Inspiring confidence, staying safe: maximising washroom safety post-pandemic
June 3, 2021
Anyone operating public-facing premises of significant scale or serving food and drink will be familiar with and experienced in providing washroom facilities for customers and visitors.
But whilst hygiene and infection control have always been priorities in the operation of safe public washrooms, Covid-19 has brought additional pressures as we all seek to ensure these essential facilities are not a weak point in the protections we’ve introduced across society to manage the pandemic.
Some studies have suggested that the public have felt much more uneasy about using public washrooms since the start of the pandemic, particularly as lockdown restrictions have enabled shopping and leisure trips to resume. So what can building owners and managers do in addition to their usual cleaning and maintenance regimes to inspire confidence and public trust?
One US study of over 1,000 people found that a huge majority (84 per cent) said they think it’s important to have touchless fixtures in public washrooms, and nearly 70 per cent say they’re more likely to return to a business that has these touchless options. In addition, 56 per cent said they have a negative impression of a business that doesn’t have touchless fixtures in areas such as flushers, taps and entrance doors.
Getting back to basics with touchless technology’s help
So where to begin in rebuilding confidence? The Scottish Government has published useful guidance that is good advice for anyone operating a washroom wherever they are in the UK. In respect of how to operate toilets and washrooms, they highlight five things that operators should do:
- Conduct routine checks and take all measures appropriate to reopening after a prolonged closure, e.g. consideration of requirements for legionella risk management due to stagnant water in plumbing systems
- Conduct routine checks to ensure that toilets and their flushing operations as well as hand dryers are working effectively to minimise as much as possible the generation of either aerosols/and or droplets
- Review all toilet and sanitary facilities (including disabled and baby change areas) to determine whether the fixtures and fittings are in good working order and replace or repair if not
- Make adjustments in areas such as signage, taping off areas and floor markings to ensure physical distancing and facilitate good hand and other hygiene
- Consider the need for additional waste management arrangements
Thorough hand washing is a particular area of focus in the Scottish Government guidance. Here the guidance stresses the importance of ensuring that liquid soap is provided like PURELL foam soap available from LowEnergyHandDryers.com and that there is adequate stock at all times.
It also suggests that push/sensor taps are adjusted to encourage 20 seconds of hand washing and that consideration should be given to providing hand sanitiser gel such as our Clinell gel pump or Clinell sanitiser dispensers at the entry and exit from the facility.
Hand drying focus
The guidance reminds operators to provide reliable hand-drying facilities which is covered through our range of low energy automatic hand dryers. We believe these are far preferable to paper towels because the dispensers can easily run out during the hours of operation between cleaning and maintenance cycles leaving washroom users with no hand drying option. Paper towels also generate large amounts of waste which will inevitably accumulate more quickly given that people are currently extremely hygiene conscious.
The LowEnergyHandDryers.com range of dryers includes the compact, powerful Diamond Dryer which is ideal for washrooms with limited space, and the Biodrier Executive, an ultra high speed, low noise (58db) dryer with a low 700W energy usage and a 5 year warranty thanks to its long lasting brushless motor.
Minimising contact with the touchless washroom
Using automatic hand dryers is just one way to reduce the requirement for surfaces to be touched by washroom users once hands have been washed, which the Scottish Government advises.
This is why LowEnergyHandDryers.com offers a complete range of solutions for the touchless washroom. From automatic hand sanitiser dispensers and modular touch-free foam soap dispensers, to automatic taps and no-touch toilet flush solutions, we have everything a washroom operator would need to optimise safety and minimise Covid transmission risk.
One additional consideration would be to install air purification technology in the form of our Biozone solutions. These are installed on the wall or ceiling of washrooms and work in the background to reduce airborne virus transmission – including Covid-19 – as well as removing unpleasant odours. They are maintenance free with no filters to clean, requiring only a simple annual UV lamp replacement.
