There’s a good chance that this isn’t the first thing you’ve seen written about the importance of handwashing in a working environment. COVID-19 has brought a strong focus on to handwashing throughout the community. But in workplaces, especially those dealing directly with customers, cleanliness is more important than ever. The public are more conscious of hygiene and there are some industries where this is starker than ever. Which leads us to writing about the three main industries where handwashing is still as important as it ever was. We’ve taken a look across to board, and this is what we’ve come up with

 

The Industries Where Handwashing is Just as Important

Hospitality

There’s arguably no greater public-facing industry than hospitality. Worth a whopping £127bn a year to the UK economy, restaurants, hotels and events venues provide the country with so much. But with this comes the pressure of needing to offer excellent customer service and customer experience. So ensuring the highest level of cleanliness is something every successful hospitality business takes seriously.

Can you imagine a customer using the toilet at the same time as a worker, and that worker not washing their hands? That customer’s opinion of the business would plummet, and they would no doubt tell their close contacts, damaging the reputation of your business.

 

Education

The term ‘education’ from an industry perspective is broad. From public to private schools, nursery to university, there’s a wide range of ages and settings. But one thing that binds all of these together is the fact that each setting sees people gathering in large groups. And these groups are primed for spreading sicknesses, to each other but also teachers and lecturers. So while there’s no legal or reputational requirement for educators to wash their hands, the chances of them catching illnesses passed on through touch is sky high. So washing hands and staying clean is a must for anyone working within an education setting.

 

Healthcare

This one needs little explanation. Ensuring good handwashing hygiene in a healthcare setting is probably one of the most important rules of the profession. Whether you’re working in a hospital, a care home, or an over-the-counter pharmacist, you spend all day touching things – be that people or equipment – that could make another person seriously ill. Handwashing should be seen as one of the most important things a healthcare professional does, so offering the right equipment to do this should be top of the agenda.

 

How to Encourage Handwashing in the Workplace

Share the Stats

There’s no better way to convince people than sharing the reality of your point. The fact is that around 80% of diseases are transferred by touch. And while that may make sickness bugs seem inevitable, washing your hands frequently can help you avoid them for longer and reduce the spread even more.

 

Offer Good Products for All

You can easily convince people to keep handwashing regularly by providing them with the right equipment to do that. It sounds obvious but so many organisations let their stock of soap and paper towels run down so that it’s basically impossible for people to do the things they need to do safely. To avoid paper towels running out, provide high quality commercial hand dryers, for example. Offering people what they need is a sure fire way to get them to do that.

 

Remind of the Guidelines

If your industries have guidelines about handwashing – many of the ones we’ve spoken about in this blog – then your organisation needs to remind staff and visitors too that handwashing is an important part of preparation. Consistently reminding people of their responsibilities is a good way to change habits of an organisation.

 

Create Solid Habits

And on that note… creating solid habits is exactly what all organisations should do when it comes to hygiene. Ensuring cleaning takes place regularly and making sure handwashing is frequent should be the minimum you can do, but those habits lead to even greater habits being created and a culture that ensures your business stays hygienic, healthy and reputable.

 

How Direct365 Can Help

Direct365 are the company that puts small businesses and organisations first, with a range of stock and supplies to keep businesses hygienic, compliant and ready to keep customers and workers safe. From soap and sanitiser to hand dryers, paper towels and water saving devices, our business knows small businesses. For more information on how we can help your hospitality, education or healthcare setting stick staying hygienic, give us a call on 0800 612 9288 today.

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