All Articles

2012 Articles

2011 Articles

2010 Articles

2008 Articles

Top Tips for A Hygienic Water Cooler – Pt 2

27/02/2012 By Peter Brooks

All water coolers are prone to biofilm build up and contamination. Whilst the former of these is inevitable and actually quite normal its presence is a factor in the risk averse UK market. Contamination on the other hand is a far more serious issue.

In the first part of Office Water Cooler’s series on cooler hygiene we looked at the importance of regular and efficient sanitisation to maintaining water cooler hygiene in the workplace.

In this the second part of Office Water Coolers’ info series we look at some more top tips for countering contamination and keeping bacteria at bay.

Ensuring Tap Quality and Maintenance

As mentioned in our previous series the water cooler taps are the biggest culprits in terms of attracting bacteria. It is therefore more important to ensure these are cleaned thoroughly than any other component within the water cooler system. Some taps are better at others in their ability to be removed, taken apart and cleaned although all of them will contain an internal grommet which compresses to cease water flow. These are made of softer plastics that tend to be more attractive to biofilm and as such require a proper working over during the cleaning process. At Office Water Coolers we only stock high quality products and all our taps are removable for cleaning.

Promoting Personal Cooler Hygiene in the Workplace


Maintaining a constant level of water cooler hygiene is something that cannot be achieved with scheduled cleaning alone. Encouraging staff to regularly wipe down the taps with special anti bacterial wipes is just one method of preventing the spread of germs and bacteria. Peroxide sprays are also available and are very effective at killing bacteria (peroxide breaks down in water to form water and oxygen). Office’s can also put up easily visible guidance near the cooler to promote the use of wipes and sprays, especially to those with colds.



© 2012 Office Water Coolers

Bookmark and Share


Recent Articles

An Improving Environmental Footprint for the Bottled Water Industry

Consider this; recycling a single large plastic bottle (made from PET) conserves enough energy to light a 60 watt bulb for 6 hours. The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) reported that in 2010 1.5 billion pounds of PET was recycled in America.  Recycled PET (rPET) can be made into all sorts of things like car parts, playground equipment, carpet or even clothing. Now consider this; in America (and I daresay the figures are not that dissimilar in the UK) plastic bottles ...
read more

Strong Performance for UK Bottled Water in 2011

Good news for the bottled water industry as it reports a 2.8% increase in sales in 2011 (1.8 billion litres). As an industry that employs two thousand people it is good news in these economically trying times as the UK officially enters a double dip recession. So with unemployment remaining high and when people are cutting back on so much, saving their pennies, why does the bottled water industry grow when compared to 2010. Well it seems there are a lot of other factors at play. UK households ...
read more

Venezuela’s President Announces Price Caps on Bottled Water

Flamboyant Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, has started announcing more price caps as part of his government’s Law of Fair Prices, passed back in November 2011. The law was designed to limit what is seen as excessive profiteering on 19 household goods and groceries but is now being expanded as the government announce new prices for different products and it is starting with bottled water and deodorant. The books of over 16,000 companies have been examined by the Venezuelan government so far ...
read more

Polyethylene terephthalate

What is polyethylene terephthalate? Well chances are you’ve encountered it already today if you’ve swigged from a bottle of water or any of a whole range of bottled drinks. Abbreviated to PET, polyethylene terephthalate is probably most associated with the packaging for plastic bottles due to its properties as an excellent and durable barrier material. The thermoplastic polymer is part of the polyester family and can exist in both amorphous (transparent) and as a semicrystalline polymer which ...
read more