FEATURE
The Power Of Colour
As health professionals constantly search for new ways to encourage good hand hygiene, Dr. Peter Barratt, Technical Manager, Initial Washroom Hygiene tells us how even a simple thing like the colour of washroom products could improve hand washing practices.
Poor hygiene cost UK businesses an estimated £4.2bn in 2013 alone due to employee illness and absence, a large proportion of which could have been easily prevented. It is therefore in the interest of business owners, facilities managers and individual employees alike to find ways of improving their hygiene practices in their workplace. Harnessing the persuasive power of colour is one new way of doing this.
The concept of colour affecting human behaviour is not a new phenomenon, and as the number of studies in this area increases, so too does our understanding of the different behavioural responses colour can elicit. Choosing the right colour for the washroom products in your business could bring real benefits to employee health (and subsequent workplace productivity) by encouraging more positive hygiene practices.
Coloured washroom products, such as Initial’s new Signature COLOUR range, are designed to harness the power of colour psychology to provoke improved hygiene habits, as research has shown for example, that 27% of office workers don’t wash their hands when visiting the washroom.
Angela Wright, Colour Psychologist and Author & Founder of the Colour Affects System, highlights the fact that there are universal, psychophysical reactions to colour that are common to us all – and they
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can be predicted. Blue for example affects our mind, yellow our emotions and green impacts on our sense of harmony and balance. However, Angela also goes on to say it is the way the colour is used, its exact tone, tint or combination with others, that influences whether it has a positive or negative impact on us. Pink for example, can conjure up feelings of nurturing and mothering, but place it in the wrong context and it can become smothering.
Angela has worked with Initial Washroom Hygiene, to identify colours that can improve behaviours in the washroom and, in consequence, workplace health and business performance.
Through following these scientifically accepted colour principles, we are able to identify colours that inspire activity and cleanliness. By then applying these colours to hygiene products, our aim is to leverage their power to drive improved hygiene behaviours. Turquoise for example, is considered the most inspiring colour of all. The shade we have selected is reminiscent of a clear ocean on a sunny day to provoke fresh, clean thoughts and motivate improved hygiene behaviours.
Crucially, all the colours selected for the Signature COLOUR range occupy colour group one. Practically, this means that they all have warm
yellow bases; psychologically, they drive positive, proactive behaviour in washroom users.
At a relatively low cost, businesses have the potential to drive better washroom behaviours which will be beneficial to them and the wider economy. By altering poor hygiene habits and instilling an environment in which best practice can flourish, improvements can be seen in employee health, work productivity and office morale, as well as having a knock-on effect on reducing employee absenteeism.
Whilst altering the colour of washroom equipment may be considered superficial and purely for the benefit of the aesthetics of the washroom, this small change should have a direct impact on washroom behaviour, which will in turn significantly reduce the chances of bacteria spreading among the workforce via cross-contamination. To further enforce this, antibacterial materials have been incorporated onto the surface of the Signature COLOUR units as an added level of comfort for those using the washroom products. Harnessing the power of colour and realising its benefits really does have the potential to reap commercial rewards for your business.
www.initial.co.uk
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