If we had to guess the most germ-laden place in any given office environment, we'd choose the bathroom. But, as it turns out, the easiest places to catch a bug at work are also the most essential spaces in the building areas that serve coffee. If you're trying not to get sick, you might want to avoid the office coffeemaker.
According to a study on controlling the spread of viruses, the coffee break room is the first area in the office to become contaminated when a virus is going around. Researchers contaminated the doors of an office space that housed 80 employees with MS-2, a virus that is not harmful to humans. In just four hours, 40 to 60% of the building's staff had the virus on their hands, in large part thanks to the coffee pot.
Not surprisingly, phones and light switches also quickly became common sources of contamination, but the coffee pot was the most infested item of all. While the study didn't include single-cup coffee machines, like K-Cup brewers, we'd be willing to wager that the buttons on those machines would probably become contaminated just as quickly as a pot handle.
Luckily there's an easy solution for all the folks who can't make it through the day without a few refills:
Clean your hands! The study found that when employees used hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes the spread of MS-2 was reduced by 80 to 99%.
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