Home Business Services Stop Sharing Pens! Workplace COVID Risks Revealed

Stop Sharing Pens! Workplace COVID Risks Revealed

We know that the workplace has changed in the face of COVID and that the health and safety of our teams is priority. Whilst businesses have new intensive cleaning procedures in place to reduce the risk of COVID spread, there’s a number of areas we need to look to ourselves, particularly around our workspace.

Whether you’re working from the office or working from home your workspace is in constant use throughout the day…… Can you remember the last time you cleaned it? And not just the surfaces? When did you last clean your keyboard, your pens, your earphones?

Digital ID have taken swabs of a number of workspace essentials that hadn’t been cleaned for two weeks…. The results will put you off your lunch.

Pens and Phones are clearly the items that contain the most bacteria, with 3 x times more bacteria spores than be seen on earpods, and double the amount found in the fridge.


The most common bacterias that can be seen in the dishes are:

Streptococcus
This bacteria is known to cause respiratory illnesses; however in extreme conditions it can lead to skin infections and blood infections such as sepsis.

Staphylococcus
This bacteria can cause boils, impetigo, food poisoning, cellulitis, and in extreme cases toxic shock syndrome. It’s much more visual in the aggregations it can cause to the body.
Particularly with pens and phones, the bacteria seen is more circular or irregular in style, with many strands having a convex elevation and a filamentous margin.

Serratia marcescens (red coloured strands)
This appear on the plates of pens, phones, fridges and earpods. This bacteria strand has been known to cause UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections).

Think about the last time you shared a pen with someone, or even put a pen in your mouth….. You may want to think again before doing it in future. Plus, we know that COVID is spread via droplets, so for any pens that you put (or have put in your mouth) it is recommended that they are disposed of and replaced.

The findings clearly show that the cleanliness of our office areas and equipment is vital (now more than ever) and we’re continually putting ourselves at risk in not cleaning or replacing these items, even in the short span of a couple of weeks.

There are many COVID-19 Supplies available to help protect our teams and reduce the touching of areas in the office that are regularly used such as Door Opening Card Holders. Plus, there’s the basics or having accessible hand sanitiser to all team members.