Dirty filthy little things, PC and laptops!
Bird flu is gonna be a problem one way or the other but IT teams can work smarter and educate and change the way they manage there inventory and staff. One can help to reduce the risk to staff and members of the public by maybe reading what I have to say its just food for thought.
I have already I am in Ireland and I can testify to the fact that IT guys n gals do get sick, sometimes very sick. So do The mortal members of staff. I have been an IT Support monkey for about 15 years and I have been sick many times directly, I know because of filthy PCs and filthy users.
I needed HEP vaccines after one incident. I have seen every kind of bodily out put and detritus on keyboards, mice, screens, and the list goes on.
We once had the contents of a "LAB mini vac" tested we found many narcotics + legal drugs + new drugs ;-), other chemicals, heavy metals! diseases bacteria virus. not to mention about 20-50 grams of dust per average PC. Not to mention snot, pubes blood, other stuff, faecal material, urine, saliva, puss, ear wax, vomit, phlegm, moulds, on one pc we found a slimy fungus under the KB, on a another we found flea eggs and body lice, the list of bacteria and other bugs is immense and frightening. We were told by the lab that we would be safer falling in to a septic tank then being exposed to this. This was only a sample of the PCS.
I now manage a team of IT staff, and we make them wear gloves and a mask when working on a machine, and have the PCs cleaned by experts every 3 months. This has saved the company a fortune and not just my department. Our days lost to absenteeism have been reduced by about 25% gaining us about 70% cash return on the cost of the new process, and an increase of productivity inline but slightly above with the drop in absences. The only thing that changed was tighter hygiene on desktop areas. (we do have many hot desks)
Plus we have had less hardware failure and replaced much less mice, keyboards and internals like power supplies to due failure. Users have reported better control of mice IE: no "stick ion” The work areas also look cleaner no snotty keyboards on view. The noise levels has even reduced.
The company we hire is small and fast they don’t interfere with the work they generally come in on the weekends and by Monday the staff see the difference.
I have begun discussions with our insurers to try to see if our risk has been reduced as most office fires happen because of dirty dusty or greasy PCs sitting on the floor sucking up fire hazards. I also had a £50,000 server 3 months old that burnt out because a spider yes little spider has made a home in it. So believe me proper house keeping of IT gear is essential in any serious enterprise. It makes money back so its not a real cost. The cleaners can prevent things like cold, flu outbreaks and they often spot other problems.
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