Germ Free Hands

During the Wintry Season, many of us are cooped up inside our closed up homes, offices or workplaces. This is the time when germs seem to manifest out of control, and everyone around you starts to get sick. You notice a workmate coughing or clearing their nose. Your child comes home sneezing. In fact, the average desk has over 10 million germs. It’s so easy to transfer those germs from your hands to your mouth.

Fortunately, the number one thing that you can do to keep yourself free from illness is to wash your hands with soap and water. It is the best way to stop germs from spreading.

Start with warm or hot water, do not use cold water. Use a soap you like. Make sure that you lather both sides of your hands, between the fingers, finger nails and your wrists. While washing your hands sing “Happy Birthday” slowly to allow enough time for the soap to work. Rinse your hands and dry with a clean towel or air dryer.

If soap and water is not available, you can use an anti-microbial instant hand sanitizer. They are convenient and come in many different sizes including a pocket-sized squeeze bottle. You may want to see if your boss would be interested to include wall dispensers in certain areas. So as you enter a room you can make sure your hands are clean. You can show him that your saving the company money by staying healthy.

Similar to washing your hands, you pump some sanitizer into your palms and rub on both sides of your hands, including the finger nails, between the fingers, and wrists. In addition, you want to scrape your fingernails across the palm to get the sanitizer underneath the fingernails. The sanitizer then dries soon after application.

Hand Sanitizers are usually made of alcohol. Some include moisturizers to counteract the drying effect of the alcohol. They come in a gel or foam. Hand sanitizers   are cost effective compared to the lost work days. A recent study suggested that respiratory illness can cost about $134 per employee and about 144 million school days have been lost due to illness every year.

by Noah Lam, Chief Operating Officer of CWI Medical

Related Articles

<   How Infection Control Makes A Difference In Your Office

<   The Dangers of C-Diff & AAD

<    Back to Helpful Articles