A sticker for hand hygiene
October 1st 2009 To prevent the spread of flu needs good basic hand hygiene as well as clean hard surfaces. But are companies doing enough to prevent the spread of flu in the
workplace? Deb has some ideas to ensure standards are kept high
Studies show that people do not wash their hands frequently or
adequately enough; the average person washes their hands for
around 9 seconds and only 16% wash their hands at the
recommended time periods. In addition, separate washroom studies
from around the world show that less than 80% of people wash their
hands at all – which means that one in every five of your colleagues is
walking around with unwashed hands.
In enclosed environments, people working or interacting in close
proximity, are at a higher risk of the spread of germs; particularly
those who deal with the public, handle money and regularly
commute on public transport. Studies show that an employee that
comes to work ill with 'flu will infect up to 18% of their colleagues.
With inconsistent hand hygiene habits, implementing and
maintaining appropriate hand hygiene practices is going to be a daily
challenge for any organisation.However, the task can be made easier
by providing easy-to-understand employee education and awareness
materials such as posters, stickers for use in the washrooms, on floors,
mirrors and doors as well as reminders on company intranets of the
importance of keeping hands clean.With modern day substrates,
such as removable wall vinyls, stickers can be used and replaced
without leaving any residue.
"With Global Handwashing Day on 15th October,
there has never been a better time to educate
employees on the importance of hand hygiene," says
Christine Mottershead,marketing director at Deb.
"As well as providing support materials,
organisations can work with their washroom
services suppliers to create a communications
campaign to educate employees on why they
should wash their hands.Companies like Deb offer
support and advice through marketing materials
and information on hand hygiene.To celebrate
Global Handwashing Day,Deb has launched a suite
of new posters which are available to download free from its website.
"Organisations can reduce the risk of spreading germs by adopting
good hand hygiene practices, providing adequate hand washing
facilities and promoting the use of a hand sanitiser applied regularly
to clean, dry hands to complement routine hand washing."
With the 'flu season fast approaching, now is the time to follow the
advice from the Health Protection Agency and prevent the spread of
'flu in the workplace by simply
washing our hands. More articles from Deb Ltd: | 
