"The office can become a veritable petrie dish of virus and bacteria organisms, especially when your colleagues come to work sick or aren't diligent about washing their hands. Consequently, surface cleanliness can be a real issue in the workplace."

Currently, within most modern Calgary office towers, other stress factors such as indoor air quality, noise, lighting, ergonomic conditions (poorly designed work stations and tasks) and job related psychosocial stressors can individually and in combination contribute to complaints. Measurement of the air quality by C5 Plus Ltd. often shows that it meets or exceeds industry guidelines; thereby minimizing office worker health concerns. However, measurements of surface contamination have found that they are not nearly clean as believed.

The degree of cleanliness of the workplace common area surfaces such as photocopiers, kitchen counters, door handles, handrails, elevator buttons and washroom surfaces are the locations of concern. Virus-containing particles and droplets shedded by infected workers can usually survive on hard surfaces for up to 48 hours. Fortunately, because of their size, they can usually travel only about 1 meter. Usually this knowledge is enough to represent a minimal health concern and does not encourage the use of special precautions.

Surface cleanliness is now becoming a more significant concern for employers because the risk of exposure to the Avian Flu Virus (strain H5N1) is gaining importance. In order to minimize this concern, it is necessary that the office janitorial firm be required to perform effectively and efficiently. Contact with a contaminated surface or object would provide an obvious exposure path for a healthy worker.

C5 Plus Ltd., as part of its Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) services to Calgary business leaders and property managers, has been conducting health risk assessments of office cleanliness for major Calgary oil and gas companies. It is recognized that cleaner surfaces will minimize the health risk of exposure to the Avian Flu Virus. We measure the degree of cleanliness and the effectiveness of the current cleaning procedures on commonly used surfaces such as copiers, kitchen surfaces, door handles, hand rails, elevator buttons and washroom surfaces.

Once the baseline level of cleanliness is established, the janitorial firm is advised of the results and is requested to address the concerns through a modified and more effective approach.

Results? Proper implementation of recommendations should be a reduction in our client's sick time absenteeism and an associated increase in its effectiveness and associated "bottom line".

C5 Plus Ltd. has been successfully providing this technology for several years. For more information please contact us via e-mail or at our Calgary office - Telephone: 403-215-0040; Fax: 403-294-0959.