Handwashing: Why are the British so bad at washing their hands?

[nicholab]

BBC News - Handwashing: Why are the British so bad at washing their hands? as a man I am disgusted that men only 32% of men wash their hands after using the loo!! I always wash my hands when I get home.

[pcstru]

Ugh. I don't want to think about people using compressed air to clean keyboards.

[elsiegee40]

Working in a primary school, I wash my hands every 5 minutes or so it seems. Schools are a breeding ground for every germ going... and most of them seem to be on the Under 8s!

[plexer]

Ok who read that article and then immediately went and cleaned their hands?

 

Ben

[witch]

...which is why you should NEVER eat any bar snacks - I think there was a study once which investigated peanuts on the bar and they found several different lots of urine on them...URRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH

[TechMonkey]

Interesting though as if we swing the other way and start washing all the time, using anti-bacterial gels etc, then all those bacteria that naturally occurs on your hands will be destroyed and surely that will cause issues?

 

One study I read stated that hospitals are so sterile now that bad germs can actually breed easier. With all the windows sealed and disinfectant sloshed around, natural bacteria is eradicated which leaves a better ecosystem for bad bacteria, less competition.

 

I always wash my hands after the loo and after certain peoples keyboards but I also don't feel the need to wash like Lady Macbeth and have never gone down with a major illness here in many years. I put it down to having built up an immunity and having constant exposure to the nasties (germs not staff... although....).

[teejay]

...which is why you should NEVER eat any bar snacks - I think there was a study once which investigated peanuts on the bar and they found several different lots of urine on them...URRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH

 

You'll probably find higher levels of urine on the tap you just used to wash your hands. Think about it, what was the previous action most people will have done just before washing their hands?

 

We have an amazing immune system which needs to be kept busy, so it's not something to worry about in normal life.

 

Oh, I do wash my hands after...

[twin--turbo]

On exiting the loo, don't grab the door handle, use a little finger right at the top

[laserblazer]

On exiting the loo, don't grab the door handle, use a little finger right at the top

 

I do that and lift the toilet seat with my foot.

[rich_tech]

It is something that people just don't seem to do here, I've been to the toilet in restaraunt's and bars and people just don't wash their hands, which really does make you wonder, door handles and taps are a bit of a nightmare in public places because of that.

 

I personally have a thing about keeping my hands clean too, if I open a computer case and its all dusty, I will make sure as soon as I close it up I get the hands and forearms clean, I think it comes from a brief period I worked in a hospital years back, I just got into the habit of it, (also the four months I worked there one summer, I had a pretty much permanent cold/sore throat, which doesnt help, seems the healthier you are in hospital the more the bacteria cling to you)

[hit]

Lookin at some of the laptops that come in, I wonder how these people live! I'm forever washing my hands.

Kitchen chopping boards have about 200% more faecal bacteria on them than toilet seats

Who the hell has been taking a cr@p on my chopping board?

[laserblazer]

The amount of faeces in an average swimming pool is somewhat alarming.

[SYNACK]

I wash my hands at every possible opportunity, school computers are disgusting. Every so often I wish I was a mechanic so I had a more sterile environment to work in.

[AMLinington]

I wash my hands at every possible opportunity, school computers are disgusting. Every so often I wish I was a mechanic so I had a more sterile environment to work in.

 

Road dirt in an engine probably contains just as much fecal bacteria, decaying roadkill and random critters - how often do you see squashed horse manure in the middle of the road? Thats up in the wheel well now...

 

It disgusts me how many people just blithely walk out of the loo without washing their hands, but I do understand it - I've lost count of the public toilets I've been into where half the taps don't work, most of the soap dispensers are broken or empty, the water that comes out of the tap is either cold or lava (you try singing Happy Birthday twice while holding your hands under volcano-temperature water...) and to top it off, the hand dryers don't work or are cold, or the paper towel dispenser is empty and the bin is overflowing!!! It's not surprising that people opt to leave without washing their hands.

 

Personally I can't bring myself to do so, and even if I have little hand wipes, I still feel 'guilty' standing there 'washing my hands' with an antibac hand wipe (which in reality is probably better than the soap-and-water approach) and feel as though others are judging me. The fact that the door handle is probably smothered in filth makes me feel a bit sick. But then you will probably find fecal bacteria everywhere you go and not just human bacteria either. As a previous poster has said, if everything was sterile, our immune systems would never have any work to do.

[nicholab]

I could never understand why when I was at school people thought it was good to put soap in the urinals.

[mthomas08]

BBC News - Handwashing: Why are the British so bad at washing their hands? as a man I am disgusted that men only 32% of men wash their hands after using the loo!! I always wash my hands when I get home.

 

Not surprised.

 

On a night out I have been to the toilet and seen loads of guys just walk straight out. Also heard my younger sister tell her daughter "Not to wash" her hands after going to the toilet.

[LosOjos]

I always wash my hands, but the other day that backfired.

 

On a train from Coventry to Birmingham, squirted out the soap, gave it a good rub in and... no water. Luckily, it's only a short trip.