Hand hygiene made easy

Did you know that 80% of infections are spread by hand? Considering how regularly we use our hands to interact it is easy to feel alarmed by this stat, but the good news is there are some simple steps we can all take to ensure good hand hygiene

Hand washing may be a simple act, but it is one of the most important things we can do to help control the spread of germs and illnesses.

Even with the move to home working most of us spend time in communal spaces – shared workspaces, cafes, public transport and healthcare facilities to name a few. High-traffic touch points in these spaces, such as door handles, lift buttons and handrails, can very quickly become a hotbed of germs passed from individual to individual.

Top tip! It may seem obvious but remember to always wash your hands after visiting the loo, before handling food, if you have coughed or sneezed into your hands and after touching surfaces when out and about

How to wash your hands

We all know how to wash our hands properly, don’t we? Well, research indicates this might not be the case. Almost 40% of respondents questioned in one survey admitted to not washing their hands if they are in a hurry, while in another study nearly 50% of participants failed to use soap to clean their hands.

So how can you ensure you are cleaning your hands properly?

• Step one
  Remove any rings and jewellery. Wet hands with water and apply enough soap to cover all of the hand and fingers (not forgetting your thumbs)
• Step two
  Rub hands palm to palm and then spend 20 seconds following the stages below:
  • Right palm over back of left hand with interlaced fingers
  • Left palm over back of right hand with fingers interlaced
  • Palm to palm with fingers interlaced
  • Back of fingers to opposing palms with fingers interlocked
  • Rotational rubbing of left thumb clasped in right palm and vice versa
  • Rotational rubbing, backwards and forwards with clasped fingers of right hand in left palm and vice versa
• Rinse hands with water
• Dry hands thoroughly with a paper towel
• Use the same towel to turn off the tap

Surface protection

While hand washing is an absolutely essential step in any hygiene regime, it’s important to understand that the benefits are temporary.

One of the challenges with maintaining cleanliness is that once clean hands come into contact with a surface that has been touched by someone else, there is the potential for germs to be passed on. In fact any surface that is regularly touched by lots of different people can quickly become a germ hotspot, meaning clean hands can quickly become dirty again.

A surface protection solution, such as Puralife Clean Skins, is a really practical answer to this problem. Clean Skins come in a range of sizes to suit all surfaces and are the perfect complement to a clearly defined hand hygiene regime in any workplace or commercial premise.