Help Stop The Spread of Colds and the Flu
We may or may not be done with the COVID-19 pandemic, but two things are for sure:
1) It's cold and flu season!
2) Hands are a big part of how diseases get passed around!
Check out this video to see an interesting and funny example of how germs can spread in a classroom (and by extension, offices, financial institutions, medical facilities, manufacturing plants, etc). (By the way, if you have time to watch it, it is a really interesting video.)
The good news is that you can take a few simple steps to encourage people in your building to wash their hands and stop diseases from spreading.
Encourage people to wash their hands and keep clean.
One of the many things COVID-19 brought attention to was how something as simple as washing your hands can help stop the spread of serious illnesses.
In the fight against disease, it is very important to teach people how to wash their hands and keep themselves clean. Facility managers can help keep their buildings healthier by reminding people to wash their hands and stay clean.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that hand washing and hygiene education in a community can reduce the number of people with gastrointestinal illnesses (like diarrhea) by up to 40%, the number of illnesses in people with weak immune systems by up to 58%, and illnesses like colds and the flu in the general population by up to 21% .
Because of this, here are some ideas to help everyone in your workplace keep their hands cleaner:
Give people information and reminders
Here are some ways to teach people in your building how important it is to wash their hands:
1) Put up signs near the sinks in the bathrooms that tell people to wash their hands and show them how to do it properly. Don't forget that how you wash is just as important as how often you wash.
2) Send the people who live in the building regular emails with pictures to help them remember how important it is to wash their hands.
3) As part of an effort to improve the health of everyone in the building, the people who live there should take part in an in-house training session about how important it is to wash their hands properly.
The CDC has free educational materials like posters, fact sheets, videos, and campaigns to help you spread the word about how important it is to wash your hands often and well. Follow this link to see some of the ways the CDC helps people talk to each other: https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/materials.html
Celebrate Global Handwashing Day
The 15th of October is always set aside as Global Handwashing Day. This year's theme from the Global Handwashing Partnership is "Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene." Global Handwashing Day is a great time and "reason" to talk about how to wash your hands and stay clean. You could hang banners, talk about the day on social media, hand out or email fact sheets, and talk about the day online to raise awareness and get people to wash their hands properly.
Make sure the bathrooms are clean and stocked.
Do the bathrooms in your building make it easy for people to wash their hands properly? If people don't want to wash their hands or don't have the right tools, it can be hard to get them to wash their hands and keep clean.
Restrooms should always be clean, work well, have enough water pressure, and have soap and paper towels available.
Check to see whether:
1) The water faucets work and give out enough warm water to wash hands easily.
2) Every soap dispenser has a constant supply of soap and works well.
3) Every paper towel dispenser works and has paper towels in it all the time.
Put hand sanitizer in important places
Even though washing hands with soap and water is usually the best way to clean them, a person may not always have access to a sink. Hand sanitizer can be used instead of washing your hands when you can't or don't want to.
The CDC says that for hand sanitizers to work, they must have at least 60% alcohol in them. But before you spend money on hand sanitizers, check the label to make sure it's real.
It is disappointing, but COVID-19 led to a rise in the sales of fake and even dangerous hand sanitizers. Some of them, for example, had methanol in them, which is known to cause serious health problems.
It's important to remember that hand sanitizers can cut down on germs in some situations, but they aren't always the best choice. This is especially true when it comes to getting rid of chemicals, pesticides, and heavy metals like lead.
More Hand Washing = Healthier Workplace
By taking a few simple steps, you can get your employees to wash their hands more often. This will help stop the spread of germs and keep them from missing work because they are sick.
About Better Business Cleaning
Better Business Cleaning can take care of all of your cleaning needs, from floor and window cleaning to janitorial services. Some businesses think it looks good when our cleaners are on-site and can be seen by customers during business hours. Others would rather have cleaning done when the business is closed. No matter what you want, our skilled cleaners will work around your schedule.
Better Business Cleaning has been in business for more than 26 years and does a lot more than just clean offices. We have clients in medical facilities, schools, warehouses, industrial facilities, manufacturing plants, retail showrooms, banks, financial institutions, corporate headgovernment buildings, and many other types of buildings.
We are conveniently located in Frederick, Colorado, and our service area goes from Denver to Fort Collins and everywhere in between, including (but not limited to) Longmont, Boulder, Erie, Louisville, Superior, and Westminister.
To learn more about the services Better Business Cleaning offers, please contact us to get a free custom quote for all your cleaning and disinfecting needs.