Tag Archives: hand hygiene

Handwashing Saves Lives

Hand hygiene hacks—how to make hand washing fun for kids!

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Good handwashing techniques are important to prevent infection.

Many adults would likely say they know how to wash their hands; after all, it’s something they’ve been doing since they were kids.

Most of these same adults would say children need to learn how to properly wash their hands.

But how do you make it fun for everyone, while preventing the spread of germs?

Check out Clutterbug‘s fun soap tutorial here:

So, now you have made it fun. But how can you tell if it was effective?

GlitterBug Gel and GlitterBug Potion are excellent products to aid in teaching proper hand hygiene to kids and adults alike.

Both are intended to show how effective your current hand-cleaning methods are, and in turn, both products teach better techniques for hand-washing.

Which product you need depends on how you’re cleaning your hands. If you mainly use hand sanitizer, you should use GlitterBug Gel. If you usually wash with soap and water, GlitterBug Potion is for you. 

So have fun—and be clean!

Do you have any other fun ideas on hand hygiene? Please comment below!

 

Handwashing Saves Lives

Resolving to Practice Good Hand Hygiene

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Did you make any resolutions for the new year? January is almost over, so let’s check in: how are those resolutions going for you? If the mere thought of it made you slide down in your seat a little bit, you’re not alone. According to a recent survey, 41 percent of Americans usually make New Year’s Resolutions, but only 9.2 percent feel they’ve been able to be successful in keeping their resolution.

The good news is, while it’s a trendy tradition to resolve to make improvements at the beginning of the new year, it’s never too late to begin to make positive changes. Of the resolutions mentioned in the survey, the most common types were those related to self-improvement. Health-related goals are at the top of the list. So if you’re looking for a quick way to be successful in sticking to your resolutions, here’s one of the easiest and most important things you can do: resolve to practice good hand hygiene.

As we’ve heard from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ‘Handwashing is one of the best ways to protect yourself and your family from getting sick.’ When you avoid contacting and spreading illness, you’re able to tackle those other resolutions (like getting to the gym, right?). Make a family or workplace goal to wash hands regularly so it becomes a habit. Review proper hygiene methods with GlitterBug Gel and GlitterBug Potion.

Healthy living begins with small changes made daily. Commit today to practice good hand hygiene, enjoy better overall health, and move on to those other goals that lead to a better life (and success in keeping resolutions!). Make this new year happy and healthy!

Sources:

http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/

https://www.cdc.gov/features/handwashing/

http://www.brevis.com/blog/2016/08/glitterbug-gel-or-potion-that-is-the-question/

Image: http://www.freeimages.com/photo/washing-hands-1375412

Hand Hygiene, Infection prevention

What About Drying Your Hands?

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Have you ever noticed someone exiting a restroom while shaking their wet hands? Is drying your hands important after you wash your hands? Maybe you’ve done it, too– you’ve taken the time to properly wash, but you’re in a hurry, and don’t want to take the extra time to get paper towels or stand near an air dryer.

Hand drying is an important part of hand hygiene, and shouldn’t be skipped. The reason is simple: germs can be transferred more easily to and from wet hands than dry hands.

Which method, then, should you choose? Should you dry your hands with towels (paper or otherwise), or use an air dryer? There isn’t conclusive research on this topic, as most studies compare residual microbes (not just germs) remaining on hands following different drying methods. Microbes are tiny living organisms which may or may not cause disease, and it has not been proven that removing microbes from hands is linked to better health.

What is clear, however, is the point that using a clean towel or air drying hands is the proper final step in effective hand-washing. So the next time you’re tempted to shake your hands dry or rub your hands on your clothes, pause and take the 60 seconds or so needed to face the world with clean, dry hands.

GlitterBug handwashing products

Source:
Show me the science handwashing (cdc.gov)

Food-borne illness

Tips for a Clean and Healthy Thanksgiving

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This week families and friends will gather to give thanks, make memories, and share delicious meals. Whether you’re hosting or traveling, you can take precautions to help protect your loved ones from sharing any sickness during your visits.

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Safely handle the turkey Frozen turkeys should be thawed in cold water (changed every 30 minutes), never on a countertop. Cooking your turkey should be done in an oven set to at least 325° F, and cooking time will vary depending on the weight of the bird. The turkey is done when it has reached an internal temperature of 165° F (use a digital thermometer, and check the turkey’s thickest areas of the breast, thigh, and wing joint).  

Keep all kitchen areas clean Wash utensils, food prep areas, and, yes, HANDS. Hot water and soap will get rid of illness-causing bacteria. It’s especially important to ALWAYS wash your hands and all equipment before and after working with raw meat, poultry, or seafood so you don’t spread bacteria that live in these uncooked foods.

Don’t ignore the leftovers Separate cooked foods into small containers, and refrigerate or freeze immediately. In smaller portions, they’ll be preserved faster and more evenly, and later they’ll be easier to reheat as needed.

Food handling errors and inadequate cooking are the most common problems leading to poultry-associated foodborne disease outbreaks in the U.S. Properly handling food and keeping up with cleaning up will help keep those illnesses at bay.

