Handwashing And Other Healthy Practices

Kimberly-Clark Professional, supplier of hygiene products and services, lent its support to the 2010 Global Handwashing Day this past Friday, October 15. The worldwide event, which has been staged annually since 2008, highlights the important role that good hand hygiene plays in preventing the spread of a range of diseases in both developing and developed countries.

This event was initiated by the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap, Global Handwashing Day is endorsed by an array of governments, international institutions, civil society organizations, NGOs, private companies and individuals.

The campaign focuses on the fact that it is essential to wash hands with soap and water to help ensure the highest possible standards of hygiene. Kimberly-Clark Professional (UK) marked the event by producing three short films located in environments where good hand hygiene is critical—healthcare, food processing, and office buildings. The message in each video explains the steps of how to wash and dry hands effectively and is accompanied by a song as a fun way to explain the importance of hand hygiene. The films can be viewed here.

Richard Millard, EMEA Segment Manager at the company, said, “Global Handwashing Day is an important event that could make a real difference to people’s lives all over the world and we are proud to be supporting it. With many diseases spread by poor hand hygiene, Kimberly-Clark Professional fully endorses the aim of the campaign, which is to educate people that hand washing with soap and water is not simply a good idea but is something that is essential and should become a regular habit.”

For Year-Round Efforts, The Healthy Workplace Project
Meanwhile, Kimberly-Clark Professional has launched the Healthy Workplace Project, an initiative aimed at reducing workplace absenteeism and the productivity and business losses that occur when workers are sidelined by colds, the flu, and other contagious ailments.

The Healthy Workplace website identifies facility "hotspots" for germ transmission.
The Healthy Workplace website identifies facility "hotspots" for germ transmission.

The Healthy Workplace Project is the first program specifically designed to combat germs throughout an office building—in the restroom, in common areas, conference rooms, desks and other places. It focuses on the six prime links in the germ transmission chain: after sneezing, before eating, at the beginning of the day, at the beginning of a meeting, in the restroom, and at the end of the day.

The Healthy Workplace Project website provides information and tools that facility managers can use to encourage and educate healthy practices by building occupants.

Andy Clement, director of the hand hygiene and tissue business for Kimberly-Clark Professional, says, “Change hand and surface hygiene behaviors and make these behaviors part of an office worker’s daily routine and you can break the links in the germ transmission chain. If you do, you’ll have a healthy workplace and healthier employees.”


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