Workplace Health and Safety is not always about safety says Gary Wilcox of health and safety monitoring program Monit. Poor health environments kill around 12.6 million people each year compared to 2.4 million workplace accident deaths. As a company you must adequately provide clean water, soap (liquid or cake) as well as a hygienic way to dry the hands.
Not only is it good to look after a worker’s health, it also makes economic sense.
Providing adequate bathroom facilities:
- Reduces diarrheal illness in people with weakened immune systems by 58%
- Reduces respiratory illnesses, like colds, by 16-21%
- Reduces absenteeism due to gastrointestinal illness by 29-57%
It also reduces the chances of a worker contacting or spreading the Coronavirus where a two week quarantine for one or more workers will severely impact most small businesses.
Soap removes germs from hands and the spread of infections to others. This helps prevent infections because:
- People frequently touch their eyes, nose, and mouth without even realizing it. Germs can get into the body through the eyes, nose and mouth and make us sick.
- Germs from the improper washing of hands can get into foods and drinks while workers prepare or consume them. Germs can multiply in some types of foods or drinks, under certain conditions, and make people sick.
- Germs from unwashed hands can be transferred to other objects, like handrails, tabletops, or workplace equipment, and then transferred to another worker’s hands.
- Removing germs through handwashing therefore helps prevent diarrhea and respiratory infections and may even help prevent skin and eye infections.
Reducing absenteeism can be as simple as improving your bathroom facilities. Unfortunately improving facilities is only a small part of the answer as estimated global rates of handwashing after using the toilet are only 19%.
Therefore, workplace education around personal hygiene after using the bathroom will support a worker’s health and help reduce absenteeism. Bathroom signage can be a more subtle way of getting the message across to workers.