Hand hygiene tips for back to school
With schools opening their gates once again, this article looks at hand hygiene tips to help keep staff and students safe over the coming months.
With schools across the UK re-opening, talk has once again turned to keeping teachers and students safe. Hygiene played a pivotal role when schools re-opened following last year’s lock-down, and it will be just as important this time around.
In this blog, we look at hand hygiene tips for schools and equipment to support this.
The importance of hand hygiene in schools
Keeping your hands clean to protect yourself and others has been a key message since the outset of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Whilst it can be argued that the responsibility for cleaning and drying hands ultimately lies with the individual, schools have a duty of care to their students. They also have a responsibility to provide an environment that’s as safe as possible.
Having well-equipped washrooms as well as educating staff and students about effective hand hygiene can help reinforce and maintain good hygiene standards.
Hand hygiene tips for schools
There are a number of hand hygiene tips schools can follow to promote effective hand hygiene. These include:
1) Creating reminders for staff and students
Placing laminated notices by sinks in school washrooms can encourage staff and students to thoroughly wash, dry and sanitise their hands.
These notices should also discourage them from taking smartphones into washrooms as these can easily pick up germs which can then transfer to freshly-washed hands.
2) Installing no-touch soap and sanitiser dispensers
Considering the amount of traffic school washrooms see, installing no-touch soap and sanitiser dispensers is a savvy move to reduce the spread of germs.
3) Opting for touch-free hand dryers
A recent study by Dyson showed that 40% of people are worried about “having to press physical buttons” on hand dryers.
Hand drying is a crucial element of hand hygiene as “damp hands can transfer up to 1000 times more bacteria than dry hands” (Dyson). Concerns about touch-operated hand dryers need to be addressed so that people don’t forego hand drying altogether!
Replacing older-style hand dryers with sensor-activated models, like the Dyson Airblade™, will alleviate these concerns and avoid your staff and students spreading bacteria by pushing buttons.
4) Choosing hand dryers with a HEPA filter
High Efficiency Particulate Air (or HEPA) filters are proven to capture 99.95% of particles including bacteria and viruses from your washroom air.
Hand dryers like the Dyson Airblade™ feature a HEPA filter as standard. This means your staff and students can dry their hands with HEPA-purified air rather than dirty air that’s been circulating in your washroom.
5) Using mobile hand washing stations
Mobile hand washing stations are a great option for schools that need hand washing facilities in areas that are outside of the main water supply. Large wheels and a handle make it easy to move and position them where you need to. They come with a large refillable tank and can wash up to 150 pairs of hands per fill!
At Utility Rentals, we can help your school to maintain robust hand hygiene. We offer a range of school-friendly Dyson Airblade™ hand dryers via our flexible leasing agreements.
We also have a large selection of mobile hand washing stations, which you can rent from as little as £1.65 per week!
Choosing to rent this equipment rather than purchase it means you can start using this technology straight away, with no upfront costs. So, if your school needs to upgrade its equipment now, you don’t need to wait!
For more about equipment to encourage good hand hygiene in your school, get in touch today!
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