Do you know what environmental hygiene is? Do you know this concept? Do you know what it means and how important it is?
In pandemic times, environmental hygiene has become extremely important and increasingly necessary.
Therefore, we invite you in this post to better understand all these issues and still give you good reasons to adopt this idea. Come and see!
What is environmental hygiene?
Environmental hygiene can be summarized as a set of actions aimed at cleaning and health care with the environments in order to eliminate or reduce the proliferation of disease-causing agents, whether chemical, physical or biological.
In other words, the great objective of environmental hygiene is to preserve the health of people who live or work in a space, going far beyond a simple cleaning at home or in the work environment.
Benefits of environmental hygiene at home
Environmental hygiene has numerous benefits for both residential and corporate environments. Check below the importance of keeping this hygiene up to date:
Brings well-being
Everyone knows that a clean house is infinitely more comfortable and cozy. But when it is also properly sanitized it is able to offer an even greater sense of well-being.
And this is not just about the sensations, but about the fact that hygiene promotes true and physical well-being, once you get rid of discomfort such as dust, for example, which often ends up being the trigger of allergic conditions .
Eliminates pests and insects
Flies, cockroaches, spiders, mice and countless other insects and pests can be easily eliminated from your home with the practice of environmental hygiene.
After all, all these invaders want is food (debris) and shelter (dirt and mess).
Fight disease
Environmental hygiene is not just about eliminating what is visible to the naked eye. It goes much deeper.
With environmental hygiene done correctly, it is possible to end other threats, much smaller, but sometimes much more dangerous. Like, for example, viruses, bacteria, germs and other microorganisms that we can’t even see.
Benefits of environmental hygiene at work
Environmental hygiene at work also has a lot to offer, in addition to what we have already mentioned above. Check out:
Reduces absences
A clean and hygienic corporate environment avoids the proliferation of several types of diseases, be it respiratory, such as allergies, for example, or infectious, such as viruses that cause flu and pneumonia.
That is, if the corporate environment is properly disinfected, then the chance of an employee being contaminated by a pathogen is less.
In addition to the increase in the quality of life at work, the company also significantly reduces the percentage of medical leave.
Increases productivity
All of the above also contributes to productivity at work. After all, employees gain well-being and manage to be much more productive at the end of the day.
Avoids material losses
Environmental hygiene at work is also interesting from the point of view of material goods.
With proper hygiene, the risk of losing equipment is less, since the vast majority of them are sensitive to dust and other traces of dirt, such as computers and printers.
Environmental hygiene habits at home
Now that you already know what environmental hygiene is and how important it is in the daily life of a home and a company, the time has finally come to find out how to practice this idea. So just take a look at the following tips:
If you think that maintaining environmental hygiene habits is laborious and requires a series of specific products, you are wrong.
Environmental hygiene at home is very simple and requires only a few changes in habits. Check out:
Redoubled attention in the kitchen and bathroom
The kitchen and bathroom are the environments in the house that most need attention with hygiene, since these spaces are more predisposed to proliferate germs and bacteria.
So the first tip is to take good care of the toilet. Clean it with bleach at least 3x a week. For the rest of the days, always have a good disinfectant on hand to apply to dishes after use.
Bathroom countertops also need to be cleaned frequently. Use 70 alcohol for this or, if you prefer, a multipurpose with bactericidal effect. And don’t forget the garbage. It must be taken out every day.
In the kitchen, pay extra attention to the sink counter. The place must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected after each use. This prevents the accumulation of flies and microorganisms.
The same goes for the stove. Never leave the appliance with food scraps and impregnated fat.
The dish sponge needs to be disinfected at least once a week. Do this by placing it in the microwave for 30 seconds. It is also possible to disinfect with bleach.
Another kitchen item that deserves your attention is the board, especially if it is made of wood. If you can, prefer the glass ones that are more hygienic and do not accumulate residues. But, in any case, cleaning should be done weekly with bleach.
And one more tip: leave a board just for cutting meat. Fruits and vegetables must be chopped on a different cutting board. This avoids cross-contamination between foods.
Kitchen waste must always be kept closed and removed at the end of the preparations. And everything that is not consumed, but is still in good condition, should be placed in a jar with a lid and taken to the refrigerator.
Maintain a cleaning routine
Keeping the house clean and hygienic is not difficult, it just requires a little bit of organization on your part. Check out some tips to make this moment less tiring and faster:
- Make the bed as soon as you wake up, especially if you work from the home office. That’s because an unmade bed is an invitation to a nap in the middle of the day, which is not at all productive.
- Collect the dirty clothes and take them to the basket. Clean clothes must be kept in the closet.
- Take a quick stroll through every room in the house and collect the mess that happens to be scattered. This means taking the dirty dishes to the sink, organizing the toys, folding the blankets, adjusting the pillows, among other tasks.
- Put the trash out and sweep the floor.
- Wash the dishes.
Most likely you will not spend more than 30 minutes to complete all of these activities.
Finally, establish a weekly routine with everything you need to do only once a week, such as washing clothes, changing sheets and towels, washing bathrooms, among other activities that are important to your home, but that do not need to be done every day.
Organize and avoid clutter
After everything is clean, keep order and avoid mess at all costs. For that, nothing better than following the motto: “took, saved, dirty, washed”. In this way, the house is kept for a longer time clean and sanitized.
Keeping an eye on the trash
The organic waste of the house (the one that cannot go to the compost bin) must always be kept with the lid on.
The recycled garbage must be stored in a different place, but before taking it there, make a previous cleaning on the packaging so as not to attract the attention of insects and rodents. Just quickly wash the inside of bottles, cans and remove leftover food that may be in the packaging.
Watch what comes from the street
Everything that enters your home needs to be cleaned, from the purchase of the supermarket to the order that arrived from the Post Office.
Clean these products and packaging with the help of a cloth moistened with alcohol.
Fruits and vegetables should be cleaned with bleach and baking soda. Soak them in this mixture for about 30 minutes.
Another golden tip is to make a habit of leaving your shoes outside the house. This is because the sole accumulates several types of microorganisms that can contaminate the interior of the house. So have a box or small piece of furniture where you can put the shoes you use most often.
Environmental hygiene habits at work
Always clean bathrooms
The bathroom of a company is used by many people and, therefore, it must always be kept clean and sanitized to ensure the well-being of all.
The ideal is to count on the help of a cleaning professional to keep the environmental hygiene of the work always up to date. In that case, the person will be responsible for keeping the trash always clean, as well as toilets and countertops.
Trash for all
It is very important to have dumpsters spread throughout all company environments and, if possible, keep one on each table.
In this way, employees help to keep tables and furniture clean and without the accumulation of garbage.
Floors and furniture
Company floors, as well as furniture, must be sanitized frequently to maintain cleanliness, remove dust and eliminate pathogens.
Collective hygiene
It is essential to have the collaboration of employees to maintain environmental hygiene at work. For this, it is worth distributing posters through the corridors, in the bathroom and in the pantry, informing about the importance of clean and sanitized environments.
