It
is well known that inadequate hand washing can lead to the spread
of germs. However, as cleaning professionals it is sometimes
overlooked how important this is in our industry. Even if your
cleaning staff is wearing gloves, it is still important that they
spend the extra time necessary to make sure chemicals and germs
are thoroughly washed off their hands.
Wash
hands thoroughly after using chemicals, cleaning up spills, or
emptying trash -- even if gloves were worn. At least
20 seconds are needed for the washing to be effective. Follow
these steps to get hands thoroughly clean:
- Wet hands
with warm running water prior to reaching for soap, either in
bar or liquid form.
- Add soap
and rub hands together to make a lather. This should be done
away from running water, so the lather is not washed away.
- Wash the
front and back of hands, between fingers and under nails. Continue
rubbing the hands for an additional 15 seconds.
- Rinse
hands well under warm running water.
- Dry hands
thoroughly with either clean towels or an air dryer.
If
soap and water are not available, it is a good idea to
keep alcohol based hand sanitizers, gels or antibacterial wipes
around as an alternative.
It
is especially important in health care environments that
employees take the extra time needed to be sure they have removed
any contaminants they may have come in contact with. Problem areas
in health care environments include: door handles, patient bed
rails, patient and public telephones, restrooms, treatment areas
and furniture.
Surveys
show that proper training is beneficial in getting employees to
pay attention to their hand washing habits. When training
your employees make sure to include this vital information about
keeping their hands clean.
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