According to Bog Standard1 – a national campaign to promote better washrooms in schools – hygiene is particularly important in school as young children are recognised as being at higher risk of contracting and transmitting infection. Children are particularly susceptible, being exposed to so many germs while they are in school – in the classroom, in the playground and in the cafeteria – so it is important that caretakers and support staff are using the most efficient, hygienic and child friendly products.
However, this means more than just ensuring kids wash their hands in the washrooms – every aspect of a school should be as sanitary as possible in order to limit the spread of germs and to achieve a satisfactory sheen of cleanliness across the whole site. Emma Nourry, Trade Marketing Manager at Georgia-Pacific, explains the ways in which school facilities managers can ensure a clean establishment with a few smart product choices.
A clean greeting
First impressions count for a lot, especially in schools where many visitors come and go throughout the day, including parents, teachers and school inspectors! Cleanliness and sanitation can go a long way towards creating a good first impression and this can be achieved with a few well placed products. Products like the enMotion® Foam Hand Sanitizer from the Lotus Professional® touchless range can help eliminate germs and provide a solution to cross-contamination, without the need to go to a sink to wash your hands.
Since the outbreak of swine flu, the UK has seen over the past few years, it is all the more important that schools are investing in the right products to avoid the spread of such viruses. Swine Flu Britain2, the NHS’s Swine Flu specific advice centre, recommend using a hand sanitiser for added protection against germs, as while they don’t kill bacteria, they do offer protection and this is crucial for busy schools with children, exposed to bacteria all day. The enMotion® Foam Hand Sanitizer’s enhanced ultra-modern formula kills many harmful germs and viruses including MRSA, E-Coli, Norovirus and H1N1.
The enMotion® Foam Hand Sanitizer also dispenses a pre-selected amount of each product, which ultimately reduces waste and makes it the cost-effective choice for any school. The dispenser comes with adjustable settings also, allowing users to choose between 0.4ml or 0.7ml shot, making it an ideal product for reception areas, through which many different people and pairs of hands pass through in a day. Encouraging school children to use the sanitiser as they pass through reception and other communal areas of the school can also go a long way to educating them in health and hygiene and teach them to look out for their own cleanliness.
In the Kitchen
The industrial sized kitchens found in many schools see a large amount of food preparation during the school day, with many different products prepared in one place. This makes cross-contamination high risk as bacteria can spread across different food groups. By regularly wiping down surfaces between services and different stages of food preparation, the spread of bacteria can be kept to a minimum.
The Dine-A-Wipe® cloths from the Lotus Professional® wiping range are well equipped for the hectic pace behind the scenes in a school kitchen, delivering fast and controlled wiping thanks to a high absorption capacity which enables large amounts of water to be soaked up with each wipe.
The range of disposable Dine-a-Wipe® cloths are colour coded and available in blue, red, green and yellow, which enables kitchen staff to reduce the risk of cross-contamination by allocating different coloured wipes to different areas. These are perfect for the regular wiping of surfaces and equipments in the school kitchen.
Canteen cleanliness
The Reflex® Wiper System can be a good option for the canteen or designated eating area for children during lunchtimes and snack breaks. With school canteens being frequently used by large numbers of pupils and so many different food types being eaten in the same vicinity, they are a high risk zone for cross-contamination. Wiping tables and other surfaces regularly whilst the kids eat can help eliminate germs.
Placing products like the Reflex® Wiper System around the clearing up areas can help schools to keep on top of germs and limit the schools exposure to harmful bacteria during break-times. The design of the Reflex® Wiper System reduces servicing time due to a longer lasting roll and the fully enclosed dispenser protects the tissue from damage and dirt optimizing its hygienic properties, meaning it is ideal to keep up with the fast pace of school break-times and lunch services.
