Communicate your green cleaning policy of hand hygiene to your employees or building tenants, if applicable. Be creative. Printed letters on company stationery may not be as effective as e-mails or postcards, flyers, etc. Set up reminders. Posters, inexpen-sive promotional items and rewards for handwashing compliance keep the program active. Check with your ven-dors to obtain product literature, posters and educational materials at no cost or at a nominal fee. Check the Internet for free materials, such as videos on proper handwashing from www.cdc.gov. Surveys can help you track your suc-cess rate. Pre-program surveys can establish your baseline for handwash-ing compliance. Periodic surveys help track improvements. Keep in mind that there are two require-ments for any hand hygiene program to be effective and successful: Education and product availability. where all companies are tightening their belts and cutting costs wherever possible, purchasing agents and other personnel looking at budgetary entries may scrutinize employee health and safety programs. You canʼt meet LEED-EBOMʼs hand hygiene requirements unless appropriate Green Seal-certified or EcoLogo Program-certified hand cleansers are supplied con-tinuously. You must also supply warm water and hand drying choices to assure that all the components are available in the hand hygiene program. While not intended as a definitive pro-gram outline, it is our hope that these points will “LEED” you to a better under-standing of LEED-EBOM certification in regards to green cleaning and hand hygiene program requirements. CM Education According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the single most important way to prevent the spread of diseases is to frequently wash hands with soap and water. It is vital to educate workers about the importance of hand hygiene and to inform them that participation can help prevent physician visits and lost work time. This is an important point for reducing “soft costs” by implementing a hand hygiene program. Timely health topics, such as helping to prevent the spread of the H1N1 influenza A (swine flu) virus, can motivate employees to actively participate and embrace a hand hygiene program. Training posters, pamphlets and videos offer excellent support for your efforts to educate employees on the proper tech-niques of handwashing and hand sanitizing. Product Availability Equally important to the education of work-ers to proper hand hygiene is the availabil-ity of effective skin care products. In this current economic environment, Circle Product Information no. 210 on page 32 www.cmmonline.com 31
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