Pass the turkey, not the germs. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Sources:

http://www.cleaninginstitute.org/clean_living/thanksgiving_tips.aspx

http://www.cdc.gov/features/turkeytime/

http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/groups/consumers.html

Handwashing Saves Lives

Back to School with GlitterBug

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With so many kids going back to school, it’s a great time to remind everyone of the importance of washing their hands.

Who better to teach a hand-washing lesson to kids than kids themselves? Let’s see what these kids have to say.

Share the video with kids you know. Help them understand the importance of washing their hands the right way – “The GlitterBug Way.”

 

Handwashing Saves Lives, Infection prevention

Jimmy Kimmel and Guillermo: Learning the Correct Way to Wash Hands

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Learning to wash your hands the right way is no laughing matter. Jimmy Kimmel wanted to make sure he was doing it right, so he reached out to Dr. Poland from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, who is a specialist in infectious disease.

Check the video out below, and then CLICK HERE to look at all the GLITTERBUG kits that can help ensure you are washing your hands correctly too!

Food-borne illness, Handwashing Saves Lives, Infection prevention

The filthy dirty truth about handwashing and hygiene in public restrooms

hygiene habits in public restrooms

We’ve all been there: You have to “go” and you’re nowhere near home so you have a choice: shame yourself or (gasp!) use a public restroom. So you consult a phone app to find the closest clean restroom (yes, there are several apps) and enroute to your designated clean loo you strategize how to get your business done and come out unscathed. How do you get IN or OUT of the restroom without touching the door handle, for instance? Do you use your elbow? Do you grab a tissue or moist wipe from the pack you always keep handy? Same goes for the stall door. And what if the seat is in the wrong position? You can always employ the squat-and-hover method and flush the toilet with your foot.

Discussing the variations is like watching a skit on Saturday Night Live. Let’s say you flushed the toilet with your foot. Well, that means the next person might use their hands and whatever was on your shoe is now on their hands. And vice versa. You used a paper towel to open the door, but there’s no garbage to dispose of the now dirty towel…so where do you put it? And let’s say you placed your handbag or backpack on the hook on the stall door, but what was on the hook before you got there? Because you may be taking it with you. It’s a vicious cycle. Is there a solution?

After one of the largest handwashing surveys in the UK revealed some “deplorable habits” recently, a company there launched a product to promote hand hygiene and shame bad hygiene by displaying rates on screens in bathrooms. The product was piloted across different types of businesses such as education, office and retail facilities as well as other sectors where good hand hygiene is essential—and the company claims the “informal nudge” and increased peer pressure helped drive good behavior rates up dramatically. “Hand washing rates rose to 90 per cent within two days of the data being displayed, before stabilising between 80 per cent and 85 per cent.”

Of course, we never tire of handwashing discussions around here. Now, another new survey from restroom fixture manufacturer Bradley Corporation has gone and given us more fodder by covering the actions many of us take to avoid touching anything in a restroom. Sounds oddly familiar and we’re not alone: 57% of people using public restrooms operate the flusher with their foot; 55% use paper towels with the door handle; 45% open and close the door with behind (we assume that’s a hip or bum); and 69% of people use their elbows to avoid all contact in a public restroom.

We look forward to a world where 100% of respondents are washing their hands, but in the meantime we’ll take an increase in people using paper towels, elbows, feet and bums, too.  Of course, there’s always room for improvement when it comes to the state of public restrooms. In fact, an unpleasant restroom experience can create a damaging and lasting impression for a business—and that’s bad for business. According to the Bradley survey, the majority of consumers believe an unclean restroom indicates poor management (69%), lowers their opinion of the company (67% ) and signifies that the business doesn’t care about customers (63%).

Which brings us to another improvement we’re thrilled to see in the business of taking care of our business: clean public restroom apps. There are several out there and we’re not making a recommendation, but it can’t be worse than going to a public restroom without some kind of head’s up.

  • Sit or Squat is brought to you by none other than Charmin, the makers of toilet paper and it has one purpose: to identify bathrooms around you and let you know if they’re nice and clean . . . or not so nice. This app is crowd-sourced, but it receives mixed feedback from users.
  • Toilet Finder uses the slogan “May the flush be with you” and claims its database to includes more than 70,000 public-accessible restrooms.
  • Whizzer claims to be the ultimate bathroom locator and lets you search by current location to find clean restrooms, those that are open late at night, and those with showers. You can also search to include baby changing stations, feminine hygiene products, and can even specify just how clean you want the restroom to be. You can even follow them on Twitter!
  • Diaroogle.com calls themselves “the premier toilet search engine” and when the time comes for us to go, we really hope they’re right.
  • Bathroom Scout offers turn-by-turn navigation can lead you directly to blessed relief. If imagery is available on street view, “Bathroom Scout” can also show you the location around the bathroom, providing added peace of mind.
  • Where to Wee is an app that helps you find and rate restrooms worldwide. “Whether it’s a road-trip that never seems to end, or an endless line in front of the women’s restroom: when you gotta go, you gotta know.