It’s probably fair to say that the vast majority of people would not consider cleaning to be one of their primary pastimes. You clean because you have to clean, otherwise you wouldn’t bother. And of course, such a scenario would also put us and thousands like us well and truly out of business!
So in an attempt to make what may come across as a rather mundane subject at least a little more interesting, here’s a quick rundown of 10 interesting things you probably never knew about cleaning:
1. First of all, cleaning has the potential to be an extremely effective form of exercise in its own right. In fact, just 1 hour of moderate cleaning is known to burn in the region of 100 calories. Which in turn means that if you clean on a daily basis, it’s pretty easy to burn off a full thousand extra calories every week.
2. Research has shown that when employees regularly disinfect their desks, absenteeism due to illness can be reduced by an incredible 30%. Even in instances where the figure is considerably lower than this, it’s still just makes good sense to keep your desk hygiene to a top-notch standard.
3. It might be a rather revolting concept to grasp, but it is nonetheless true that approximately 70% of the buildup of every dust particle is in fact dead skin. Suffice to say, all the more reason to get busy with a damp cloth!
4. Telephones have the potential to be the most unhygienic of all items found within the average office. In fact, the average office phone is also home to more than 25,000 germs across every square cm.
5. Contrary to popular belief, it is necessary for most antibacterial cleaning products to be applied to surfaces/objects and then left for between 30 seconds and 60 seconds, in order for them to be fully effective. Rushing the job means not doing the job properly.
6. Even in facilities with decent air conditioning and ventilation, it is still possible for the air quality in a closed office space to be around five times more polluted and unhealthy than outdoor air.
7. When factoring in things like desks, telephones, door handles and so on, the average office is home to no less than 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat.
8. Incredibly, it is perfectly possible for there to be a full kilogram of dirt hiding in just one single square metre of carpet. If you don’t have your carpets cleaned on a regular basis, it’s impossible to know just how much horror is lurking out of sight!
9. During the course of the average day, an office worker will come into contact with somewhere in the region of 10,000,000 bacteria. You’d like to think that most such individuals wash their hands on a regular basis – evidence suggests this simply isn’t the case!
10. Last but not least, while a great many improvements have been made with regard to the quality over recent decades, the average woman will still spend around twice as much time as the average man cleaning in a lifetime. Whereas the average man cleans for approximately 6,500 hours in a lifetime, total cleaning time for the average woman comes much closer to 13,000 hours.