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Posted By Barrie (Badger) Etter
A bit of a random question here.
Is there a no-no to placing nail brushes in washrooms apart from them being nicked? Or is it because of them being nicked they've stopped being put in works wash rooms?
Alternatively is there some mandated need for placing them there?
Badger
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Posted By Konstanty Budkiewicz
Badger,
I suggest that the need for nail brushes may have arisen as a local, undocumented, measure before the dawn of risk assessment in that work area or process.
You could reverse engineer this scenario and determine where all the dirt accumulating on skin and finger nails is coming from. Then suggest to line management that the process to be assessed. This should either substantiate the need for these extreme cleaning measures, or confirm the need for PPE to be worn during the (unidentified) process. There is an implied risk of dermatitis here, either from the process or post-process hand cleaning (defatting).
This risk/CoSHH approach is likely drive out the need for post-process hand cleaning using nail brushes.
Kon CMIOSH
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Posted By Chris Packham
Barrie
As far as I am aware there is no regulation that prevents you from putting nail brushes in a washroom. As far as the disappearance is concerned, I have seen this resolved through the brushes being attached to a chain fastened to the wall adjacent to the washbasin.
However, I do have a concern about nail brushes. Studies have shown that they tend to become heavily contaminated with micro-organisms (bacteria, etc.) so the hygiene aspect needs to be considered. You will find that in most hospitals they have been removed except for surgical scrub prior to an operation. There each person will usually have their own, which is only used once, then put out for cleaning.
I would question why there is a need. If hands are becoming that soiled that a brush is needed to remove deposits under the nails that are not removed by normal hand washing, then my first approach would be to see what can be done to reduce/limit/eliminate this level of soiling. Keep in mind that a heavy duty cleanser needed to remove heavy soiling will inevitably be more aggressive on the skin. As my old instructor said when I first started training in engineering: "You can't do clean work on dirty equipment!"
Chris
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Posted By Barrie (Badger) Etter
Thanks Chaps,
The process is soldering so the wash process is to remove any flux / solder residue. You've also confirmed my thoughts towards transferable bacteria. So I'll now look to a good soap and post work hand cream.
Badger
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Posted By Terry Hook
I would suspect that the risk of cross-contamination from users would be a major consideration here.
The problem of preventing any possible infection is just not worth the risk and effort required.
If people want to provide their own nail brush and look after it that's fine.
Regards,
Terry
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Posted By Chris Packham
Now I am intrigued. I do a fair amount of soldering (as part of a hobby) and have never found solder flux getting under my nails. If there is that much contact for this to happen I would be looking at the process and working practices.
Chris
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Posted By Paul Duell
In a food production environment you HAVE to have nail brushes in the washrooms, so there's unlikely to be anything saying you can't. At least, that was the situation up to when I left the food industry (a year ago next week :-) ).
Certainly in our situation, cleanliness of brushes wasn't a problem as they were nicked before they got dirty :-(
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