
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Posted By martinw
Why not just take a wireless keyboard to the toilet with you so that you can keep working? Just love that broadband.
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Posted By John Packer
Joking aside people this is dangerous. I've just taken a bite out of my mouse and left-clicked my doughnut! Doh!
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Posted By MCK
Whatever happens - DO NOT mention custard creams.
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Posted By Chris Packham
Consider that many bacteria are harmless and many positively beneficial.
Sure there are bacteria on your desk, but which ones? Probably many will be those that you shed with your skin cells, ones that reside in your skin and are part of your defence against skin colonisation by the more pathogenic transients. These are generally harmless both to you and anyone else.
As regards the number on the desk compared with the toilet seat, just consider the relative surface areas. And the bacteria on the toilet seat are likely to be more harmful than those on the desk.
By the way you have around 10,000 to 100,000 bacteria per cm2 of skin, so don't use your fingers to hold your sandwich!!!
Sometimes I wonder who puts this kind of information (misinformation?) around.
Chris
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Posted By FAH
Junebug - if youre workplace is in the UK may I suggest that you get hold of a copy of L24 The Workplace [Health, Safety & Welfare] Regs.
Everything that you need to know about your question is there.
Frank Hallett
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Posted By Andy Petrie
I've just spilled a Yakult on my keyboard to ensure that it has planty of those good bacteria on it.
the only problem is the , , , and keys have stopped working
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Posted By A Campbell
Best Friday banter Iv'e seen on here in ages!
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Posted By Crim
Try this.
Pick up your keyboard and turn it upside down.
Now tap it a few times and see what drops out?
Better onto a plain whilte sheet of paper.
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Posted By Crim
Anyone out there "hot desking"?
Do you know who shares the desk with you?
Do they pick their nose?
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Posted By Chris Packham
Crim
Unless you have microscopic vision you won't see the bacteria that fall out when you turn your keyboard upside down.
By the way, if you were to look at your tie under a microscope you might find even more bacteria than on your desk!
Chris
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Posted By martinw
Which is why infection control/common sense had to fight the good fight to get hospital consultants to take their ties off. So obvious when you look at it, really. Leaning over one patient then another...
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Posted By Crim
Can't remember the last time I wore a tie?
If you do the turn upside down test and see the crumbs that fall out you only need to imagine how much bacteria?
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Posted By martinw
I know Crim but it becomes a chore when you have so many bacteria there(cheers Chris) that they are unimaginable in real terms, and that you don't know which of the pesky little varmints are good or bad bacteria.
No tie? Scruffy git. Me too.
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Posted By water67.
Hmm had wee chuckle at some of this..but hey lets get it all in perspective..yes i have read the stuff about more harm on my desk/key board etc. than toilet seat..but in reality how many staff do you know who have got an illness attributable to eating at their desk????
Cheers
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Posted By martinw
Any injury that could happen would not be attributable to the fact that you were eating at your desk, unless it was bacterially or fibre based and you had Chris or Ian check it out and confirm it for you....anyone got a desk made of asbestos?
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Posted By MW
I have not had a desk made of asbestos however, if you email me with your details, I can send you a picture of someone who used a AIB door as a living room table within staff accommodation at a hotel. The table legs are actually upturned industrial sized tubs of mayo and tomato sauce!
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Posted By Ian Blenkharn
Now that's a thought, bacteriological examination of desks......
Not altogether a bad idea, and one that I have done in some very particular circumstances. I did some studies of a clinical waste processing plant some time back, and am just about to publish the results. Desk surfaces were heavily contaminated, as were many other surfaces touched by gloved hands and ungloved unwashed hands.
Using a forensic technique to detect blood residues, these were everywhere, and no doubt transferred on soiled hands from untreated clinical wastes. Proving the most appalling hygiene standards were blood residues on door handles, towel holders and soap dispensers, on the tabletop and other furniture in the restroom, and on the handle of the jug kettle.
Quite put me off my lunch, and I certainly never accepted a cup of tea on later visits!
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Posted By Benny
Would I be right in saying that if I used my desk as a toilet, it would be safer to eat off.
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Posted By David Gault
Surely the fact that people do not get sick after eating at their desks indicates that the vast majority of the germs noted in the article are actually harmless. This subject comes up in the press time and time again without really acknowledging the fact that many germs do no do us much, if any, harm.
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Posted By Steven McCallum
Is it just me or does anyone feel hungry after reading this??!?
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Posted By test air services ltd
never eat in the same building if you have laboratories on site!!! the level of cross contamination in canteen areas is alarming to say the least and don't even start me on communal laboratory & office staff toilets!
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