Workplace Washroom Woes

Tork of SCA Tissue Europe, UK, has in its report highlighted the general perceptions of washrooms at work. A study polled around 2,500 people in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and Russia on their workplace washroom habits. Nearly half of respondents have said that they avoid using the washroom at work if it were not sufficiently clean. About 72% of people felt that clean toilets had a positive impact on their job satisfaction.

In another research carried out for the European Tissue Symposium has revealed that 61% of washroom visitors preferred disposable towels compared with only 31% preferring warm-air dryers. Where paper disposables are provided, the quality of the towels can also have an effect on hygiene standards. Studies carried out in hospitals have revealed that hand hygiene among staff improves when softer towels are made available. This is because softer towels are less likely to cause chapping and soreness, which is a risk when hands are dried frequently with harsher, more abrasive towels.

The NHS has taken this in board and hospital trusts throughout the country have been equipping their washrooms with softer paper towels over the past few years. These have replaced the harsh, green towels that were once the norm in the healthcare industry.

Equipping a workplace washroom with good hand hygiene facilities is a major step in keeping staff healthy. But, other measures can also be of help, ones that are integral to the washroom design.

For example, automatic taps and toilet flush systems are increasingly replacing manual ones to prevent germs from being transferred to the fittings. Hands-free soap dispensers are becoming more common and soap bars are rarely seen in today’s workplace washrooms.

Many washrooms are now designed to have no door handles on the outer door to prevent cross contamination. Traditional doors have been replaced by a swing door or a partition that shields the washroom without actually closing it off. Hand hygiene will obviously suffer if soaps and hand towels run out, and regular maintenance checks on the workplace washroom should prevent this from happening.

Many employees today regard the washrooms as an extension to their workplace. The United Minds survey showed that 48% of respondents admitted to regularly sending SMS messages from the washrooms at work, while around half carried on mobile telephone conversations in the toilet. A further six percent sent emails while three percent worked on their laptops.

While most managers would prefer to see their staff at their desks, it is interesting to note that employees no longer see bathroom breaks as wasted time, but an extension to their working day.

Since the washroom is an integral part of the workplace environment, it makes sense to ensure that it a hygienic, pleasant and user-friendly facility. This will help to increase productivity, raise staff morale and more importantly, prevent the spread of infections.