Employees will soon be returning to work and with this in mind, and given that on any given workday employees use their hands to type up reports, shake hands with new clients, open doors and share community spaces, it might be good idea to put some extra hand hygiene solutions in place for your facility. While washing hands with soap and water is the best way to ensure hands are properly washed and rid of germs, it isn’t always a viable option. However, there is a simple solution: hand sanitizer. By placing hand sanitizer in strategic locations throughout the facility, you can encourage employees to improve their hand hygiene and create a healthier indoor environment.
The best way to remind employees to use hand sanitizer is by making it easily accessible and always placing it within sight. It’s important to place hand sanitizer near and around high-touch surfaces and communal areas, including:
Restrooms: If employees are in a rush and don’t think to stop and rinse with soap and water, providing a backup option near sinks and doors ensures germs don’t escape the restrooms.
Entrances and exits: A single door knob could potentially be the cause of a widespread illness in the workplace. In addition to frequently disinfecting door knobs, light switches and other high-touch surfaces, make sure to provide a hand sanitizing station near entrances and exits to limit the spread of infection.
Cafeterias, kitchen areas and break rooms: One of the hot spots for germs in an office is the break room and kitchen and if food is consumed with germ-ridden hands, it’s easy to digest the germs and become infected. Although hand sanitizer is not a replacement for hand washing, it can help eliminate certain germs in these areas.
Meeting rooms: Meeting rooms are often packed with employees, clients and other visitors who exchange handshakes, thus swapping germs. Providing guests and employees with an easy-to-access hand sanitizing station, either near the meeting room door or at the table, allows them to safeguard their hands against germs before and after the meeting takes place.
Employee desks: Desks, phones, keyboards and mice are key germ transfer points because people touch them so often. Considering that employees spend the majority of their day at their desks where they also eat, drink and even cough and sneeze, desks can become a hot spot for germs to reside. Placing individual hand sanitizers at desks keeps hand hygiene within reach.
In order to keep the workplace a healthy and thriving environment, it’s crucial that employers take into account the health of its employees. Providing hand sanitizer for employees, at desks and in communal areas, is just as essential as providing the right equipment and tools to do their job.
Another way to make sure that your facility is germ free is to hire EcoCare to do a Deep Clean service that includes sanitizing your facility top to bottom. EcoCare is a Eco-friendly commercial cleaning company that provides service to the Austin, San Antonio and surrounding areas.
Credit: Cleaning & Maintenance Management magazine
