There’s a lot of worry at the minute about Swine Flu and the risk of passing germs from one person to another. So, without living like a hermit, what can you do to lower the risk of passing on, or catching, something at work?

Well, the first thing is that you need to learn a little bit about how viruses like to exist!

They cannot reproduce from nothing, and most only have a 72 hour lifespan, so like us all, they are keen to find a way of reproducing. The kind of environments that they like are around us all the time. They like: Fat and Oil, Warmth, Food, Moisture. Sounds like most offices, and many houses!

So, the practical steps you can take;

In the Office

Do not eat near your desk. The desk is usually a prime place for bacteria to live, as they get oils from your skin, warmth from computer equipment. When you eat at your desk, you are also giving them a platform to exist on. To prove this, turn over your keyboard, and give it two or three taps. See what drops out!

Do not put food in your office bins. Eat in a separate area, and use the bin in the canteen / kitchen

Wash bins regularly, or ask your contract cleaners to include this in their daily routine. This has a major effect in reducing the risk of spreading germs.

BANISH SOAP - Think about it. Fat, moisture, nooks and crannies - all the most important things if you are a flu virus! Ditch the bars of soap, and invest in wall mounted, dosed dispensers. We can provide these for about a tenner - they aren’t expensive.

Use paper towels and/or hand dryers. The debate about this one rages on, but the most important thing is not to have a communal tea towel to dry hands on. Again, moisture and fat are a germ’s friend.

Make use of antibacterial hand gels. We can supply these, but to be honest you can nip down to your local high street chemist or supermarket and pick them up cheap.

“Encourage” staff to wash their hands. A few strategically placed signs can aid immensely, especially in the washrooms. Did you know that 6 million Brits do not wash their hands after going to the toilet? Oh, and it’s not all Men by the way - just Google it!

Importantly, you should ensure that your surfaces and equipment are kept clean and tidy.  Remove as much dust as you can, and keep a good eye on your cleaning company.  They should be taking extra measures to stem the rate or cross-contamination.

Mostly, it’s common sense.  I’m sure there’s no need to make huge changes, but it may be time to put into practice some of the things we should be doing anyway!

This post was kindly submitted by Richard & Megan from Dolly Char domestic cleaning Wakefield

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Setting up your Home Business Office

If you are considering setting up an office in your own home to run your own work from home business from it is important to consider a few very important points regarding where you would situate your office.

Where should I place my office within my home?

You should take into consideration the other side of your life if you have one (personal/family), it would not be a wise choice to say partition part of your main living room off as you could well find that in a very short space of time that you are trapped and feel compelled to work all hours, as you would be potentially bothered by your phone ringing at any time of the day/night, also you might well succumb to temptation and feel a compulsion to constantly sit in your office checking emails etc with the door slightly ajar so neglecting your family to a great extent. Also you could well find that during normal office hours intrusions into your working day could become all to common by your family and even friends and this could cause your business problems.

In my own case I have recently finished building during my spare time an extension to the rear of my property to serve as my work from home, home based office. This extension is an integral part of the house and designed in a way that if we were to move it would swiftly be able to convert into a large dinning room or even an extra living room etc. The office is designed so as there is only one door for entering or alternatively for exiting. For potential fire reasons the main window opens to a 90-degree angle to enable any staff to be able to escape if disaster struck and the means of escape through the only door were subsequently impaired. At weekends and during the evenings if I so desire I can now lock my office door and retreat to the front of the house and lead a normal family life.

An ideal room to run your work from home business from within your own home is also a small bedroom if you have a spare one available. Again like my office you could shut the door and leave your business alone during your out of work hours and so devote your spare time to your family.

Personally although my ideal location, although others may well wish to disagree would be to build a purpose built office or convert an existing building such as an old stable block into an office on my land but independent from my household. Unfortunately I did not have this option available to me but I do know that there would be many people out there who would have. This option although would certainly have extra security and insurance implications connected to it so it would be very advisable to do research into these added implications before commencing with your work.

Other outside options are porter cabins and even converting old caravans. Personally but mainly for appearance reasons I would never ever consider this option, as I do not think that it is ideal in ones garden! Maybe I am a snob as I am aware of home based businesses that have gone down this route, but unfortunately its not a route that I would go down.

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Robin Harrison is the managing Director of Dolly Char (UK) Ltd. Dolly Char (UK) Ltd is one of the fastest growing domestic cleaning franchise companies in the UK today giving people the opportunity to work from the comfort of their own home.

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