Hand sanitising forms the first line of defence

Keeping Coronavirus infection out of the workplace

Author: Dee Jones/17 June 2020/Categories: HEALTH & SAFETY, Personal safety at work, Creating safe working conditions, WORKPLACE ADVICE, A safe, clean environment

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As the lockdown eases across the UK, thousands of businesses and public buildings are having to consider how they can minimise the risk of infection from entering their premises. The common advice given by Public Health England (PHE) along with their advice supported by The Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) is that there are 'first lines' of defence. Advice on formulating your plan and risk assessment is detailed by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) in a useful format that should be considered by all employers and persons responsible for minimising the risk. Part 7 of this advice centres around one of those 'first lines', namely cleaning, hygiene and hand sanitisers. This is an important aspect of your plan and one that you should carefully consider. The recommendation is that the following facilities should be made available at the point of entry or around those points that are deemed to be essential parts of the building like toilets, washrooms, canteens, restaurants and generally any point where hygiene needs to be effectively controlled:

Provide hand washing facilities with running water, soap and paper towels.
Provide hand sanitiser at locations in addition to washrooms.
Provide hand sanitiser nearby for people getting in and out of vehicles or handling deliveries, if they are unable to wash their hands.

Sanitisation of hands is best achieved where the actual hand does not in fact touch the dispensing mechanism. The use of foot operated dispensing machines can provide you with the best method of protection without the risk of multiple users touching the liquid plunger.

The foot operated hand sanitiser is particularly appealing where there are considerable numbers of users in quick succession. Points of access to buildings can get extremely busy at certain times of the working day and this type of unit will help to speed up the process of sanitising hands safely.

For areas that perhaps have a lower footfall of users or are considered to be of a lower infection risk point, then there are various hand operated sanitisers that will provide for most situations where good hand sanitisation is required.