Health and Safety Action Notice 2007/21 - Handwashing guidance
This was distributed to the staff of one of out customers. I must confess that we found the whole thing rather amusing having leaned most of it before even going to school. Sorry about that. :-)
Appendix 1
Health and Safety Action Notice 2007_21 – Handwashing Guidance
EFFECTIVE HAND HYGIENE
1. Why and when to wash our hands
· Effective handwashing allows germs on our hands to be removed. Failure to wash our hands can lead to other people or food becoming in contact with this bacteria. Some germs can actually live on our hands for up to three hours.
· The amount of germs on our hands doubles after going to the toilet therefore strict hand hygiene is essential after using the toilet. Gastroenteritis, a common illness that causes vomiting and diarrhoea is commonly spread by contamination due to poor hygiene and poor handwashing techniques.
2. The important times to wash your hands include:
Before:
· preparing food,
· eating,
· giving medicines,
· looking after the elderly or young.
· starting work, especially if handling food.
· putting in contact lenses
Between:
· handling raw foods or touching any other food or kitchen utensils.
After:
· handling raw foods,
· going to the toilet,
· touching rubbish or waste bins,
· changing nappies,
· caring for the sick,
· coughing or sneezing,
· handling animals.
3. How to wash your hands effectively:
This is best performed with soap and running water.
1. Wet your hands with warm running water.
2. Place soap in your palms and rub palm to palm.
3. Rub with your fingers interlaced to disperse the soap.
4. Ensure soap reaches the backs of your hands and between your fingers.
5. Ensure thumbs are covered with soap.
6. Rinse all soap off hands.
7. Careful drying is best performed with a paper towel.
8. Ensure the backs of your hands are dry and work towel between your fingers to dry throughly.
9. Finally ensure nail and under nails are dried throughly.
See 10 steps to effective hand hygiene flier attached