Oosto’s study reveals the 10 germiest spots at the office further promoting the need to go “touchless”

Oosto, formerly AnyVision, announced the results of a sponsored study by Bio-Lab Ltd. which showed that the most polluted place in the office is the light switch in the lobby. The findings also highlight other high-traffic areas, including interior and exterior door handles, which are also quite “germy.”

Since the COVID-19 epidemic broke out nearly two years ago, many offices have closed, and working from home has become commonplace. Now, in parallel with the outbreak of the Omicron variant, workplaces are looking for the safest way to get back to routine, maintain the health of employees, and promote a safe and hygienic work environment.

Research methodology 

Bio-Lab conducted their research inside a typical office location used regularly by approximately 100 people. Tens of surfaces were sampled over time, and bacterial colonies like E. Coli, Listeria, and Salmonella were counted.

As explained by Dr. Amichai Yavlovich, Head of Microbiology for Bio-Lab, “We performed a sample and checked the presence of common bacteria such as coliforms, E. Coli, Streptococcus, molds, and yeast. The data in the CFU/g (colony-forming unit per gram) table represent an overall count of microbial colonies per gram.”

Results of the study 

According to the study, these are the ten germiest surfaces at the office:

Rarely touched places are most infected

The fingerprint reader, another place that everyone touches came out as the 16th most germ-filled location

The study was conducted for Oosto, a visual AI platform company that organisations across the globe use to create trusted, seamless experiences in their physical spaces. While the front door handle is usually an immediate suspect, the study demonstrates that the most infected places are areas that many people touch but are rarely sterilised.

The fingerprint reader, another place that everyone touches and is seldom cleaned, came out as the 16th most germ-filled location. According to separate research, viruses – the most frequently found pathogens on these surfaces can remain present for up to 48 hours.

Minimising risks with touchless solutions

“Pre-COVID-19, employee safety was mostly about security, allowing only authorised people to enter and alerting the presence of people on a watchlist such as shoplifters or casino cheaters,” said Paul Witt, Oosto’s VP of Sales and GM Americas.

“A growing number of organisations are turning to touchless technologies such as facial biometrics to minimise risks associated with COVID while maintaining the health of employees and visitors.”

AI and video monitoring systems

82% of schools and colleges plan to adapt existing video monitoring systems to keep their campuses COVID-safe Such applications include the use of visual AI to ensure that people wear masks, enforce social distancing, and maintain that population density in public spaces is by the recommendations of public health experts.

A separate report finds that 82% of schools and colleges plan to adapt existing video monitoring systems to keep their campuses COVID-safe.

Liveness technology

Added Witt, “Many employers are now looking for touchless solutions for access control, time attendance, and other processes involving no contact with surfaces while ensuring employee safety.”

“Embedded liveness technology ensures that every detected face is a real person and not a photograph or digital image; it also ensures the process of authenticating a person begins three meters from the point of entry and takes less than a second, which eliminates the need for a person to break stride.”

Seamless access control integration

Oosto integrates with access control systems and access control hardware, including security doors and speed gates from industry-leading manufacturer Boon Edam, making it faster, easier, and more cost-effectively to quickly implement and scale the technology across locations.