Cleaning Your Copiers To Stay Safe With Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Your MFP is a critical piece of your business environment.  Whether it's making copies, scanning documents to your document management platform, printing proposals or sending a fax, employees are constantly touching copiers and their touchscreens to get work completed.  With the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, it is vitally important to keep your equipment clean.  But just how do you clean your copier, and what types of cleaners are safe to use?  Here are a few tips:

• Before cleaning any copier, printer or scanner, make sure the device is powered off and unplugged.  Mixing liquids with electricity is never a good idea.
• Most anti-bacterial wipes that are bleach-free are acceptable for cleaning the plastic areas of your devices.  This includes the platen cover or covers on the document feeder, side guides on the document feeder, side guides on the bypass tray, jam access areas, paper drawer handles, paper guides within the drawers and the retractable keyboard if you have one.  We suggest wringing out the wipe prior to use on your retractable keyboard.
• If you do not have any anti-bacterial wipes and are using a spray cleaner, again, it should be bleach-free.  With a spray cleaner, use a microfiber cleaning cloth or soft towel, and spray the cleaner onto the cleaning cloth and NOT DIRECTLY onto the copier.  DO NOT soak the cloth or have it dripping wet.  
• DO NOT use any abrasive cleaners (powders) or an abrasive cleaning tool (scrub brush, scouring pad, etc.).
• To clean your touchscreen, know that harsh chemicals are not good for screen.  We recommend using 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes to clean our screen.  This will protect any coating that is on the screen to prevent fingerprints, yet effectively disinfect the touchscreen.  If you don't have an alcohol wipe, you can use alcohol on a soft cloth, but again, do not soak the cloth or have it dripping.

For more information on how to clean and disinfect to keep your staff safe, please consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The CDC and the World Health Organization should be your go-to point for all information regarding medicine and biological subjects.  

If many of your employees have shifted to a remote work situation and you need assistance, Fraser can help you support your work-from-home employees.  See all of the services we can offer.