Clean hands, strong protection: steps to defend against germs

Washing your hands is the most effective way to prevent the spread of illnesses in hospitals, care homes, offices, schools, food-handling businesses and the home. It’s widely known that many disease-causing viruses and bacteria can be spread by touch.

However, despite its proven benefits, most people don’t wash their hands effectively with soap and water. Some skip handwashing entirely, and right-handed people tend to wash their left hand more thoroughly than their right hand and vice versa.

Moreover, even when using soap, people often don’t wash their hands for long enough. While it’s recommended that we handwash for at least 20 seconds, an observational study by Michigan State University found that average washing times for men and women were a mere 6.27 and 7.07 seconds, respectively.

In this blog, we’re showing you the eight simple steps for handwashing that can help protect you against bacteria and viruses.

Why wash your hands

You use your hands to eat, touch, hold and carry things, clean, to scratch and wipe your own body or to greet other people. Hands are the part of the body that’s most exposed to germs and substances in the environment and areas shared with other people such as offices, schools, hospitals, shopping centres and public transport. Poor hand hygiene can quickly spread germs around these shared spaces via common touchpoints, such as door handles, shopping trolleys and baskets, cash points/ATMs and payment terminals, stair rails, kettles, and grab handles on trains and buses.

8 simple steps to effective handwashing

Watch this short video and read the steps below to learn how to wash your hands effectively.

1. Wet your hands under warm, running water and apply plenty of soap.
2. Wash your hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds. First, rub your palms together.
3. Interlace your fingers, rub fingers with palms facing each other, rub fingers with the right hand over the back of the left hand, and then vice versa.
4. Cusp your fingers tightly into the other palm and rub side to side.
5. Clasp your right hand around your left thumb and rub the thumb in a rotational manner and then vice versa.
6. Place the fingertips of your right hand in your left palm and rub in a circular motion backwards and forwards and then vice versa.
7. Rinse your hands under running water to remove soap. Hands can become re-contaminated if placed in a basin of standing water that has been contaminated through previous use.
8. Dry your hands thoroughly. Make sure your hands are completely dry as damp hands transfer far more bacteria to everything you touch than dry hands.

Need help remembering these steps or want to remind your students, colleagues, friends or family about the right way to wash your hands? Download our handy reminder poster here.

The hygienic washroom

There’s no disputing that good hand hygiene is essential in every business or public space, but a hygienic washroom s also essential to minimise the risk of germs spreading throughout a building. Solutions for hand hygiene, cubicle hygiene, air care and waste management can help your business create safer, healthier and more hygienic washrooms for everyone every day.