Benefits of Hand Sanitizers and Dispensers

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Hands-Free Hand Sanitizers

Hand sanitizers and soap dispensers are increasingly making their way into public, work and home settings. If you’re still not sold on the idea take a look at some of the benefits of using this option to keep your hands clean:

Eliminate Second Hand (pun intended) Contamination

Whether you use standard or hands-free soap dispensers and sanitizers, you can eliminate contamination from touching surfaces in shared work areas which people carrying a cold could have had contact with. Sanitizers are a great option to keep at your work-space as they can be used every time you return from a bathroom, meeting or or lunch break.

Variety of Options

Depending on the type of sanitizer you choose, there are a number of options (or combination of options) that can help keep your hands clean. With or without alcohol, dye-free, antibacterial, with or without fragrance, etc. Each of these can serve a useful purpose; from keeping you healthy to eliminating annoying scents. If you’re looking to stay healthy, check out our hand sanitizer flu and cold prevention post.

Portable & Easy to Install

While mountable dispenser options may seem complex they are fairly easy to install and setup in virtually all locations. Personal use bottles and holders are available as well. Simply buy and use! You can place them at your desk, high traffic areas, reception spaces, etc.

Worry-Free Refills

Most mountable systems come with allocated refills that fit right into the technology. With certain models its as easy as replacing a soap packet. While personal use sanitizers are easily recycled and replaced by buying a new bottle.

How to apply Ice Melt

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Having to apply ice melt is not something many of us look forward to having to do – as the need is usually accompanied by blistery, wintery weather.  But it is a critical step in protecting against dangerous slip and fall accidents.  Although, as Canadians, we’re no strangers to applying ice melt, and it may seem like an uncomplicated process, many of us are doing it wrong!  Let’s have a look at these tips for applying ice melt:

Read Instructions

May seem unnecessary, but manufacturers actually include very specific instructions on their packaging for how to apply that specific product and when to best use it.  For example, certain temperatures require a specific ice melt product.  If you don’t use the right product, you’re wasting time applying a product that is not going to work for you.  

Don’t apply too much

More doesn’t mean better in this scenario.  Plus, any excess applied will just be tracked inside and all over your carpets and floors.  You also risk burning the nearby vegetation with the overspill.  Ice melt dissolves to liquid and spreads out with normal use. Below is a good example of the type of saturation for an area you should look to achieve.  For ease of application, you can use a handheld fertilizer spreader for smaller areas, or a walk-behind spreader for larger areas.  Scoops and shovels will almost always result in overuse, so best to avoid using these.

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image courtesy of: http://www.kissner.com

Wear protective gear

Wear gloves to protect your hands when handling ice melt, especially when using a calcium or magnesium chloride based product as its job is to absorb moisture, which will include that on your hands.  Also wearing something to protect your eyes is recommended, especially when pouring the product into any dispenser. 

Don’t apply on top of snow

This isn’t a hack for getting out of shoveling the snow – it will not melt it.  You must clear the snow and then apply the product.  In fact, ideally you should apply ice melt BEFORE an incoming storm.

Clean up excess

After the weather has cleared up, be sure to scoop away any excess ice melt.  It is not only unsightly and gets tracked inside, this will also help to protect nearby vegetation from soaking up anything harmful.

Properly store

Store ice melt away from moisture, air and sunlight.  Store open bags in an airtight container.  Magnesium chloride and calcium chloride based ice melt will draw the moisture out of the air, reducing the efficacy of the product and leaving your ice melt clumpy and hard.    

Now you’re ready to tackle whatever winter may have in store!  If you need help deciding which ice melt product would be best for your environment, contact one of our sales associates for some guidance. 

Tips for Ensuring your Home Office is Safe & Secure!

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Working from home doesn’t mean you need to abandon the security safeguards put in place as there would be in a corporate office environment.  In addition to making sure your work-from-home setup is comfortable and efficient, don’t forget to also ensure you are following these best practices for a secure home office. 

1. Implement multifactor authentication

The benefit of laptops is that they are portable, allowing you to work from anywhere.  However this also increases the risk that your laptop can be lost or stolen.  Creating a multifactor authentication provides additional barriers for any hackers to try and access your device. Speak to your IT department about getting this setup for all your work devices.

2. Use strong passwords

Connecting your work computer to your private home network can increase the risk of leaked data. Prevent hackers from accessing your information by making it as difficult as possible to guess your password.  Consider using a password manager that generates strong passwords for you, using a less predictable series of lower and uppercase letters, numbers and special characters.

3. Follow company policies to the letter

Your employer likely has clear policies for accessing the company network outside the office. Those guidelines and rules should always be followed. Also be sure to report any suspicious behavior to IT immediately, and continuously run any updates pushed through for your operating systems and antivirus/malware software.

4. Keep your physical workspace secure

It’s equally important to make sure that your home office is physically secure, much like it would be if you were in a corporate office environment.  In addition to expensive equipment, you could have documents containing sensitive information that should also be protected.  Consider options for locking up equipment and documents within your home, like locking cabinets, or even installing a home security system.  

5. Don’t allow family members to use your work devices

Gavin Silver, director of operations at Blue Fountain Media, reminds remote workers that the computer they do their work on is for employee use only – it’s not the family computer.

“Treat your work-issued laptop, mobile device and sensitive data as if you were sitting in a physical office location,” Hay added. “This will help you continuously associate your actions with a security-first and data-aware mentality in mind. For example, in a physical office location … your child [couldn’t] use your work-issued mobile device for games or movies. If you think of your laptop and mobile devices as work-only assets, it makes it far easier to control access to sensitive data and remain data-aware.”

If you’re looking for more tips or product solutions for ensuring a safe & secure home office environment, we can help!  Contact us and one of our product specialists would be happy to discuss your specific needs.