Your shoes may have more bacteria than your toilet seat. One study that tested the soles of the shoes of eight different people found over 66 million bacterial organisms. That’s a lot of bacteria and it seems even more significant when you consider that your toilet usually has 1,000 or fewer bacteria.
This is an alarming discovery and presents more of a concern with the presence of the coronavirus, particularly the highly contagious Delta variant. However, one way to protect your employees and customers is with a shoe sanitizing station.
It was an action even recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) last year. They advised that persons disinfect the soles of their shoes before walking out of wards with COVID-19 patients. Although your workplace may not be a hospital, you should try to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria and viruses.
Read on to find out the best areas to place sanitizing stations throughout your office building.
What is a Shoe Sanitizing Station?
There are various types of shoe sanitizing products, including stations that allow persons to effectively disinfect their shoes before entering or leaving an establishment.
However, all shoe sanitizing stations may not have the same results. It is important to do your research before selecting stations for your organization. Here are some of the different types of shoe sanitizers available:
- Boot and shoe cleaners that include detergent, deodorizing spray, and a cleaning brush
- Disposable shoe wet wipes
- Shoe deodorizing spray and disinfectant
- Adhesive tacky or sticky mats
- Rubber sanitizing footbath mats
- Ozone sanitizers
- Ultraviolet (UV) shoe sanitizers
Ozone and UV sanitizers are quite effective alone – but stations that use both work incredibly well. Stations that combine the two are on average 110 times more effective.
They can eliminate harmful microorganisms as quickly as eight seconds. Faster than UV only stations and other alternatives.
Benefits of Having a Shoe Sanitizing Station at Your Office
You can’t go wrong by adding a sanitization station at your business location. They provide many benefits including:
- A safer and cleaner office environment for employees and customers
- A complete sanitization solution when used with hand sanitizing stations
- A durable and easy to use solution
Some providers also offer financing, so you can get the number of stations your business needs to ensure an effective solution.
Where to Place Sanitizing Stations in Your Office
Your office sanitation plan will not only determine the type of sanitizing station that will work best in your organization, but it should also include the sanitization station location. Depending on the size of your office and the daily foot traffic, you may require several stations throughout the building.
If you’re still uncertain. Here are a few recommendations:
Entrance and Exits
These are the most obvious locations for sanitizing stations. This helps to ensure that germs don’t enter the workplace. It also helps protect your employees and clients so that they leave your company without taking significant amounts of germs into their cars or homes.
High Traffic Areas
Depending on the type of business, your office may have unique high-traffic areas. Most organizations will have significant foot traffic in or near office kitchens, break rooms, conference rooms, or elevators. These are usually the areas that many employees or clients utilize.
Placing a sanitizing station at these locations can reduce the number of germs spread to other areas in the office. Other high-traffic areas may include locker rooms, staff rooms, or stairwells.
Restrooms
You may also consider your restrooms high traffic areas, depending on who has access to them and the number of restrooms in your organization. The level of germs in restrooms can be significant. It makes sense to have a sanitizing station at the entrance of every restroom within the building.
This can ensure that employees or customers remove any bacteria picked up while in the restroom. This prevents it from being spread throughout the rest of the office.
Pair Them With Your Hand Sanitizing Stations
If you’re in doubt as to the best locations for your shoe sanitizing stations, if feasible, you can place them where you have your hand sanitizing stations for both employees and clients. Often these locations include many of those suggested above:
- Restrooms
- Break rooms
- Cafeterias
- Food courts
- Entrances and exits
Also, consider any unique situations you may have within your organization. A doctor’s office might have a storage room for medications that multiple employees access. There might be a similar situation in a mini-mart or grocery where there are storage rooms accessed by multiple staff members.
Whatever your situation, consider the areas where the highest volume of germs is most likely located. Remember, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Protecting Your Employees and Clients While Preventing the Spread of Diseases
Protecting employees and clients has taken on a whole new meaning this past year and a half. It would now include the implementation of new guidelines when it comes to cleaning protocols, office sanitization as well as enforcing good individual hygiene habits.
One way to safeguard your customers and employees is through the introduction of a shoe sanitizing station. These stations are highly effective and can eliminate up to 99.999% of germs. However, it is important to not only select the best shoe sanitizing station for your business but to know where to place them throughout your organization.
PathO3Gen Solutions can help make your office safer and cleaner. We use UVZone Ozone and UVC technology that is almost 110 times more effective than other sanitizing solutions. Contact us for a quote and ask about our financing options.