When it comes to office hand-washing, we get a C

Men are especially bad about not washing their hands, with 33 percent admitting to not washing after using the bathroom.

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Ned Smith, BusinessNewsDaily

Mon, Oct 15 2012 at 11:21 AM

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Hygiene continues to take a hit in the American workplace, according to a new survey. Although we give lip service to the value of good sanitary practices, including hand-washing after using the bathroom, those practices are frequently honored more in theory than in observance. More than a third of Americans (35 percent) have witnessed co-workers leaving facilities without washing their hands.

While many Americans (60 percent) realize that hand-washing is an important step to staying healthy, awareness does not necessarily translate into practice, according to a survey of more than 1,000 Americans sponsored by SCA, a maker of out-of-home hygiene products.

Survey respondents admitted to skimping on personal hand hygiene after coming into contact with a number of germ-laden environments and objects. Nearly four in 10 adults (39 percent) admit to not washing their hands after sneezing, coughing or blowing their nose, the survey found. More than half of Americans do not typically wash their hands after riding public transportation (59 percent), using shared exercise equipment (51 percent) or handling money (53 percent).

The survey also found that men indeed live up to the popular Madison Avenue image of the clueless male, at least when it comes to hygiene. There is a dramatic disparity between the sexes when it comes to personal hand-washing habits. More than a third of men (33 percent) admit they do not wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water after using a public restroom compared with just one in five women (20 percent).

In fact, men lag behind women in terms of whether they say they wash their hands in almost every scenario surveyed by SCA. Men are less likely than women to typically wash their hands after handling garbage, touching an animal, or sneezing or coughing. In addition, two-thirds of women (65 percent) describe hand-washing as being critical compared with just over half of men (54 percent). Men, on the other hand, were more likely to describe hand-washing as being a necessary hassle (36 percent of men compared with 26 percent of women).

"The average human hand has millions of bacteria, many good, but also sometimes some that can harm health. In addition, we can also carry viruses from touching surfaces that are contaminated," said Dr. Allison Aiello, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan and a member of SCA's advisory council. "While over half of SCA’s survey respondents believe that hand-washing is important, there are still clear gaps in the relationship between beliefs and practices. More work is needed to better understand how educating individuals about hand hygiene can translate into improving practice."

Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.We're also on Facebook & Google+.

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Comment: 1

Anna Dec 03 2012 at 6:55 AM

I'd like to give it a better rieevw out of 5 starsSo, I bought this washer about a month ago and I have to say that even though I was so excited to be doing laundry in my apartment, I found this washer not as convenient as I would have liked, considering that I had to babysit it. Here is my list of pros:1)You can do laundry in your own home! As a New Yorker I can not overstate the convenience of this. I would write more about this but since this is the reason I bought it 2)It fit about 10-12 items

.... More

in it. This included pants, skirts, underwear and shirts. I mixed it up.3)The control panel is real nice. smooth even.4)Even without the muffler,it's an okay volume (see below).Here is my list of cons:1)It arrived dented. Not only were the thingees that were supposed to connect it to the sink dented but so far I have not been able to attach the bottom sound muffler plastic plate because the body of the washer is too dented to do that.2)I have to babysit it. I know I already mentioned that but here are the deets: it would do a wash cycle and then tell me that there wasn't enough water coming through the sink. How much water do you need, little fella? The sink was turned all the way on and streaming away so maybe consider hooking it up to a fire hydrant? Waterfall?3)The metal widget to adapt to the sink (even if it had been undented) was well, unique. They give you these rubber washers which are supposed to make things connect to your sink. These washers may work for others. For me? Nyet. So I went to the hardware store, with my washer, consulted with the plumbing dept, and bought a different piece which I then installed to my sink (FYI, apparently in plumbing there are either big threads or small threads and the threads on my sink were the wrong kind).4) The drainage tube should be hung lower than the faucet. I found this difficult and logistically if you have a small apartment a bucket might be a good idea because otherwise the spin cycle does not get all the water out unless the drainage tube is lower than the input tube.5) No casters. It's on a furniture dolly because I wanted it to move around but I foolishly concluded that portable' and casters included' go together.6)Terrible, I mean TERRIBLE instruction booklet. I rate the instruction booklet negative 65 stars. I've only used my washer a few times so I'll update when I have more to say.

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