GOJO, the inventors of PURELL, and the hand sanitiser category itself, is advising organisations, particularly those in the care sector that look after the elderly and the vulnerable, to take steps to lessen the impact of seasonal viruses this winter.

Preparedness can save lives – last year’s influenza programme prevented around 25,000 hospitalisations in England. This autumn and winter, COVID-19, flu, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) are likely to be co-circulating which, according to Dr Marc-Alain Widdowson, who leads WHO’s High-threat Pathogen team, ‘would increase the risk to vulnerable populations and put further pressure on health services.’

Whilst flu vaccines are a powerful weapon, good hand hygiene is a critical measure in the battle against winter infections. For healthcare and long-term care settings, which support vulnerable patients, GOJO recommends paying extra attention to their specific needs.

Chris Wakefield, V.P. European Marketing and Managing Director UK & Ireland, GOJO Industries-Europe Ltd. commented: “As a founder member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Private Organizations for Patient Safety group, GOJO is a strong advocate of making hand hygiene second nature to everyone. Hospitals and care homes need to ensure that the protection solutions they select are suitable for everyone with a facility – staff, visitors, and patients alike.

“For example, consider touch-free dispensers that are easier for the elderly and infirm to operate, and ensure that the formulations are suitable too. They must not only have proven efficacy against germs, but should be gentle enough to care for resident’s delicate skin as well as that of busy healthcare workers, who clean their hands repeatedly during a shift.”

https://www.gojo.eu/uk

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Cleanology, a leading London commercial cleaning company asked British office workers across the UK about their handwashing habits. The study, which aimed to shed light on hygiene practices in the workplace, revealed some shocking results about how often office workers wash their hands, touchpoints and which ages and industries are lacking hygiene harmony.

Handwashing. It’s an inevitable part of everyday life. It’s the best way to protect yourself and the people around you from getting sick.

With the global pandemic just behind us, washing our hands should be at the forefront of all of our minds after every bathroom use, after touching something dirty and before and after preparing food or eating. But unfortunately, this is not the case for all Brits.

A staggering 13 per cent of British office workers admit they ‘only’ wash their hands after answering nature’s call. With an additional three per cent of Brits confessing to ‘hardly ever’ washing their hands, asserting they ‘don’t need to’.

While these percentages may seem small when extrapolated to the 32.8 million people across the UK in employment, it unveils a concerning reality – that’s over 984,000 dirty Brits contaminating our shared workspaces with their bathroom germs.

Brits are washing their hands 50 per cent less than recommended 

According to experts, we should aim to wash our hands between six and 10 times a day, this can make a huge difference when it comes to keeping bacteria and viruses at bay. According to Cleanology’s survey, 39 per cent of UK office workers only wash their hands between three and five times a day.

With these stats in mind, nearly 40 per cent of office workers should be doubling how much they wash their hands. Germs are spread so easily in the office, whether it be through door handles, desk spaces, chairs or even cutlery, ensuring office spaces are cleaned and sanitised is more important than ever.

Love it or hate it, hot desking is here to stay. With more than half of British office workers taking part in hotdesking when visiting the office, this adds another reason as to why sanitisation is key. Nobody wants to use a mucky mouse after someone in the three per cent mentioned earlier has spent the previous day clicking and contaminating away, yuck!

Age + Industry: Who are the culprits? 

If you’re looking around your office space and wondering, who are the culprits? Who are the people who aren’t washing their hands after using the loo?

Is it the accounts person who has worked at your company for decades, or is it the new sales intern who started last week? Research indicates that the primary contributors to inadequate handwashing are individuals aged 45-54, with office workers in the 35-44 age range closely following.

Cleanology’s survey also uncovered which industries are lacking in keeping their palms pristine. The survey revealed that the real estate and property industry are the top contenders for adequate handwashing with 37.5 per cent of real estate workers washing their hands less than five times a day. Not far behind, the tech-savvy computer software industry reveals that 24 per cent of its workforce inadequately washing their hands.

