Here’s something we don’t think much about. You go into a restroom, use the bathroom, then wash your hands. Depending on where you are, the restroom might have traditional paper towels to dry your hands, or they may have converted to electric hand dryers. While you may be more familiar with the weak past hand dryers that are more like blow dryers on low softly blowing lukewarm air on your hands (and never getting them dry), more high-tech approaches involve brands like Dyson that use much higher speed gusts of air to help dry your hands. While the good news is that this approach seems to help the environment and cuts down on paper waste, there’s also some bad news to go with it.
Flu season is fast approaching. All it takes is one person to show up to work with the sniffles, and suddenly all of the staff is overwhelmed and infected with the common cold or even the flu. This can be devastating for businesses — especially small ones — that don’t have a bunch of employees to call upon to fill in. On top of that, businesses, especially retail ones, have to be ready for the busy holiday season.
You may remember our post about hand sanitizers and how the repeated use of just sanitizer can be less effective than traditional hand washing. This time, we’ve come to talk about disinfectants.
When we say disinfectant, you may think of a spray like a bleach spray, but we also mean those seemingly useful wipe products. Disinfectants can be spread out across a variety of products, and it isn’t just limited to sprays. A disinfectant is essentially a substance that kills life and is regulated by the EPA under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodent Act. A disinfectant must be safe to use and undergoes a variety of testing to show that it can kill “life” (in this case, bacteria) and be effective.
A disinfectant can often be considered a pesticide as well, and many of the “harsher” chemical sprays require the use of personal protective equipment. Disinfecting a surface properly means cleaning the surface, applying the disinfectant, and then waiting a certain period of time in order for the disinfectant to properly work. Many of us just wipe up the disinfectant immediately after applying it; often times this is not correct and does not work as intended. Disinfectants are also commonly mixed improperly. Because of this, disinfectants can be very unlikely to work effectively, as effectively, or at all. Sanitizing with disinfectant is a very particular job that requires time and attention, and if not done properly, can have disastrous results.
