LEISURE & HOSPITALITY
EXERCISING GOOD HYGIENE STANDARDS
What are the health and hygiene risks involved in using the gym? Jamie Wright from Tork manufacturer SCA looks at the importance of hygiene in the leisure centre.
Since London hosted the Olympic Games in 2012, an increasing number of people in the UK have woken up to the notion that keeping fit is a good idea.
Personal fitness monitors such as ‘Fitbits’ have become the latest craze as more and more of us start to keep track of the steps we have taken and the calories we have burnt during any given day.
It is not surprising, then, that the gym market is thriving. More than eight million people – representing over 13% of the population – are now registered at a UK health or fitness facility. Meanwhile, an increasing number of hotels are incorporating a small gym into their properties where guests can work out during their stay.
Typical gym equipment includes treadmills, exercise bikes, cross-
46 | Tomorrow’s Cleaning September 2016
trainers and weights. All these items will be used by large numbers of people during the course of an average day. Since many of these gym-goers will have sweaty hands – and will probably have postponed their shower until after their workout – what hygiene risks do they pose for other gym members?
In fact free weights in the gym typically harbour more than 300 times the amount of bacteria as the average toilet seat according to a study published in April this year. Treadmills and exercise bikes were also found to be alarmingly ‘germy’ in the study, which was carried out by fitness equipment reviewer FitRated.
Samples were taken from weights, treadmills and exercise bikes at various gyms around the UK. All three
types of equipment were found to harbour gram-positive cocci – a type of bacteria commonly linked with skin infections and other illnesses.
Free weights, treadmills and exercise bikes also yielded gram-negative rods that can resist antibiotics and cause infections. And the researchers also found Bacillus – which can cause ear, eye and respiratory infections – on the exercise bikes and free weights. In fact around 70% of the bacteria found in the gym study were potentially harmful to humans.
Gyms pose other hygiene risks as well. For example, people store their outdoor clothes in gym lockers which are unlikely to be cleaned on a regular basis, if at all. Since changing rooms tend to be humid, steamy places these lockers create an ideal
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