Maintaining the cleanliness and sanitation of commercial office spaces is not merely a matter of aesthetics, it’s a strategic imperative. A clean space contributes to heightened productivity, as well as this cleaning also improves the air quality, reducing the number of airborne pollutants and the spread of germs.

https://cleanology.com/services/office-cleaning/

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Chris Wakefield, Managing Director UK & Ireland, GOJO Industries-Europe Ltd. discusses hand hygiene considerations that can help care settings achieve a healthier germ season.

Each winter, infection rates rise as millions of people contract influenza (‘flu’), norovirus, and other common colds and viruses. It is always a particularly challenging time for the care industry and, this year is no different. According to Dr Marc-Alain Widdowson, who leads World Health Organization’s (WHO) High-threat Pathogen team, with COVID-19, flu, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) likely to be co-circulating, this ‘would increase the risk to vulnerable populations and put further pressure on health services.’[i]

When you consider how easily these seasonal viruses can spread, it’s clear that healthcare and long-term care settings, which support vulnerable patients, must have robust infection prevention measures in place to protect everyone who works or resides there.

Last year’s influenza programme prevented around 25,000 hospitalisations in England[ii], so staff and residents should be encouraged to take up their vaccines. In addition to widespread vaccinations, good hand hygiene practice is crucial to break the chain of infection.

However, extra attention to their specific needs of care should be taken to prevent absenteeism, or worse, presenteeism, which puts residents, patients, and co-workers at increased risk. To ensure maximum compliance, a combination approach is required, including effective formulations and easy access to dispensers.

The right formulation

Did you know that one of the most common barriers to good hand hygiene technique amongst healthcare professionals is skin irritation? In fact, data from the National Health Service (NHS) in England on long-term sickness rates, shows skin issues account for just over 12,000 days of sick leave per month (1 percent)[iii]. Another skin health survey by The Royal College of Nursing (RCN), found that 93 percent of clinicians have had at least one skin issue in the last 12 months too.[iv]

Although there are no official figures available, it is highly likely that such statistics are mirrored in the care sector, where workers also need to don PPE and clean their hands repeatedly during their shifts.

When you combine this with the fragile skin of elderly residents, it is clear that whilst they must have effective germ-killing power, formulations should also be gentle.

Opt for formulations that not only conform to EN 1500, EN 14476 and EN 12791 standards, but are proven to maintain skin health too. Look for products that have been enriched with moisturising agents to keep it healthy, soft, and supple. A quick contact time is a bonus too, since many people do not spend very long washing or sanitising hands.

Close at hand

Ensure facilities for hand washing and sanitising are readily available and that dispensers are simple to use. Touch-free dispensers make a particularly good choice for care settings because they are easier for the elderly and infirm to operate.

Dispensers should be positioned at the point of care, so that staff have the opportunity to clean their hands at their fingertips. Moments for staff to practise hand hygiene include: before resident contact, before a clean/aseptic procedure, after exposure to body fluids, after resident contact, and after contact with resident surroundings.

Additionally, placing further hand sanitising stations at the main entry/exit points to the building, as well as in eating areas and by the washroom doors is also a good idea to prevent the spread of germs.

Wiping away danger

As well as ensuring ample and effective opportunities to practise hand hygiene, care homes should pay particular attention to sanitising surfaces to help stop the spread of infections from one area or building to another. This is especially important in food preparation areas and at high contact touch points, such as door handles, lift buttons, or telephones.

By tailoring measures to the specific needs of care settings – choosing effective solutions that actively care for skin, strategically positioning dispensers that are easy to use, and sanitising high touchpoints – hand hygiene compliance will increase. This, in turn, lessens the impact of seasonal viruses, lowering the risk of germs being transferred and causing illness among residents and staff.

www.gojo.eu/uk

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Reckitt Pro Solutions recognises that commercial bathrooms are a key battleground for hygienic hands due to high ongoing traffic coupled with their central location within busy public areas such as offices, hotels and restaurants.

