A swabbing exercise by The National has found that potentially harmful germs are abundant in commonly used areas at the workplace. Bacteria such as E.coli and Staphylococcus aureus were found on door handles and office chairs.
Such findings are not out of the ordinary, say the Arab Hygiene Council, and would likely be the case in most workplaces.
Contents:
1- Tests show The National’s office is rife with germs
2- Germs lurk in many offices and homes, survey finds
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In this package:
Part 2: UAE employers must give workers hygiene knowledge / Unclean workplaces are harming employees, say UAE doctors
Part 3: Desks are the most germ-infested spots in the office / Most commonly touched areas are the dirtiest in the workplace
Interactive: Germs that lurk in The National office
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Tests show The National’s office is rife with germs
ABU DHABI // Potentially harmful germs found breeding in a typical workplace reflect the need for better hygiene practices, say experts.
A swabbing test exercise by The National newspaper found a "heavy growth" of the potentially deadly E. coli bug and other dangerous bacteria on common work surfaces in the newsroom.
“Such bacteria can be the cause of diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and meningitis, which can be spread via close contact such as hand shaking, and sharing office equipment including laptops, stationery, phones, et cetera,” said Dr Ola Mira, a member of the Arab Hygiene Council and head of occupational health and safety at the Ministry of Health.
Using about 20 individual swabs supplied and tested by Abu Dhabi's Burjeel Hospital, The National swabbed various surfaces in our Mohammed bin Khalifa Street offices, including door handles, kitchen surfaces and keyboards.
The exercise aimed to serve as a test on how unhygienic workplaces could be.
The Arab Hygiene Council said the findings were alarming.
A “heavy growth” of E. coli, indicating possible faecal matter and more dangerous pathogens, was found on door handles in both the women’s and men’s washrooms.
The men’s washroom also had a heavy growth of Pseudomonas spp, which could cause severe gastrointestinal upsets and infections.
Commonly touched work surfaces including the photocopying machine, keyboards belonging to two senior members of staff, and a mouse were also randomly tested and found to have a heavy growth of E. coli.
The bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, which could lead to skin infections such as impetigo, cause food poisoning and illnesses such as pneumonia, was also found on a sample chair in the newsroom.
A tea tray used to serve beverages to staff also had a heavy growth of E. coli.
“Commonly touched surfaces at the workplace, including door handles in kitchens and bathrooms, can easily harbour significant amounts of bacteria such as E. coli, Pseudomonas spp and Staphylococcus,” said Dr Mira.
The results show office staff in workplaces such as The National are potentially being exposed to illness-causing bacteria at their desks, in their lunchrooms, as well as elsewhere.
Contamination could be spread throughout the workplace when staff heated up their lunchtime meals in a shared microwave, made hot drinks in the kitchen, or when they were simply typing on their keyboards or answering a phone.
“Bacteria is commonly found in the workplace,” said Dr Zohreh Safai, a family medicine specialist at Dubai Bone & Joint Centre.
“Of course bacteria can cause different illnesses, based on the different bacteria, so you can have a staph bacteria, which can cause skin infections, you can have
E. coli, which can case vomiting and diarrhoea, and a host of other illnesses.
“You can have Pseudomonas, which can cause pneumonia.”
The results reinforced the crucial role of good hygiene practices among every employee in a workplace, she said.
“Bacteria live in an environment, so we need to be vigilant in terms of doing thorough cleaning and promoting hand washing and things like that, to prevent the spread of illness in crowds of people.”
Dougie Collin, director of occupational hygiene at C-CHEC Ltd, addressed the issue of employee hygiene and safety at the BOHS (Chartered Society for Worker Health Protection) Worker Health Protection Conference in Abu Dhabi last year.
Mr Collin told The National: "Most forms of E. coli are harmless, but are normally found inside the body.
“If there is a heavy presence outside the body then, unless the species is isolated, the risk of some of these being pathogenic could be significant.”
“Staphylococcus aureus can cause a range of infections and is associated with food poisoning, and the symptoms associated with that.
“Pseudomonas is a common form of bacteria found generally in the environment and causes mild illness and irritation in healthy people if infected, but has more of an impact on people with reduced immune systems.”
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Germs lurk in many offices and homes, survey finds
ABU DHABI // Germs found lurking in The National's offices are probably found in many other workplaces and homes.
According to the Dettol home truths study, which was conducted last year together with the Arab Hygiene Council, the top two common bacteria found in the kitchen and bathrooms were E.coli and Staphylococcus.
For E. coli, it is found in 32.9 per cent of kitchens and 19.6 per cent of bathrooms in the country.
As for the Staphylococcus bacteria, it was found in 17.6 per cent of kitchens and 15.3 per cent of bathrooms.
“It is a common finding in any office,” said Dr Sundar Elayaperumal, a specialist in microbiology at Abu Dhabi’s Burjeel Hospital. “Usually the common bacteria is from the skin. The skin has got a lot of bacteria such as Staphylococcus.
“Other bacteria such as E. coli they are coming from the toilets or bathrooms and when hygiene is not perfect they carry it to the door handles, faucets and other people using them get the colonisation of the bacteria and they carry it to their workplaces such as their computers and keyboards and telephones and so on.”
Hand hygiene is the most essential tool in the fight against bacteria, he said.
“The best thing is using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser. And wash you hands frequently. Hand hygiene is very, very important in transmitting the infection. Wash your hands regularly, especially when going to the toilet and use a paper towel to dry them afterwards. Use a tissue to open the door knob. Cough etiquette is also very important.”
However Dougie Collin, director of worker health and safety consultancy firm C-CHEC, said heavy growth of such bacteria was unacceptable especially if found in environments such as a shared office kitchen.
“Areas where strict control of bacteria is a requirement it should not be present in any significant,” he said. “This includes kitchens but not toilet areas where it is hard to control bacteria due to the reliance on humans to adopt good hygiene practices.”
Bacteria such as E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus and pseudomonas are not normally found in heavy concentrations, he said.
“The main concern is kitchen areas due to the clear risk of introduction in to the food chain or even directly through contact. It is an indication of poor hygiene practices and illness can result although it would not be expected to be fatal.
“Good hygiene practices especially after visiting rest rooms is crucial in the control of intestine borne bacteria such as E.coli.
“Without this, spread can be through direct contact, contact with contaminated surfaces including work surfaces and even door handles.”
Dr Mansour Al Zarouni, a medical and molecular microbiologist and director of EML Diagnostics in Sharjah, said the presence of such bacteria reflected a need for better cleaning.
“Everyone of us carry E.coli in our gut. Our skin carries Staphylococcus aureus and water may have pseudomonas or proteus spores bacteria,” said Dr Al Zarouni, who spent 20 years as director of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Ministry of Health.
“It is not surprising that our activities would contaminate the environment and would need to be cleaned frequently.”
jbell@thenational.ae