ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

More than 50 per cent of workers say they've seen a colleague leave a workplace washroom without washing his or her hands, according to a new study.

And 42 per cent of respondents said they had experienced issues such as unpleasant smells, dirty facilities, scattered paper towels or clogged toilets at the washrooms at work.

These were among the results of the Bradley Corporation's latest Healthy Hand Washing Survey which polled 1,035 adults across the US. The study was published this summer amid concerns that the number of flu cases across the US was rising.

A total of 56 per cent of respondents said they frequently or occasionally saw a co-worker leaving the toilet without washing their hands, with the issue appearing to be more widespread among men than women. Around 63 per cent of men claimed to have witnessed colleagues leaving the gents' without washing their hands compared with 49 per cent of women seeing female co-workers doing the same.

"Hand washing with warm water and soap is a simple and effective way of reducing the risk of contracting viral infections like the flu or the common cold," says medical microbiologist from Saint Joseph's University Philadelphia Michael McCann. "Getting the virus on your hands and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth is a common way for people to become infected - and effective hand washing can reduce that risk."

When asked about their hand washing habits in public washrooms, just two-thirds of respondents said they always wash their hands while 38 per cent said they frequently see others leaving without washing.