Box of Horrors: Cleaning the Office Fridge

7/23/2018 (Permalink)

Your office refrigerator should be cleaned regularly to prevent mold from growing

If your pulse quickens and you take a deep breath before opening the office fridge, you are probably not overreacting. Communal refrigerators in the workplace are notorious for developing fridge mold and the nauseous sights and smells that go along with it. All hope is not lost, though. You can play an integral role in preventing fridge funk in your office in Carpentersville, IL, by taking charge of the cleaning of the office fridge.

Common Causes

Before you can prevent a problem, you have to know what causes it. When it comes to items that contribute to the mold smell that assaults your senses, neglect is the most likely culprit. Food gets forgotten for many reasons:

• Office party leftovers that someone didn't want to go to waste but made no actual plans to use
• Well-intentioned lunch that was abandoned in favor of a spontaneous office outing
• Leftovers that are abandoned and left to fester over the weekend
• Employees forgetting to take their lunch breaks

You can't make people remember to eat the food they put in the office refrigerator, but you can help prevent fridge mold by providing stickers and asking them to date anything they put in the fridge. Let them know that food left longer than three days will be thrown out.

Fridge Cleanup

At least once a week, someone needs to clean the fridge. Not many people will sign up for this job. If you do not want the problem to get so bad that you have to hire remediation experts to take care of it, however, it is a good idea to volunteer or offer an incentive to someone else to take on disinfecting the fridge on a regular basis. The more often you clean, the less disgusting the task will be.

No one wants to see fridge mold in the office refrigerator, but without regular cleaning, it is almost a certainty. With a weekly cleaning schedule and a little cooperation from other employees, you can make your office fridge useful rather than scary.

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