Property managers play a critical role in helping stop infection and the spread of germs, especially during cold and flu season. Research shows that 98 percent of office workers are affected by minor illness each year1, and, most strikingly, 80 percent of those illnesses are preventable2. While your tenants certainly encounter illnesses throughout the day—at home and in public—the eight or so hours they spend in a concentrated work environment can expose them to high levels of germs.
According to a study by Kimberly-Clark Professional*, adults touch their faces an average of 15.7 times every hour and transmit the germs they carry to the surfaces they subsequently touch. That same study showed that viruses can live from 20 minutes to 2 hours on a number of office surfaces, including chairs, desks and door handles. Common areas in particular—water coolers, conference tables and reception areas, for example—are ideal sanctuaries for unwanted germs. And friendly handshakes can transmit viruses far beyond the hand of the person being greeted.
With these facts in mind, the hurdles to maintaining a healthy building may seem daunting, but there are highly effective, cost efficient and sustainable ways to promote the types of personal hygiene habits that help prevent minor illnesses—from the front door of your building to the elevator buttons and everywhere in between. First and foremost, property managers can encourage tenants to use an easy three-step approach to keep illnesses at bay: 1) hand washing, 2) wiping and 3) sanitizing. As has been published widely in medical literature, proper hand washing is still the best way to reduce the spread of germs. Next, using disinfectant wipes kills germs on some of the dirtiest hot spots, such as door handles, keyboards and phones. The third line of defense is to use hand sanitizer—it kills 99.9 percent of germs and has been shown to reduce sick days by a whopping 21 percent in office environments.
Providing tenants and building visitors the right tools is vital to curtailing the spread of germs—and maintaining a positive image for your building. One way property managers are upgrading their buildings for minimal investment is through touchless operation technologies, especially in restrooms, which are hotbeds of germ transmission. Tenants don’t want to touch surfaces, buttons or knobs that have been repeatedly handled by others and have been shown to harbor germs for hours. Manufacturers have responded with faucets, paper towel and soap dispensers, dryers and toilets that operate automatically. Property managers working to improve hygiene, increase the perception of restroom cleanliness and modernize amenities have increasingly invested in these products. As a bonus, these solutions also reduce the consumption of natural resources, as they encourage less overall water and paper towel usage.
These touchless operation technologies, along with the three-step strategy of washing, wiping and sanitizing, can go a long way toward keeping tenants healthy, ultimately sparing them from the inconvenience of illnesses and missed work days.
