I RISKED my life today and all I did was get up from my desk, wander along the corridor to our communal kitchen and make myself a cup of tea.

A seemingly inconsequential act, which is repeated by thousands of workers up and down the country every day, but one which is apparently putting the country’s health in grave danger.

According to new research, workplace kitchens are dangerously dirty, to the point that they could make us ill.

The study by Initial Washroom Hygiene has revealed that half of surfaces in workplace kitchens are contaminated by dangerously high levels of coliforms – the bacteria present in faeces which can lead to outbreaks of gastrointestinal disease – more than a quarter of draining boards have four times the safe level of coliforms, the handles of shared fridge-freezers are bacteria-rife and more than 40 per cent of kettle handles are contaminated with higher levels of bacteria than are found on toilet doors.

Shocking? Yes, but not altogether surprising. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that not everyone shares the same lofty standards of personal hygiene and even if they did bacteria and germs spread when humans congregate in groups.

The question that really bothers me is – does it really matter?

It’s a bit like the rule that says we should all own an array of brightly coloured chopping boards to ensure we don’t chop meat, fish or veg in the same place.

All very well, but I don’t really have the room and my lovely big wooden board seems to do the job perfectly well, as it has done for my mum, her mum and probably all the mums before that.

Nowadays we seem to be obsessed by bacteria – anti-bacteria washing up liquid, kitchen wipes, hand soap, washing powders and I’ve even spotted an advert for anti-bacteria body moisturiser all boasting the ability to kill germs.

But is it really necessary? I’ve decided not. There are after all plenty of communities across the globe where people live perfectly contently without anti-bacteria washing powder or washing powder at all and people are still clean and healthy.

And so I will continue to wander down the corridor and make myself a cup of tea – I just won’t suck the washing-up sponge while I wait for the kettle to boil.