We get a steady flow of water coolers in and out of our facility. It is always interesting to see the signs clients post on them. One sign that got chuckles in the warehouse was the “no kissing the cooler” sign. Apparently someone kept getting lipstick on the water cooler spigot. Don’t ask me how.
Improving workplace safety through better hygiene is serious business. With H1N1 swine flu virus and who knows what else floating around, employees have legitimate concerns about what might be lurking about on the water cooler spigot.
The first step to better hygiene is awareness. In general, make employees aware of the issue, risks, transmission paths, and preventative steps. Specific steps with water coolers can include posting notices not to touch the spigot with foreign objects and particularly bare hands.
Educate employees about the preventative maintenance routinely performed by the service provider and the continuous microbiological protection incorporated into its design. Give peace of mind by providing sanitary wipes so the spigot can be cleaned periodically. Avoid cleaners with toxic chemicals or that may leave taste or odors.
Get a better solution
Long term, wiping off the spigot is not a winner. A permanent solution is eliminating the exposed spigot altogether. With the spigot inaccessible by the
user, the cross contamination risk drops dramatically.
A further improvement is making the spigot and user accessible parts of materials with anti-microbial properties, like BioCote. BioCote is not a disinfectant so it does not kill germs on contact. However germs in contact with BioCote loose their ability to multiply and die off rather than growing exponentially.
Innowave offers multiple point-of-use water cooler systems with recessed spigots and all Innowave products now include BioCote. Here is an Innowave Chiller 3 unit with the recessed spigot.
For more product options and solutions or a free trial, please contact us.
.
