Maintaining Health with Hand Hygiene
Here at Cleaning Technique, the Directors have 3 young boys, all at school. Having recently added primary schools to our portfolio of regular clients in the West Midlands, we’re hands on at the start of any school cleaning contract. Cleaning door handles every evening, reminded us of the increasing amount of bugs and illnesses like Norovirus, that affect hospitals, schools and work places. We’ve found that a research study* identified that although teaching and nursery professionals recognise the importance of hand hygiene, there are key obstacles to best practice at pre-schools and schools, these include time, cost and poor facilities. Teaching hand hygiene early, to form habitual routine, cannot be underestimated. This then would help in reducing the spread of minor illnesses, that contribute to absenteeism.
‘A robust approach to hand hygiene is the single most affective way of managing transmission of avoidable illnesses’
Professor Bloomfield
You may think this problem is just confined to children & schools, but a recent report, has highlighted how important it is to form the habit of hand washing whilst we are young. We may not realise, but over a quarter(27%) of office workers, admit to not washing their hands on every visit to the washroom ( Initial Hygiene’s survey of 6,000 UK office workers). Further findings revealed that nearly 10% of us use our mobiles to tweet/surf the web whilst using washroom facilities. This all has the impact of passing on germs and viruses, just like the children and this increases absence from work. The research suggests that small investments by employers, to ensure the correct facilities are available with hand soap and hand drying equipment can improve hygiene in the office and in turn help businesses to succeed.
If this is an area where you feel Cleaning Technique can help you to improve your facilities please contact us
*Kimberly-Clark Professional