Preparing to return to work..... office chairs!

In preparation for you all returning to work and some of you will be returning to the office, I wanted to blog about easy ways to clean some of the most heavily used items in the office.  Items that are so taken for granted, and are often neglected.

There are loads of statistics around how long we spend in bed, and I think I read recently that we spend 33 years of our lives in bed! But how long do we spend sitting in our office chairs? If we are in our office chairs for eight hours a day, how long does that actually equate to? I've done a rough calculation.... if you start in an office at 20, and you work until your 65..... you have 28 days holidays per year.... that roughly equates to ..... over 80,000 hours sitting in your office chair. That is enough for me to definatley blog about the best way to clean your office chair! 

I will often go into office spaces and catch a little side glance at the cleanliness of the chairs, whose importance fades into the background; nobody ever takes any care of them! The amount of contact time that you spend in your seat means that they are receiving some of the heaviest usage in your workplace.

I thought it would be useful for those people returning to work and who are a little afraid, and those who are expecting people to come back to work to provide a short guide to keep your these office furniture items clean and hygienic!

I’ve devoted a whole blog to cleaning in your chair, because there are all kinds of chairs; we have plastic chairs; mesh chairs; fabric chairs; lots of different chairs. Lets dive in then!

1. Fabric Chairs....

Fabric chairs are perhaps the most daunting and the most difficult to clean.  Fabric chairs are the ones that attract all of the stour, dust, and sticky bits, and fabric chairs really do demonstrate neglect!  If you are in the privileged position to find your paperwork that came with your chair, then you can consult your paperwork which will give you an idea of the best cleaning method. Some common symbols which might help you to decide the best approach would be;

W - water-based cleaning products can be used

S - use a solvent product such as dry cleaning solvent make sure the solvent you choose is water free

WS or SW - Both water and solvent products can be used

 X - professional cleaning only

If you are not in the position to find your paperwork that came with your chair and let’s face it most of us are in this position, you’ll just have to use your common sense.

The first thing you'll need to do is to use a handheld hoover or a vacuum nozzle and make sure you lift off all the dirt and dust and get in to all the nooks and crannies.  I would then use a stiff brush from a dustpan and brush set and just give it a good sweep over, giving it some elbow grease to get rid of all of the ground in dust. Spot test any new product before applying them to your whole chair to make sure they are safe to use and not going to damage your seat, and never pour or tip cleaning solutions onto the fabric surface.

If you just have the odd stain or spot here or there on your chair I would spray it with Spot and Stain Remover which you can find here, and then just rub it in with a cloth.  Spray the Spot and Stain Remover onto your cloth and just give it a clean over. If you are in a position of owning an Extraction Carpet shampooer use that. I have linked the WV370 in case you are looking for a recommended machine.  This will put some liquid into your chair with some carpet detergent which will lift the stains and then suck all the moisture back out again. I would recommend you use Extract Pro Cleaning solution which you can find here.. once your chair has been cleaned and all of the dust, debris and stains been removed, you then need to sanitise.  You could either use Salvesan which will not damage the fabric, or you could use Cleaner Sanitiser which again will not damage the fabric, what you are looking to do is just mist it over. Both of these chemicals are BS EN 1276 (Kills 99.999% of bacteria) and BS EN 14475 (Kills 99.999% of Virus).

If you are in a position where you do have access to a fogging machine; fog will sanitise this in the best way. The fog will get everywhere around the chair under the chair in all the nooks and crannies and make sure any viruses or bacteria that were living on that chair are not anymore.

2. Mesh chairs

Mash can be quite daunting to clean because there are all those little holes that you can’t get your brushes and cloths in to. Actually mesh is quite straightforward to clean. First vacuum any dust or debris from your chair, after you've vaccumed,  use a stiff brush from a dustpan and brush set, and give it a brush down.  Then use a slightly damp cloth and wring it out before use; use with warm soapy water to gently wash the mail mesh element of your chair dry off with a tea towel. If you have any sticky residue, use Apeel Cleaner and Degreaser. 

Once the chair is clean use Salvesan or Cleaner Sanitiser again to sanitise.  

3. Plastic chairs

lastic is one of the most straightforward and simple materials to clean. Simple spray of Salvesan or Cleaner Sanitiser and a warm damp cloth will do the trick. If you do have any sticky on the chair use Apeel Cleaner and Degreaser, which will lift any stick off the chair, without damaging the plastic.

Next week I’ll be blogging about other areas in the office that need to be cleaned and sanitized before everybody returns to work to keep everybody safe.