Covid-19: Hot-desking offices ‘don’t make sense’, hygiene specialist warns

Hot-desking office spaces “do not make sense” in a coronavirus working environment, a leading hygiene and cleaning firm has warned.

Tautvydas Karitonas, research and development manager at Inivos, said hot-desks in offices “ruin” the ability of employers to track the spread of the virus.

It comes after calls from the Government for employers to encourage their staff back into city centre offices, despite the continued presence of Covid-19.

Inivos said it has seen a surge in demand for infection control and deep cleaning services from commercial clients.

The company largely works with health authorities to protect facilities to ensure infections do not spread but has received more approaches from different sectors since the pandemic struck the UK in March.

He told the PA news agency that hot-desking environments complicate cleaning and infection prevention if a staff member tests positive for Covid-19.

“It makes it very hard to put in place the measures needed to stop infection if you have hot-desking,” he said.

“If people are using a desk, people should know what happened there before them, who was using that last, what cleaning has been happening there.”

He stressed that there is also a responsibility on staff to act within guidelines and to “ask questions” about what measures their employer has in place to control the spread.

Mr Karitonas added: “In the office environment, people need to be more self-aware when they are back, keep that hygiene to a good level and should be asking questions so they know what is happening.

“If you have an issue you have to deep-clean the whole thing, so obviously this is something companies don’t want to see either.”