Hand hygiene is important in reducing the spread of infection
Hand hygiene reduces the spread of infection
By Manty Stanley at TEAL Patents
Cross-infection is spread by the transmission of a pathogenic organism from one person to another1 and is a problem in any setting where groups of people get together. In schools, nurseries, children’s clubs and other social environments where there is inadequate hand hygiene procedures and facilities, cross-infection can lead to the rapid spread of disease.
In children, death from diarrhoeal disease is among the top 3 killers2. Hand washing with soap reduces the rates of diarrheal disease by nearly half and respiratory infection (cough, colds, novovirus and flu) by about one-quarter.3,4. The average child misses about a week of school each year due to a communicable illness which equates to 36 million school days lost to absenteeism; the Hygiene Council has found that good handwashing practices in schools can reduce this figure by almost 50%5.
Good hand hygiene
Many consider good hand hygiene the single most important infection control activity in reducing the spread of diseases6.
In recent years alcohol–based hand gels have grown massively in popularity with many people using them frequently as an alternative to hand washing. But are they really an effective alternative?
When used correctly alcohol gels can quickly decontaminate hands. Correct use involves using enough hand gel to completely cover the hands and rubbing into all areas for approximately 15 seconds until hands are dry or the gel has evaporated. However if alcohol gels are used incorrectly or the alcohol content of the hand gel is less than 60% the gel will not effectively prevent infection.
If hands are visibly dirty, hand gel will not remove the dirt and so hands must be washed with hot water and soap. Hand gels also cannot kill many contaminants including the norovirus and deadly clostridium difficile.
Where hand gels let us down, warm hot water hand washing excels. Correct hand washing can stop the spread of the norovirus, influenza and diarrhoea amongst other viruses.
Product shown is the KiddiSynk hot water hand wash unit from TEAL.
Anytime, anywhere
First developed in 1959, TEAL believes you should be able to wash your hands under hot running water and soap wherever and whenever you need ie whether there’s mains fresh water supply and drainage or not.
Clean hands reduce the risk of the spread of infection due to poor hand hygiene. The easier we make it for people to have clean hands, the less cross-infection there should be.
It sounds easy but it all depends on your environment. Over the years and supplying over 12,000 units per year, we’ve not found a situation where we cannot provide a hot water hand wash. That includes outside catering and the military.
Because the products are specifically designed with the job in hand, TEAL products give a superior wash to a traditional tap/basin combination. They’re also quicker and because they’re easier to use, people tend to keep cleaner hands than if you’re relying on them making a special trip to the toilets.
They also save energy. You can obtain a full hygienic handwash with just a wine glass full of hot water and, on average, TEAL units use less than a quarter of the water needed for conventional hand washing and energy consumption is down to a sixth.
Further information
For more information: http://www.kiddiwash.com. The ideal products ideal for the education sector are Kiddiwash, KiddiSynk and Pinkiwash.
1 http://www.answers.com/topic/cross-infection
2 London School of Hygiene (2003).
3 Global Hand Washing Day Planners Pack (2009). Available from www.Globalhandwashingday.org.
4 Health Protection Agency. Hand hygiene for healthcare and social care staff available from www.hpa.org.uk
5 The Times (2008) How clean are your hands?
6 Public Health Wales (2009) Infection Prevention Model Policy / Procedure 2 – Hand Hygiene Policy and Procedure. http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/Documents/379/PHW_HandPolicy_20091006_V1.pdf
