Protecting your hands is important, not only for work, but for your quality of life as well. While the focus of the month is proper clothing, let’s focus on the proper hygiene habits to protect your hands and in turn your body. Handwashing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to prevent many types of illnesses and the potential for injury caused by chemicals; both at work and at home.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has outlined when you should was your hands, the right way to wash your hands and ways to protect yourself if you do not have access to soap and clean water.
To help stop the spreading of germs, you should wash your hands often, especially:
- Before, during and after preparing food
- Before eating food
- Before caring for someone who is sick
- Before and after treating a cut or wound
- After using the toilet
- After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
The correct way to wash your hands (every time):
- Wet your hands with clean, running water, turn off the tap and apply soap.
- Lather your hands by rubbing them together with soap. Be sure that you lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers and under your nails.
- Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Not sure how long that really is? Say the phrase “Safety Starts with Me at Home, Work and Play” ten times (we did the math).
- Rinse your hands under clean, running water and turn off the tap with your elbow or wrist.
- Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.
If you do not have immediate access to soap and clean water, the best alternative is to use an alcohol based hand sanitizer, containing at least 60% alcohol. Hand sanitizers can reduce the amount of germs, however they will not eliminate all types of germs, soap and water is always the preferred method.
If you have a chemical substance on your hands, know the procedure for skin contact as found in the first aid section of the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) or on the container label.
More information is available through the CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/features/handwashing/ or the CCOHS at http://www.ccohs.ca/pandemic/subject/handwashing.html
The Safety Moment bulletin is a periodic communication on safety issues from the G4S Americas Safety Group.