A lesson in hygiene
As well as at playtime, children are also exposed to bacteria during their lessons in classrooms and high footfall areas elsewhere in the school. The Reflex® dispenser is available in a more compact version, the Mini Reflex®, which provides the same benefits as the standard wipes, but in a size better suited for rooms where space is restricted. An ideal space saving solution, the Mini ReflexÒ wiper is ideal for art, science and technology classrooms where spillages or mess may readily occur and need attending to quickly.
Washroom
There is no guarantee that children will remember to wash their hands each time after using the school washrooms, so products that encourage hand-washing can be extremely beneficial in school toilets, as it can help ensure children are remembering to wash their hands and therefore prevent the spread of germs.
Practical products like the enMotion® Foam Soap are motion sensitive and requiring no hand-to-product touch, making them easy to use and also considerably reducing the spread of germs between small hands. The enMotion® antibacterial foam soap has been developed to deliver a dose of dense rich foam, and, though vicious on germs, the soap contains a blend of emollients specially selected to be gentle on the skin and therefore making it a choice product for use in schools and for the children’s sensitive skin.
As well as an ongoing responsibility to encouraging hand-washing, schools can often have a problem with littered toilet paper in their facilities, as children help themselves to more than they need. This can leave superfluous paper on the floor and cause the washrooms to become unhygienic and dirty in appearance.
However products like the SmartOne® toilet tissue range offer a single sheet dispensing system, whereby the user only takes one single sheet of two-ply tissue at a time. Children are less likely to take more than they need, therefore considerably reducing paper consumption and wastage in school washrooms – the controlled single-sheet dispensing helps reduce tissue consumption by up to 40%* compared with standard jumbo rolls.
The robust shock resistant polycarbonate shells of the SmartOne® toilet tissue dispenser are also durable and require a key to access, making them an effective choice for security and safety from the risk of pilferage. The fully enclosed dispenser also means the user only ever touches the sheet taken; preventing the risk that children will touch the remaining paper and contaminate it before the next user.
The SmartOne® mini dispenser provides caretakers and school facilities managers with the flexibility to opt for a smaller dispenser that can work in more confined spaces. The SmartOne® mini double dispenser is ideal for high-traffic washrooms, such as in larger schools, due to its high capacity and stub roll, so it need never run out.
Fighting Grime in School
As well as maintaining hygienic classrooms and restrooms, many schools across the country face an ongoing battle with unwanted grime left by students, such as gum and graffiti on tables, chairs, radiators, lockers and other exposed surfaces. Whilst it’s not always possible to totally deter children from leaving graffiti on school surfaces and virtually impossible to stop grime from the external environment, caretakers and school facilities managers can invest in superior products to ensure the school’s property remains in good condition.
Wipes such as the Clean Anti-Graffiti wipes from the Lotus Professional® wiper range, are well suited for removing pen, paint and other graffiti substances on any non porous internal or external surface. An impregnated fluid works instantly, saving time and come in a compact mobile unit so are easy to transport around the school property, ready to attack graffiti and grime wherever it appears.
The Clean Anti-Graffiti Wipes also dispense one at a time, for ease of use, and making them a cost-effective solution to quick and easy graffiti removal, which can otherwise prove a time-consuming task.
A greener future
In accordance with the Sustainable Schools Strategy3 outlined by the government, it is important that schools adhere to sustainability targets and their duty to help build a greener future. Investing in the right cleaning products can help schools uphold their environmental responsibilities.
Keith Baker, Director of EMEA services at ISSA, The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association, explains that “...using more recycled materials, reducing harmful chemicals and cutting down on wastage will almost always align with a school’s existing goals, so a green cleaning initiative will likely be welcomed with open arms.” 4
Teachers have a commitment to educate students, from a young age, about the importance of good hygiene in all aspects of day to day life. The right tools, fit for purpose, available around the school premises will arguably make the process easier. Thankfully products like the SmartOne® Toilet Tissue, Reflex® Wiper and the enMotion® hand sanitiser will also help to minimise wastage and cut costs, so facilities managers and head teachers can be confident their school is a sustainable school.
