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USING TECH TO IMPROVE HYGIENE Washrooms cannot be overlooked when it comes to the health and safety of patients, visitors, and staff by Anthony Hall
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n the wake of the pandemic, focus on health and hygiene has never been so prevalent. Taking a proactive approach to the hygiene of health and care facilities can help to alleviate more strain on those facilities and their owners and manager, as well as better support the health and safety of patients, visitors, and staff. Technology can play an important role, with materials and mechanisms like filtration helping to improve hygiene in public spaces. Shared washrooms are an important place to start when considering how to improve hygiene within health and care facilities. Our 2021 global hand hygiene survey found that 65 per cent of respondents were more concerned about visiting public washrooms than they were the previous year, highlighting empty paper towel dispensers among their top five frustrations along with a lack of toilet paper, unclean toilets, no soap, and blocked toilets. The survey also found that 24 per cent of Canadians were worried about drying their hands with dirty air from dryers.1 This is where HEPA filters can be beneficial, purifying the air used to dry hands. This filtration technology can catch 99.97 per cent of particles as small as 0.3 microns, including bacteria and viruses.2 Canadians surveyed said that if a washroom did not have any working hand dryers or paper towels, 32 per cent would let their hands dry naturally while 19 per cent would wipe them on their clothes. Both options present risks of undoing the work of cleaning their hands in the first place. Considering damp hands can transfer up to 1,000 times more bacteria than dry hands3, health and care facilities must ensure they are providing hygienic drying solutions so that pa32 / FACILITY CLEANING & MAINTENANCE / SUMMER 2022