If you would like to find out more about the washroom solutions available from LowEnergyHandDryers.com please contact us.
Anyone operating public-facing premises of significant scale or serving food and drink will be familiar with and experienced in providing washroom facilities for customers and visitors.
But whilst hygiene and infection control have always been priorities in the operation of safe public washrooms, Covid-19 has brought additional pressures as we all seek to ensure these essential facilities are not a weak point in the protections we’ve introduced across society to manage the pandemic.
Some studies have suggested that the public have felt much more uneasy about using public washrooms since the start of the pandemic, particularly as lockdown restrictions have enabled shopping and leisure trips to resume. So what can building owners and managers do in addition to their usual cleaning and maintenance regimes to inspire confidence and public trust?
One US study of over 1,000 people found that a huge majority (84 per cent) said they think it’s important to have touchless fixtures in public washrooms, and nearly 70 per cent say they’re more likely to return to a business that has these touchless options. In addition, 56 per cent said they have a negative impression of a business that doesn’t have touchless fixtures in areas such as flushers, taps and entrance doors.
Getting back to basics with touchless technology’s help
So where to begin in rebuilding confidence? The Scottish Government has published useful guidance that is good advice for anyone operating a washroom wherever they are in the UK. In respect of how to operate toilets and washrooms, they highlight five things that operators should do:
- Conduct routine checks and take all measures appropriate to reopening after a prolonged closure, e.g. consideration of requirements for legionella risk management due to stagnant water in plumbing systems
- Conduct routine checks to ensure that toilets and their flushing operations as well as hand dryers are working effectively to minimise as much as possible the generation of either aerosols/and or droplets
- Review all toilet and sanitary facilities (including disabled and baby change areas) to determine whether the fixtures and fittings are in good working order and replace or repair if not
- Make adjustments in areas such as signage, taping off areas and floor markings to ensure physical distancing and facilitate good hand and other hygiene
- Consider the need for additional waste management arrangements
Thorough hand washing is a particular area of focus in the Scottish Government guidance. Here the guidance stresses the importance of ensuring that liquid soap is provided like PURELL foam soap available from LowEnergyHandDryers.com and that there is adequate stock at all times.
It also suggests that push/sensor taps are adjusted to encourage 20 seconds of hand washing and that consideration should be given to providing hand sanitiser gel such as our Clinell gel pump or Clinell sanitiser dispensers at the entry and exit from the facility.
Hand drying focus
The guidance reminds operators to provide reliable hand-drying facilities which is covered through our range of low energy automatic hand dryers. We believe these are far preferable to paper towels because the dispensers can easily run out during the hours of operation between cleaning and maintenance cycles leaving washroom users with no hand drying option. Paper towels also generate large amounts of waste which will inevitably accumulate more quickly given that people are currently extremely hygiene conscious.
The LowEnergyHandDryers.com range of dryers includes the compact, powerful Diamond Dryer which is ideal for washrooms with limited space, and the Biodrier Executive, an ultra high speed, low noise (58db) dryer with a low 700W energy usage and a 5 year warranty thanks to its long lasting brushless motor.
Minimising contact with the touchless washroom
Using automatic hand dryers is just one way to reduce the requirement for surfaces to be touched by washroom users once hands have been washed, which the Scottish Government advises.
This is why LowEnergyHandDryers.com offers a complete range of solutions for the touchless washroom. From automatic hand sanitiser dispensers and modular touch-free foam soap dispensers, to automatic taps and no-touch toilet flush solutions, we have everything a washroom operator would need to optimise safety and minimise Covid transmission risk.
One additional consideration would be to install air purification technology in the form of our Biozone solutions. These are installed on the wall or ceiling of washrooms and work in the background to reduce airborne virus transmission – including Covid-19 – as well as removing unpleasant odours. They are maintenance free with no filters to clean, requiring only a simple annual UV lamp replacement.
If you would like to find out more about the washroom solutions available from LowEnergyHandDryers.com please contact us.