Have a Healthy Workplace: How Office Carpets Can Affect Your Employees’ Health

Carpets in the office come under a lot of wear and tear. Besides high foot traffic, they can be subjected to stains, discolouring, and dirt that will eventually lead to damage.

If your office carpet cuts back on periodic cleaning and maintenance, it’s bound to end up in a bad state and may eventually require replacement. With regular cleaning and proper upkeep, your furniture will not only retain the look and smell of a new carpet but will also last for longer.

But, aside from aesthetic value, there are more pressing reasons why you should keep your office carpet clean and engage a professional rug cleaning company in Singapore on a regular basis.

In this article, we seek to find out why.

How a Dirty Carpet Affects the Health of Your Employees

While it may seem far-fetched, dirty office carpets can be costing you more money than it’s worth. Studies show that poorly maintained carpets can be partly responsible for increased absenteeism and poor employee performance.

Just like it does in your home, a dirty carpet in the workplace affects the overall quality of your indoor air. It can be responsible for some serious health problems including but not limited to headaches, fatigue, respiratory conditions, and poor concentration – all of which aren’t exactly a formula for increased productivity.

The following are some of the possible health hazards that carpets can cause when they’re not properly maintained.

Mould

Damp carpets can be a convenient breeding ground for moulds. They often thrive underneath the carpet, hiding well from plain sight. For some people, even a small amount of moulds can result in health issues and some of the symptoms associated with exposure to moulds include headache, eye irritation, cough, and other allergic reactions.

A musty odour around the infected carpet is a likely indication of mould growth. Discoloured patches on the carpet can also be a sign of moulds multiplying on your carpet. These patches may be white, black or in different shades of green.

Dust Mites

Most people are not aware of the potential presence of dust mites in the office. The truth is, whether a carpet is in your home or workplace, a square yard of it can be home to over 100,000 dust mites – and the bad news is that vacuuming alone isn’t sufficient to eradicate them.

The mere presence of dust mites feasting on dirt, dust, pollen, crumbs, dead skin cells, and other debris that have settled on the carpet can trigger allergic reactions such as sneezing, runny nose, coughing, and eye irritation. These symptoms be worse for people with asthma.

Other Allergens

As studies show, a carpet can hold as much as four times its weight in dirt. It is a catch-all for dirt which can range from anything between dust mites, pet dander, dead skin cells, mould and many other allergens that settle into the fibres. When people walk on the carpet, they stir up these allergens, causing them to become airborne – and once in the air, they can be easily inhaled and trigger an allergic reaction.

We can never completely eliminate allergens in our workplaces. Unfortunately, besides allergic reactions, prolonged exposure to them can result in the development of serious health conditions such as asthma, sinusitis, and bronchitis.

So, what are the measures that can be done to improve the air quality in the office?

While daily vacuuming will help regulate dust and dirt in the workplace, deep cleaning your office carpets proves to also be a necessity – and a professional cleaner can help you with just that.

Clean Care is a professional cleaning company that provides office carpet cleaning services in Singapore. We are equipped with years of industry experience and a wide range of advanced carpet cleaning tools to address deep-seated dirt and grime in your carpets. It is our commitment to help you improve indoor air quality in the workplace by keeping your carpets as clean as possible.

If you’re interested in having your office carpet cleaned, get in touch with one of our cleaning experts today!