Are Your Hands Clean?
You may think your hands are clean after washing them but research has shown that the majority of people don’t wash their hands properly after going to the toilet. This causes harmful bacteria such as salmonella, E.coli, clostridium difficile, campylobacter and MRSA to spread. A study by the Michigan State University monitored 3,500 people after they used a public toilet and discovered that men were more guilty of using the rinse and shake technique than women. ‘A quick rinse is never enough’ says Dr Lisa Ackerley, a leading hygiene specialist. ‘Everyone needs to wash their hands properly especially after going to the bathroom.’
Dr Val Curtis an expert in hygiene and public health said that after conducting a study of commuters almost 28 percent of them had faecal bacteria on their hands. Research has found that only 37 percent of men and 61 percent of women wash their hands after using the toilet. Dr Curtis says “This makes sense because you get the feeling you might be more likely to get contaminated with something – but that may be exactly when you really need to wash. Most people only spend about six seconds washing their hands. It is recommended to wash for 15 seconds to effectively remove all of the nasty bacteria off your hands.
The HSE guidelines for washing hands are:
- Rub hands palm to palm
- Interlace the fingers as you scrub and rub around your thumbs
Dry your hands with paper towels and avoid using a towel or hand dryer. Drying your hands is really important says Ackerley. ‘If you missed anything while washing, the rubbing action will remove any bacteria.’ ‘Norovirus can survive well on hard surfaces, such as door handles, so you run the risk of picking up people’s germs. Never dry your hands on the kitchen tea towel as the germs could spread onto the dishes when you wash and dry up.’ ‘As long as you use soap it is quite hard to wash your hands badly.’ ‘It is sticky so you have to wash it off, taking the bacteria with you.’ ‘Soap doesn’t kill bacteria, it gets rid of them’. ‘This is because one end of the soap molecule attaches to water while the other end attaches to dirt (which is where the bacteria will be). ‘So as you rinse your soap-covered hands, the water strips off the soap, taking the dirt with it,’
‘When you wash your hand you should scrub the tips of your fingers against your palms to clean under the nails.’ ‘There is a lot of debate about what’s best – towel or hand dryer – but the research is inconclusive,’ says Ackerley. ‘The most important thing is that you dry your hands thoroughly.’ Studies have shown that about 85 percent of microbes are spread by wet hands, in comparison to just 0.06 percent by dry hands. ‘An advantage of using a towel cloth or paper is the rubbing action will take off any bacteria you’ve missed with washing.’
There are hand washing technique kits containing Glo germ and a UV torch which reveals just how clean or dirty your hands actually are. You can purchase a kit from hygienicsolutionsuk.com
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