To support businesses aiming to improve hand hygiene, Reckitt Pro Solutions has created special offers on Dettol Pro Cleanse Liquid Hand Wash, its first-ever hand wash product designed purely for professional use, available as a 5l unit or a 500ml hand pump.

Dettol Pro Cleanse Liquid Hand Wash has following key benefits:

• Antibacterial formula helps to cleanse and protect
• Consistent use saves 5kg of plastic per year
• Available as 5l unit and 500ml hand pumps for facility wide use
• The #1 liquid soap brand trusted[1] by your staff and customers
• Skin moisturiser making it suitable for frequent use without irritation
• Light, refreshing fragrance that’s pleasing to users

Pro Cleanse Liquid Hand Wash 5 litre refill units are compatible with wall mount dispensers, manual open systems and automatic hand soap dispensers, particularly those found in commercial bathrooms[2].

Alongside these 5 litre units, Pro Cleanse Liquid Hand Wash is available in a 500 ml hand pump, extending hand hygiene beyond the bathroom, allowing end users to keep their hands hygienically clean in external environments.

Jonathan Weiss, Commercial Director, B2B UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand Reckitt Pro Solutions, expressed excitement about the product, stating that Pro Cleanse Liquid Hand Wash empowers businesses to create cleaner working environments and raise the standard for hand hygiene in workplaces. The product is backed by Reckitt’s Research and Development team, ensuring the highest quality and care.

Reckitt Pro Solutions’ dedication to innovation and scientific research ensures that its products deliver exceptional performance. This product is part of the brand’s commitment to helping support business performance and providing effective and efficient hygiene solutions that save time, reduce costs and create more hygienic environments for customers and staff in bathrooms and beyond.

Reckitt Pro Solutions continues to innovate in the hygiene industry with scientifically backed products to ensure a cleaner world. Dettol Pro Cleanse Liquid Hand Wash stands as a testament to Dettol’s commitment to excellence, quality and the well-being of individuals and communities all year round.

Reckitt UK

[1] Euromonitor Passport 2022 Brand Shares in world: 2021 RSP Val Sales (m GBP) across Asia Pacific, Australasia, Middle East & Africa, Eastern Europe & Western Europe.

[2] Please contact your dispenser manufacturer to check that this product’s formulation is suitable for use. Use disinfectants safely. Always read the label and product information before use.

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A letter from former British Cleaning Council (BCC) Chairman Jim Melvin calling for the Government to take action on hand hygiene has been printed in The Times.

In the letter, Melvin, who is Master of BCC member The Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners (WCEC), noted the “absence of any true Government plan to cope with a resurgence of Covid-19 or prepare for future pandemics” and called for additional steps to be taken immediately.

He wrote: “One would be for the Government to lead a ‘targeted hygiene’ campaign to support the owners and operators of public spaces to implement measures that help the public to practise simple and effective hand hygiene.

“By helping to suppress the spread of disease, this would reduce pressure on health services, maintain productivity and increase the public’s still fragile confidence in using public transport and public places.”

There were examples of major events where these measures had been successfully implemented, he wrote in the letter, which was published on 15 January, adding that there was a “moral imperative” to quickly take “proven actions”.

The BCC and 21 industry associations have been calling for the Government to adopt the recommendations in the Embedding Effective Hygiene for a Resilient UK report since last year.

Delia Cannings, Chair of the BCC, said: “I am delighted to see that Jim is helping keep the important issue of hygiene in the spotlight.

“Improved hand hygiene is important nationally but only one of a series of essential measures that we believe the Government should take.

“We want the Government to put cleaning and hygiene at the heart of the national agenda and adopt in full the recommendations in the Embedding Effective Hygiene for a Resilient UK report.

“Taking these steps will ensure that the lessons of the Covid 19 pandemic are learnt and the public’s health is protected in future.”

Sector staff have been asked to contact their MP in support of the campaign. To find out how to get involved click here.

