Helping Jan/San Customers Build Hand Hygiene Programs

Key takeaways:
• Hand-hygiene recommendations for commercial settings should begin with a facility assessment covering traffic, dispenser placement, accessibility, user behavior, and setting-specific health risks.
• Frequent soap or towel runouts and elevated employee absenteeism can signal an underperforming hygiene program, creating opportunities for distributors to improve dispensing, supply monitoring, and product selection.
• Reduce contamination risk and support sustainability in public facilities by recommending sealed soap cartridges and, where appropriate, foam soap systems that use less product per hand wash.

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Water. Soap. Scrub. Rinse. Dry. Repeat. If only hand hygiene were that easy.

The challenge is that protecting health goes beyond stocked soap dispensers and hand-drying methods. It begins with understanding a building, its occupants, and the habits that drive compliance. 

“Ideally, a distributor does a full assessment to understand what’s going on in that building before recommending any products,” says Keith Schneringer, Senior Director of Marketing, Jan/San + Sustainability for Imperial Brady. “Once you understand what’s going on, then you can ask the client, ‘How are you currently handling your hand hygiene needs?’” 

This initial assessment should examine everything from traffic patterns and dispenser placement to accessibility requirements and user preferences. It should also account for risks relevant to the setting. 

“Healthcare facilities have an opportunity for more serious things to come into play because people go to the hospital when they are already sick,” shares Bill Fellows, a veteran cleaning industry trainer and consultant. “Schools also can easily spread illness as students are together all day.” 

No matter the facility, hand hygiene plays a vital role in stopping the spread of disease. Public restrooms are a common source of pathogen exposure, according to Dr. Charles Gerba, Professor of Virology at the University of Arizona’s Department of Environmental Science.  

“There have been outbreaks associated with public restrooms for norovirus and Hepatitis A, but the most common viruses in public restrooms are adenoviruses, which cause respiratory infections and diarrhea,” says Gerba. 

Restrooms may also transmit bacterial diseases all cleaning professionals loathe, such as MRSA and salmonella. 

Assessing Hand Hygiene Programs 

Most people in the professional cleaning landscape will say human behavior is the biggest obstacle to good hand hygiene, and studies back this belief. While approximately 70 percent of people wash their hands after using a public restroom, only half use soap, according to Gerba’s research.  

Even when people wash their hands, they fail to do so correctly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people wash hands for 20 seconds, but research suggests the average time Americans actually spend cleaning their hands is 11 to 14 seconds. 

“Only about 15 percent of the people coming out of a public restroom have adequately washed their hands,” Gerba notes. 

These statistics highlight why distributors must evaluate how hand hygiene programs function in the real world. One sign that a program is underperforming is frequent product runouts. 

“If things are empty all the time, maybe the client has the wrong dispensing system,” Schneringer says. “It’s essential to monitor the client to make sure they have adequate supplies of hand soap and towels.” 

Frequent employee absenteeism for an end user is another sign that a hand hygiene program is falling short. 

“If the client has a lot of call outs, people being sick, there’s something wrong with the environment,” he adds. “While hand hygiene is only one factor, it often plays a significant role in reducing illness transmission.” 

Soap is part of the foundation of every hand hygiene program. Distributors can add value by guiding customers to the right formulations and dispensing systems. 

One solution distributors should avoid recommending is bulk, refillable soap dispensers because of the potential for bacterial growth. Though some facilities still use these dispensers, most have switched to sealed cartridge systems to reduce contamination risks. 

“Now, they have a sealed bottle that dispenses the soap and when it’s empty, frontline workers change the bottle rather than refilling it,” Gerba says. 

Distributors should also help customers choose between foam and liquid formulations. 

“From a sustainability perspective, foam soap is preferable because you will use less actual soap product for each hand wash,” Schneringer shares. “Using foam soap can help facilities reduce consumption while supporting their sustainability goals.” 

At the same time, customer preferences still matter. Some customers and their end users prefer lotion soap, which costs less. 

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Elements of a Good Hand Hygiene Program