EDUCATIONAL & SCHOOL FACILITIES
SCHOOL’S IN SESSION
Paul Jakeway, Marketing Director at Deb UK discusses how to reduce germ transfer and encourage hand washing in schools.
At school, children are exposed to all kinds of germs and bacteria that they wouldn’t usually come into contact with at home. Children are naturally curious and exploring things by touch can cause their hands to become a breeding ground for germs and bacteria, which could make them and others seriously ill.
According to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Britain’s cases of norovirus, gastroenteritis and swine flu infections are primarily down to dirty hands. Hands are often the main vehicle for transmitting germs by contact with others and through surfaces such as door handles and toilet flushes.
54 | Tomorrow’s Cleaning July 2016
The simplest way for schools and parents to help avoid illnesses at school is that age-old mantra of effective hand washing. It is drummed into all of us from early childhood, yet it has been estimated that one in five people still fail to wash their hands after visiting the washroom.
WHAT ARE THE RISKS? Young children are placed at a substantial risk of illness through the transfer of germs within school, and are often unaware of the dangers of sub-standard hand washing. As a consequence, on average, children contract three to eight colds each year.
Hand washing correctly with soap could protect about one in three
young children who get sick with diarrhoea and almost one in five young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia. This emphasises how important it is for children to learn how to wash their hands as early as possible, in order to minimise the risk of contracting anything more harmful than a common cold.
It is important to note that water alone does not clean hands effectively. More than 75% of people either don’t wash their hands at all or don’t use soap to clean their hands properly. This lack of education about the importance of soap when washing their hands could be contributing heavily to the spread of infectious diseases in school. A survey
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