Global Handwashing Day

How do you improve your hand hygiene?

The International Handwashing Day takes place on 15 October. Although this concept was originally developed for children and schools, hand hygiene plays a role in any location. You may again be confronted this year with the flu or colleagues or family members who may suffer a touch of the flu. Did you know that your hands are the greatest carriers of bacteria?

• 85% of the germs are spread via the hands.
• Millions of patients have to extend their stay at the hospital by several days each year after having contracted an infection. Almost half of infections are caused by cross-infection via the hands.
• Six out of ten persons do not wash their hands after a visit to the toilet.
• And when washing their hands, 63% of Dutch citizens use soap.
• Germs can spread when the toilet is flushed without the lid being closed.

Good hand hygiene is therefore essential. By washing the hands regularly and thoroughly, nearly half of the diseases can be prevented. Do you wash your hands in the correct way? 

1. It all starts with flushing the toilet with a closed lid.
2. Then wash the hands for, at least, 15 seconds under running water.
3. Always use soap and distribute the soap over the entire hand, which includes in-between the fingers and under the nails.
4. Rinse the hands properly.
5. Dry the hands completely.

Tips to improve hand hygiene (in your work environment)

Hospitals: Hygiene at the highest level required

• In addition to washing the hands, it is essential to further disinfect them with alcohol.
  This disinfection kills 99% of the bacteria.
• Install automatic dispensers or dispensers with elbow operation to prevent the hands from becoming re-contaminated.
• After washing your hands you must limit the contact between the hands and the waste bin as much as possible.

Schools: Where hygiene is taught

• Remind children to wash their hands. Put up a sign.
• Use different coloured dispensers so that children recognise where to get soap and where to dry their hands. State the sequence of the colours on the sign.

Offices: Where hygiene is often forgotten

• The average computer mouse contains more than 10,000 organisms per cm2 and double that amount on a keyboard.
• Office employees come into contact with more than 10 million bacteria each day.
• So, regularly wash your hands at the office as well. As an employer you need to make sure that the toilet area is clean and tidy. It should be an area that invites people to wash their hands as the same applies here; good hand hygiene helps to prevent diseases.

Would you like to improve the hygiene in your sanitary area? We will gladly advise you. 

Source: Research agency YouGov