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Some healthcare providers only practise proper hand hygiene less than half of the recommended time, according to studies.

But research from Tork manufacturer Essity reveals that around 80 per cent of professionals have expressed a desire to improve their hand hygiene at work.

Essity is supporting this year’s World Hand Hygiene Day with a series of interactive and immersive hand hygiene trainings. These are designed to help healthcare professionals effectively implement hygiene practices and improve adherence to the WHO’s 5 moments of hand hygiene.

“Healthcare professionals are exposed to pathogens frequently throughout the day – whether through close contact with patients or interaction with high touch surfaces such as doorknobs, bedrails, or patient bathrooms,” said Essity’s Sales Manager Professional Hygiene Liam Mynes.

“While the importance of hand hygiene is widely understood among healthcare providers, following hand hygiene best practices can be challenging. There is a growing need to empower effective implementation of sustainable, accessible and scalable hygiene procedures.”

Tork Virtual Reality (VR) Clean Hands Training and Education is designed to make hand hygiene training more engaging and effective to drive behavioural change and accelerate deeper learning.

The training invites users into a digital world where they are confronted with a series of scenarios in which hand hygiene needs to be carried out. Trainees take on the role of a nurse, carer or doctor where they are tasked with caring for several patients. The trainee’s results are then assessed on how far they comply with the World Health Organisation’s 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene.

“According to research we only remember 10 per cent of what we read, 20 per cent of what we hear and 30 per cent of what we see,” said Mynes. “However, when simulating an action as one does as a part of VR we remember as much as 90 per cent.”

This is the ninth consecutive year that Tork will be participating in World Hand Hygiene Day, an initiative run by the Private Organizations for Patient Safety and facilitated by the World Health Organization.

“To improve hand hygiene practices, it’s important for employees to have access to consistent, hands-on training that easily transfers to their day-to-day workflows,” said Dr Claire Kilpatrick, Director of KS Healthcare Consulting.

“Sharing hand hygiene knowledge is important because hand hygiene is one of the most effective ways to keep people safe from infection, help people understand when and how to perform hand hygiene, and achieve public health targets in a cost-effective way. When the 65 million healthcare workers around the globe train and act on hand hygiene they help save lives – yours, a loved one’s and those most vulnerable in society.”  

tork.co.uk/WorldHandHygieneDay

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New from Essity are Tork Xpress® Multifold hand towel bundles that have been compressed by 50 per cent compared with standard folded Tork towels.

Essity uses compression technology to halve the amount of air in these bundles. This means the dispenser caters for double the number of customers and accommodates twice as many towels before requiring a refill.

“Businesses today deeply understand the need for access to hand hygiene,” said Tork Hand Wiping Product Director David Chalmers.

“We are continually innovating to help businesses gain more from their existing resources and benefit from sustainable hygiene. Our compressed towels increase efficiency because they require fewer refills and help to ensure that towels are always available to support hygiene routines.” 

The new compressed towels also make life easier for cleaners because twice as many will fit on to a cleaning trolley. This saves time when transporting and refilling dispensers.

The towels also offer sustainability benefits because they require up to 27 per cent less packaging material than standard Tork folded towels. They also reduce CO2 emissions from transport because double the number will fit on to the same truck.

And they allow businesses to optimise their storage capacity since twice as many towels may be stored in the same space as non-compressed alternatives.

New compressed bundles of Tork Xpress Multifold towels are particularly suitable for use in hotels, restaurants, cafés, offices and smaller healthcare settings such as clinics and GP surgeries. Tork hygiene products and services aim to meet the needs of all businesses, particularly those with smaller facilities and without dedicated on-site facility managers.

According to a study carried out by Essity, 71 per cent of cleaners wish they had access to dispenser systems that were easier to refill. Tork research also reveals that the Tork Xpress Multifold hand towel system is particularly intuitive to use and easy to refill, even for untrained personnel.

tork.co.uk/XpressCompressed

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Mitsubishi Electric has launched its new Wave^® u02 Black hands-under dryer to provide architects and facilities managers with a broad range of aesthetic choices when specifying hand dryers from the company’s leading Wave^® range.

