How to Spring Clean Your Desk

1. Keep Your Desk Tidy

Regularly removing or filing unnecessary paperwork will help to keep your desk clean. As will throwing away any rubbish such as old post-it notes or food wrappers.

2. Wipe Down All Surfaces

Start with the desktop itself. Antibacterial cleaners target bacteria such as those likely to cause illnesses like MRSA, while antiviral cleaners will kill viruses such as the Flu or Covid-19. Alternatively, a solution of white vinegar and water in equal parts can adequately clean a desktop, however this will not be antiviral.

Wipe in an ‘S’ shaped motion from top to bottom, rather than a circular motion, to avoid cross contamination between the clean and dirty areas of your desk.

3. Clean Desktop Devices

When cleaning your office telephone it is important to remember to use a ‘mild’ cleaner as anything too strong could cause skin irritation or key symbols to fade. Phone sanitizer may be the best option for keeping your staff safe and protecting your equipment. If you are a Rapid customer, we can provide phone sanitizer for you, simply contact your Rapid Contracts Manager.

Be sure to clean all areas of the phone: mouthpiece; handset; earpiece; wires; keypad.

4. Thoroughly Clean Your Keyboard

One of the areas we touch most at our desks is our keyboard or laptop keypad. It is very important that you turn off your keyboard or laptop and completely unplug the device either from the mains or any other device, before cleaning.

Gently tip your keyboard or laptop upside down and lightly shake to allow any debris to fall out. Compressed air may be very useful for cleaning areas such as in-between keys or vents where dust and dead skin cells can collect. Alternatively, a vacuum can be used to suck away the debris.

Use isopropyl alcohol to gently clean as this kills both viruses and bacteria. Avoid damaging the keyboard’s hardware by mildly dampening your cleaning tool to avoid dripping. You can use a cotton wool bud to gently scrub between keys, a microfibre cloth against your flat palm to clean the tops of keys, or wrap a dinner knife in a microfibre cloth to slide in between keys.

5. Clean Frequent Touch Points

This includes draw handles, chair arm rests, wires or plugs as well as stationery. For a deeper clean you may wish to remove all items from your desk space including internal drawers or filing stations. Simply clean all of your equipment prior to returning, to be sure they are free of germs.

Add some or all of these tips into your daily or weekly routine to help keep you safe while you work.