How important is to maintain hygiene and sanitation at workplace?

Introduction

A working hand is apt to forget that he or she has an undeniable personal obligation for the workplace where nearly 25 to 30% time is spent. A quick response visits our thinking that the workplaces are to be totally or at least majorly taken care of in every way by the workplace in-charges, such as employers or managers/caretakers thereof. Common men feel, which includes majority of us, that we are already over-burdened or busy caring for homes and personal places in off hours and if we are to take personal care of workplaces as well, we are unduly overtaxed. One such important area is personal hygiene and sanitation at workplace where none other than ourselves can help.

Industrial health and well-being is the prime duty of the management even statutorily and they are legally duty-bound to take full charge of maintaining safe and healthy workplaces. Any ill-effects to health, safety, well-being, environment, local community/society – arising out of process/operations/installations of the industry, shall be prevented by the concerned management, but when it comes to personal hygiene, sanitation, neatness/cleanliness, we all must cooperate and contribute in full measures. The aim is to stay fit and healthy-–at workplaces and at every other place.

Importance of personal hygiene and sanitation – utmost, including at workplace

Hygiene is the practice of keeping oneself and one’s surroundings clean in order to prevent infection and disease and remain healthy and fit. Sanitation is arrangements to protect the public health specially the provision of clean drinking water and proper disposal of sewage. Dirty waste water and excrement must be fully conveyed in sewers to treatment places. In no case, they should spread outside since it will spread infection and disease/ill-health. This is the basic public and private health issue at living, working and any public places. It is our basic right to remain healthy at all places and let us strive for it.

Spending more time at work makes us more responsible to follow proper hygiene as there are more people to spread germs and variety of infections. Employees and employers both can contribute towards maintaining good hygiene and sanitation.

A few common helpful measures

• Healthy drinking water can be supplied by employer and in specific cases, employees can have their own bottles with them.
• At the toilets and washrooms, employers could provide good cleaning materials e.g. hand sanitizers, tissues etc. There should be clearly set rules for maintaining and using shared facilities. Employers are to arrange regular pest control activities. Sick employees should not be pressurized to come to the workplace as this could put other employees at risk. Statutorily as well, there is provision to put such employees under quarantine leave.
• Employees are to maintain good personal hygiene – such as maintaining clean and odorless body by daily bath, wearing clean clothes, taking plain and healthy food, maintaining clean nails, preventing bad breath, maintaining dental hygiene, washing hands after using toilet/sneezing/touching anything dirty, keeping workstation clean, ---etc.
• The workplace may become a den of microbes making it susceptible to detrimental health consequences, if proper hygiene and sanitation measures are not followed. It may directly harm the people working nearby, but still worse is that it can weaken people’s immune system. Harmful microbes may be present at keyboards, sink/door handles, dispensers, computer mice, desk-phones, ---etc. Make use of disinfectant to clean the desk area. Do not leave any uneaten foodstuffs for longer periods as they aid microbial growth.

These simple measures seem trifling but they help tremendously to preserve our health and well-being.

Enhanced importance in face of deteriorating environment, fast food/lifestyle, malnutrition, particularly in developing world

For underdeveloped and developing economy, as in most of Asia and Africa, cleanliness, availability of clean drinking water, sanitation, personal hygiene, simple food, plain living, care to ward-off infection – in nutshell, these simple personal habits and care cost little but matter most for keeping us fit and productive at work and out of workplace as well.

We are all blessed by nature with a wonder machine-–the human body, self-cared and fully automatic. Let it function in natural rhythm.

- L. B. Sinha