Our home lives and working environments bring us into close proximity to germs from all areas; we are never too far from bacteria, germs, chemicals, diseases etc. It is all too easy to take things for granted and relax your standards of personal hygiene. This is a quick reminder of the importance of washing your hands!
We use our hands all of the time in the home and working environments, from cooking, meeting and greeting friends, family, work colleagues and clients at work. Working on computers, operating equipment, driving etc. There so many things that we touch in our daily lives.
So, you may think, why do we have to clean our hands? It is so important to protect your health and others by cleaning your hands every time you sneeze, cough, use the bathroom and before you eat.
Quite often, you may not be in a suitable place to use soap and water to wash your hands (or have anything clean to dry them on) once you are out and about or doing your job. Hand Sanitisers and wipes are quite effective, unless your hands are really dirty. Using hand wipes together with the hand sanitisers (gels) will be very effective in cleaning your hands, it is ideal to have both of these in your vehicle at all times.
Why does this matter?
We’ve all observed people exiting the toilet after flipping their fingertips under running water for a second or two, thinking, that should do the trick. Or, indeed, not bothering to wash their hands at all. Viruses and bacteria can live for two hours (and longer) on doorknobs, keyboards, telephones, dashboards, steering wheels, seatbelts and other surfaces that we touch ☹.
Cleaning your hands is the most effective way to prevent the spread of diseases to both yourself and others.
How long should you wash your hands for?
It is recommended that between 15 and 30 seconds is enough. We should also clean our hands more regularly. The most crucial times during the day are before and after the bathroom and before eating.
Some facts about not hand washing:
- Up to half of all men and a quarter of women do not wash their hands after they’ve been to the toilet.
- Faecal bacteria are present on 26% of hands in the UK, 14% of banknotes and 10% of credit cards.
- The average kitchen chopping board has around 200% more bacteria on it than the toilet seat “Yuk”
- Handbags, Smartphones, keyboards can also contain more bacteria than the toilet seat.
- The number of germs on your fingertips doubles after you use the toilet.
Many of us lie and claim we have washed our hands when we haven’t, especially after going to the toilet. We are ashamed, but still don’t do it anyway!!
Germs stick to your hands like chewing gum sticks to the bottom of your shoes. If you’re around someone who has a stomach bug and you touch something he or she has touched or you shake hands with that person, you will get their germs.
Here at Invasive Weed Solutions we are always looking to improve on hygiene. Keeping our office staff and site teams as healthy as we can.
Enough ranting, just wash your hands as often as you can ? off to ASDA to get some more hand sanitizer and wipes!
Deborah Higson
New Enquiries Department