Contact centres crawling with germs

The average contact centre, where desks and equipment are shared, could be a breeding ground for disease, according to a new US study.

An Arizona University study, which took samples from 100 offices across the US, found that computer keyboards have 3,295 microbes per square inch and computer mice 1,676. But telephones are by far the worst offenders, with a massive 25,127 microbes a square inch because people get their mouths in such close contact with them and yet rarely think to wipe them down.

“You may find things such as dirt and dust – these build up particularly between and under the keys of the keyboard, and clog up runners on older mice,” says computer valet Mark Chandler. “In the keyboard you’ll also find bits of paper, crumbs, hairs, staples, paper clips, dead skin and even dead insects.”

Originally published in Callcentres.net