The true cost of poor hygiene in the workplace

[AussieNeil]

I was interested to come across this 'study' into the business impact of poor hygiene by an Australian company that naturally specialises in providing commercial hygiene services:

Initial Hygiene Great Australian Washroom Study - Facility Management Magazine:

fmmagazine.com.au/news/the-...

(You'll be prompted to sign up for further newsletters, but you can just close that window to view the article.)

The company did provide the sources for their study and a few of these make for interesting reading:

initial.com.au/fact-sources...

Nothing really new here, but did you know "Britain is ranked second in the world in terms of a risk of avian / swine flu spreading"? Thankfully the additional international traffic for the 2012 Olympics didn't cause a UK swine flu epidemic, but it does highlight the risk associated with being an international air transport hub.

Other interesting snippets:

- 35% of touch points in a hotel room become contaminated if the person staying in the room has rhinovirus (cause 50% of common colds)

- Male office workers typically have more bacteria on or around their workspace than females

What really struck me when I read this article was that the focus was on improved cleaning services - education doesn't get a mention!

If only everyone washed their hands after going to the toilet!!

Neil

Picture: 3 out of 3 pelicans recognise the importance of personal grooming. These birds put us humans to shame!