The new model uses the company’s patented Wave^® and Anti-Bac technology, optimising the volume of air passing over the hands and curbing the growth of bacteria respectively. The Wave^® u02’s nozzle design also reduces air noise and drying time whilst producing zero waste, compared to paper towel hand-drying alternatives. Additionally, the unit requires minimal maintenance and benefits from high levels of energy efficiency thanks to its 490w power supply.

The Wave^® u02 hands-under dryer has become a popular choice among architects and facilities managers and led to growing demand for more colour choices beyond its original grey and white models. The launch of the new Wave^® u02 Black is a direct response to these requests, as Colin Townsend, Sales Manager at Mitsubishi Electric Hand Dryers explains.

“Our Wave^® u02 hand dryer has long been favoured by specifiers due to its overall performance and efficiency. It has also been designed and developed with hygiene in mind, from the antibacterial silver ions integrated into its casing and the use of highly responsive ‘NoTouch’ activation sensors over potentially contaminated start buttons.

“By launching the Wave^® u02 Black, we hope to match this extensive array of technological benefits with greater colour selection. Expanding the range to include black models will help architects and facilities managers choose hand-under dryers that suit an even wider array of bathroom designs and aesthetics.”

The Wave^® u02 Black’s impact-resistant design, including robust front and back panels and an IP-X 3 rating for water resistance, makes for easy fitting in even the most challenging installation environments.

“When designing a hands-under dryer fit for the future, it is important to look beyond aesthetics and performance alone,” Townsend concludes. “The Wave^® u02 Black was built to send a positive message to its user about a facility’s attitude towards the environment, all within an energy-efficient and reliable solution. For example, it emits just 0.58g of CO₂ per use, which is less than 3% of the 20g CO₂ emitted by paper towel alternatives, whilst also being 97% cheaper to run annually.

“Sustainability has long moved from a preference to a priority for building owners, and architects and facilities managers must be able to demonstrate their contribution towards reducing emissions in all aspects of a structure. The specification of a hygienic, energy-efficient hand dryer such as the Wave^® u02 Black can provide another avenue to demonstrate these green credentials and reduce emissions across a building’s whole life cycle.”

https://wave.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/wave-u02/

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The pandemic changed the world forever. While wearing masks and social distancing are now optional, one critical habit remains: proper handwashing, which includes thorough drying. People are washing their hands at an unprecedented rate, and that puts the restroom experience under more intense scrutiny than ever before.

“Washing your hands has always been important, as shown by the CDC mantra, ‘Clean hands save lives.’” said William Gagnon, COO, Excel Dryer. “The pandemic reminded the world of the importance of proper hand hygiene. There is also a keen focus on restrooms and how a person’s experience in them can directly affect a company’s reputation and its bottom line.”

Excel Dryer, Inc., a leader in touchless hand drying technology, combined forces with MetrixLab, a renowned, worldwide market research firm, to conduct a comprehensive, first-of-its-kind global survey called Post Pandemic Perceptions of Commercial Restrooms. The goal was to find out how architects, design professionals, business owners, facility managers and consumers feel about commercial restrooms in the post-pandemic world. The survey engaged more than 4,000 participants in the United States, Europe and Asia, aiming to capture shifts in perception and preferences regarding commercial restrooms.

No matter who you are or where you live, Excel Dryer says the results were clear:

1. The number one concern—across all demographics and locations—is cleanliness and hygiene.
2. 100 per cent agree—a dirty restroom reflects poorly on the establishment. In fact, 80 per cent of those surveyed said they would not, or might not, return to a restaurant with a dirty restroom.
3. The number one contributing factor to a dirty restroom is paper towels on the floor or overflowing trash cans.

Consumers agree a dirty restroom reflects poor management, while architects, restaurant owners and facility managers around the world find the cleanliness of a commercial restroom reflects the extent to which a business values its customers and employees.

