Now is a good time to be thinking about cleaning the devices you use, both at work and at home. In this post, we have gathered expert advice and suggestions from our partners on the best way to clean and sanitize your tech products.
Preventing infection on the front lines
Lenovo offers rugged devices that stand up to the daily sanitization needed to prevent infections in healthcare environments. When cleaning devices, Lenovo recommends that you:
• Use hydrogen peroxide or alcohol-based wipes
• Do not use bleach-based wipes
• Wipe away residual solvent
How to keep your devices safe and working optimally
When it comes to cleaning devices, one disinfectant recommended by HP is an alcohol solution consisting of 70 percent isopropyl alcohol and 30 percent water.
Here is a step-by-step guide to clean high-touch, external surfaces on HP products:
1. Wear disposable gloves made of latex (or nitrile gloves if you are latex-sensitive) when cleaning and disinfecting surfaces.
2. Turn off the device and disconnect AC power (for printers, devices should be unplugged from the outlet). Remove batteries from items like wireless keyboards. Never clean a product while it is powered on or plugged in.
3. Disconnect any external devices.
4. Moisten a microfiber cloth with a mixture of 70 percent isopropyl alcohol / 30 percent water. Do not use fibrous materials, such as paper towels or toilet paper. The cloth should be moist, but not dripping wet.
5. Do not spray any liquids directly onto the product.
6. Gently wipe the moistened cloth on the surfaces to be cleaned. Do not allow any moisture to drip into areas like keyboards, display panels or USB ports located on the printer control panels, which can cause extensive damage to the product.
7. Start with the display or printer control panel (if applicable) and end with any flexible cables, like power, keyboard and USB cables.
8. When cleaning a display screen or printer control panel, carefully wipe in one direction, moving from the top of the display to the bottom.
9. Ensure surfaces have completely air-dried before turning the device on after cleaning. No moisture should be visible on the surfaces of the product before it is powered on.
10. After disinfecting, copier/scanner glass should be cleaned again using an office glass cleaner sprayed onto a clean rag to remove streaking. Streaking on the copier/scanner glass could cause copy quality defects.
11. Gloves should be discarded after each cleaning. Clean hands immediately after gloves are removed.
How to clean monitors and touch screens
Elo, a touch screen manufacturer, offers the following steps for cleaning its products:
1. Dampen a clean, non-abrasive cloth with a mild soap-and-water solution. Ensure excess moisture is squeezed from the cloth.
2. Clean the surfaces and allow them to dry.
3. Dampen a new clean, non-abrasive cloth with either 70 percent isopropyl alcohol or a household bleach solution with 1/3 cup bleach per gallon of water, ensuring any excess moisture is squeezed from the cloth. Or use recommended pre-dampened wipes (see list below). Avoid highly concentrated (70%+) alcohol, bleach or ammonia solutions, which may cause discolouration.
4. Disinfect the surfaces and allow them to dry.
Similar to HP’s cleaning guidelines, Elo recommends that you disconnect the power cable, use non-abrasive cleaning cloths to avoid scratches and not to get liquids inside the unit.
Wipes recommended by Elo include:
• Clorox Disinfecting Wipes
• Clorox Healthcare Bleach Germicidal Wipes
• Clorox Commercial Solutions Hydrogen Peroxide Cleaner Disinfectant Wipes
• Lonza Disinfectant Wipes
• Lysol Brand Clean & Fresh Multi Surface Cleaner (20% cleaner solution to water ratio)
• Purell Professional Surface Disinfectant Wipes
• Sani-Cloth Prime Germicidal Disposable Wipes
Protect your workspace with antimicrobial products
Fellowes has teamed up with Microban to include specially formulated antimicrobial protection in select products. These products include keyboard trays, palm and wrist supports and back and foot supports. Antimicrobial protection makes the product easier to clean and keeps it cleaner between cleanings.
Adesso is another partner that offers antimicrobial products, including a range of mice, keyboards and barcode scanners.
For more advice on upgrading your work from home environment, visit CDW.ca/WFH
