All Articles, Health & Wellness
A Third of Men Don’t Wash Hands in Public Bathrooms
| October 2, 2009 | |
| JoWehage : Head Operations Ego |
While 92% of adults say they wash their hands in public restrooms observational studies say otherwise. In an observational study of 6,076 adults, sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), only 66% of men actually washed their hands in public restrooms. The women did much better with 88% taking to the sinks.
The study was conducted in 2005, but before you think times are different because of H1N1 flu scares, think again. A survey conducted July 28 – 31, 2009 by the Bradley Corporation said a full 54% of the 1,020 respondents “wash their hands no more or less frequently” in a public restroom as a result of the H1N1 virus. The ASM found similar results in 2003, despite public concerns of the SARS virus.
This is particularly unfortunate because according to Dr. Judy Daly, “Influenza A viruses, of which swine flu is one, are fragile viruses that can be easily destroyed through proper hygiene, including use of soap and water and alcohol-based hand sanitizers, Flu viruses most frequently enter the body when contaminated hands touch mucous membranes of the nose, eyes, and mouth. Frequent hand hygiene certainly makes this transfer less likely.”
According to the CDC, scientists estimate that people who are not washing their hands often or well enough may transmit up to 80% of all infections by their hands. From doorknobs to animals to food, harmful germs can live on almost everything.
Handwashing may be your single most important act to help stop the spread of infection and stay healthy. As a reminder, hand hygiene requires soap and water or alcohol-based hand rubs. Antibacterial soaps provide no advantage.
Experts remind us to scrub with soap for at least 20 seconds. One way to track your time is to sing the Happy Birthday song or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star while you’re at it. Doing so out loud may amuse other patrons, so why not?
Of course viruses travel through the air at astonishing speeds when you sneeze, so remember to cover your mouth – but do that the right way too. Don’t sneeze into your hands. Try to sneeze into the crook of your arm or shoulder.
So what do you say guys? Let’s hit those faucets! Perhaps someone can come up with a better 20 second tune to help them along. Who has ideas?
[17 Comments] [17 Comments]
Jo Wehage
Makes me rethink the act of shaking hands with a man!
people get mad at me now that i do not shake hands after sporting events. after seeiny how many men do not clean hands after using restroom @ sticking
their hands down their pants 3 or for times during event and the flu bugs is why they should do alway with the good game lines.
Are you kidding, the handles of the sink are filled with germs, the door handle also,
to say nothing of the flush lever and the towel dispenser… I leave and use hand sanitizer.
Get real – wash your hands, and use your paper towel to open the doors, ect. What was the last study done on? hand sanitizers? i don’t think they were that great..
Hi Donna. Thanks for the “paper towel as a tool” strategy. An easy tip to follow, considering many restrooms have a trash can at the exit for easy disposal once you get the door open.
I can’t say for sure what kind of soaps were in the dispensers of those in the study. In regards to your comment about hand sanitizers – there has been a lot of debate over the use of the anti-bacterial sanitizers. (Making our immune systems weaker because we don’t fight our own battles and making bacteria strains more powerful.) They won’t help us with the flu anyway.To fight the flu virus you want soap or alcohol-based rubs.
Not that I’m against hand washing, but…
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/cmaj-questions-value-of-hand-washing-in-flu-prevention/article1308993/
Thanks for the link Geof. The article seems to imply the impact of hand washing is questionable because the data used in its consideration was “not evidence based” but more practical in nature. So, maybe they should look for another source of data?
If Dr. Judy Daly of the ASM is correct – that influenza A viruses (which includes the H1N1 strain) are fragile and easily destroyed through proper hygiene, then I think we should all make better efforts there, wouldn’t you agree?
I also found the CMAJ link contained in the article to be of interest as well. It explains the “airborne” possibilities of catching such a virus and while it doesn’t provide any numbers it lists that as the primary source of spreading the virus. There was some good logic presented there worth considering as I do think the CDC gives too much credit to hand washing alone.
I say in the end, as scientists hash out the numbers – let’s all wash our hands and cover our mouths. Agreed?
Too funny, comments from the women… you guys have probably never seen the inside of a men’s restroom….pretty disgusting… the only thing I’m touching is cleaner than the crap lurking in the restroom….there are no flowers or scented candles in the Men’s urinals…
men’s restrooms are usually filthy and not taken care of…..after washing my hands I use paper towels to open the door if it is a pull to open door and I use my foot to open the door if it is a push to open door.
yup, its true, some men and women are scumbags. I worked with a guy in a construction office. At precisely the same time every day after lunch, he would stink up the bathroom with a grand old number 2, you would hear everything as my office was right next to the bathroom, without a fan, you would smell everything too. And never once would you hear him turning on the facuet afterwards. A complete moron who got promoted by the way.
Washing your hands is a lot like brushing your teeth and using deodorant; the clueless do not understand why do it.
66% may sound low. Perhaps it is. But it’s got to be a lot better than guys in Europe. My family and I just spent two years over there and whenever I’d take our two boys into a public restroom hardly any adults ever washed their hands. It was noticeable because the boys picked up on it first. “But nobody else is washing their hands…” It made it a little challenging to reinforce hand washing, but in the end I think it’s something kids learn in the home and take with them.
It’s obviously discouraging that ANYONE leaves a restroom with dirty hands, but instead of just wishing it weren’t so or shaking our heads, there are things we could do to encourage responsible hand-washing — make it as easy and as safe as we can:
1) Restaurant restrooms are usually monitored by the host staff at the restaurant entrance. Most of these hosts are women, and mens rooms therefore don’t get as much attention from hour to hour, especially when the place gets very busy. Health inspectors need to visit restaurants at night — not just during office hours — and go to the restrooms immediately. That will force restaurant managers to take this more seriously.
2) Set up the handwashing area and the entrance/exit to allow easy handwashing with virtually no hand-contact required. There are towel dispensers with electronic sensors (expensive) or just levers that can be operated with your elbow (affordable). Faucets in the sinks can have electronic sensors (expensive) or very long handles that can be turned off with your elbow — there’s even foot pedals available for this.
3) Trash cans may look more attractive with a swinging-door lid, but what’s the point of washing your hands and then contacting a trash can to dispose of paper waste? And air-dryers are fine as options for hand drying, but if there’s no paper available then many more men will avoid washing the hands altogether, and door handles will re-infect the hands — defeating the purpose of washing altogether.
4) Provide levers as “doorknobs” instead of conventional handles, so that, again, you can use forearms or elbows to open the door.
Health Departments have created safer standards for food preparation that have reduced the incidence of food-born illness enormously the last 30-40 years. Now they need to make similar strict standards for public restrooms anywhere — gas stations, bookstores, or restaurants.
They probably don’t wipe their a## properly either, trim their ear and nose hairs, clip their fingernails, wear clean underwear, etc….
Ever travel in Texas, stop in a rest stop? I never shake hands in Texas.
The idea that everything should be sterile and germ-free is what lowers our immune system’s potentcy and creates supergerms in the first place.
If public restrooms would offer soap that’s not anti-bacterial, I would consider washing my hands in them. Until then, I’m keeping my immune system strong.
Good point about the anti-bacterial. Hoping you still run your hands under the water for a decent soak.