HEALTH & SAFETY


IN THE HANDS OF OTHERS


You may wash your hands every time you visit the loo, but do those around you? Tomorrow’s FM finds out about a new product being trialled that might protect you from the poor hygiene habits of others.


It’s no secret to anyone working in FM that the profession touches upon all aspects of life in a building, but now one very personal factor of life in a facility is set to become an integral part of an FM’s routine – the toilet.


Toilets are seen as a barometer for the cleanliness and image of a building, its operators and the wider brand reputation of those using the facility. But what about the hygiene of the actual end users? Is that the responsibility of the FM?


38 | TOMORROW’S FM


Germs found in public toilets are incredibly high. For example, E.coli is regularly found in bathrooms. These germs are tiny and completely invisible to the human eye, and they could be hiding anywhere: the toilet seat, the door handle, and any bathroom or toilet surface that we might touch. Worryingly, people using the public toilet might not be as clean or take care of their personal hygiene as much as we do.


Typically, we have between 10,000 and 10 million germs on our clean hands. This number doubles when


we have used the toilet. Once you come into contact with these invisible germs and then, say, eat your lunch with those unwashed hands, you could make yourself very ill, or indeed contaminate your friend, partner or child. By not washing your hands you leave yourself open to all sorts of nasty germs. That means hand washing after going to the toilet is vital.


No one expects an FM team to encourage users of communal toilets to oversee hand washing, but service providers can encourage a


twitter.com/TomorrowsFM


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66