According to Gagnon, “touchless, high-efficiency hand dryers addresses the very problem this survey highlights: when people see paper towels on a restroom floor, it looks dirty and ‘feels’ dirty”. He added: “If you’re still using paper towels, this survey shows it’s time to make a change.”

www.exceldryer.com

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From cycling gloves to woollen mittens, swabbing research by Initial Washroom Hygiene discovers that gloves used to keep hands warm in the winter could harbour FOUR TIMES more biological life than a toilet seat

Keeping our hands toasty warm during colder weather could expose Brits’ hands to potentially high levels of microbial contamination (germs). New research, based on real-world swabbing tests, has found that many gloves exceed what hygiene experts consider to be within the normal* range of biological contamination by up to 58 per cent. Those with the highest readings were found to be harbouring four times more microbial contamination than an average toilet seat**.

The swab tests were conducted using ATP* swabs and an ATP bioluminescence reader to detect levels of biological life not visible to the human eye. The tests were conducted on a variety of gloves including woollen, leather, suede gloves, and also mittens and cycling gloves.

The swabbing analysis found that over half (56 per cent) of all of those tested recorded a reading of over 500 units**, indicating a high level of contamination, with some even exceeding  4,000 units.

Of all the items swabbed, cycling gloves displayed the highest readings (2,486 units average), with woollen gloves second (618 units average), and suede gloves third (603 units average).

Although putting on gloves is a great way to keep hands warm during outdoor activities, glove wearers still need to practice good hand hygiene to help protect themselves from cross contamination.

Jamie Woodhall, UK Technical & Innovations Manager at Initial Washroom Hygiene, commented: “Putting on gloves or mittens is a great way to keep hands warm and dry during outdoor activities. However, it is worth remembering that gloves can encounter many potential contamination points – from holding handles on public transport, and opening doors, to using a phone or carrying bags of shopping. The inside of gloves can also be contaminated if they are put on with unwashed hands. While washing gloves regularly will help to minimise the level of microbial contamination inside and outside of them, my advice is for glove wearers to wash their hands before and after having them on.

“With 80 per cent of infections transmitted through hands, washing your hands regularly remains one of the most powerful tools in preventing the spread of colds and viruses. Gloves, although important in keeping us warm, do not provide a barrier to protect against bacteria and germs. You can’t afford not to wash your hands regularly, even if you have been wearing gloves.”  

Initial Washroom Hygiene recommends:

• The first line of defence in preventing the spread of illnesses is washing your hands thoroughly and often. Remember to use soap, wash for 20-25 seconds, thoroughly rinse and dry your hands with a warm air dryer or paper towel, especially after touching shared surfaces.

• Use hand sanitiser when washing facilities aren’t available.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth and if you do then wash your hands.

• To help reduce the transmission of seasonal illnesses, cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze, using a tissue or your elbow — NOT your hands (even when wearing gloves!), as you could contaminate surfaces you touch afterwards.

• Germs can easily transfer from surfaces, touchpoints and shared items onto our hands. Regularly clean and disinfect surfaces or objects that are likely to be touched by multiple hands such as door handles and rails, remote controls and light switches, to reduce the cross contamination risk.

• Dispose of used tissues immediately (REMEMBER – Catch it, Bin it!)

* ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is a molecule found in and around living cells.

About the research:

**Surface samples were taken from the inside and outside of pairs of 50 gloves and mittens in January 2025.

Toilet seat samples taken in 2012 from Initial Washroom Hygiene swabbing study, recorded an average of 220 units.

Samples were taken using sterile surface swabs and a rapid ATP analysis was undertaken on each sample to establish the level of microbial-related contamination on the surface of the items. The units are expressed as Relative Light Units by this method, with a higher ATP reading suggesting a greater level of bacterial contamination. This technique is widely used to assess the cleanliness of surfaces before and after undertaking cleaning in hospitals and other premises.

www.initial.co.uk

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