Germs at work

Jeremy Hall / CC

You probably think a microwave door handle must be cleaner than the toilet seat in your office. In fact, most people believe the restroom is the epicenter of germs in the office — and it turns out, most are wrong. A study found that the dirtiest surfaces in the workplace are where employees prepare and eat food. Hygienists (Kimberly-Clark Professional Healthy Workplace Project) collected nearly 5,000 individual swabs from office buildings containing more than 3,000 employees to identify the spots where germs can lurk. The participating workplaces represented a big range of office types, including manufacturing facilities, law firms, insurance companies, and healthcare companies. According to the study break rooms and kitchens top the dirty list, with sink and microwave door handles found to be the dirtiest surfaces of all.