I'm off to our design department to see if they can design and market a "willy picker" that requires not the user to touch the old man. Then we can save the planet but cutting down on water usage!

Is it Friday yet?

Jon

Whilst toilet humour has been used as a form of relief to ease the tension, I strongly suggest the topic is brought back on track or FR1 may well be applied.

Regards

Moderator 3

John J

'Your best barrier against infection isn't somebody else's skin care regime it's your own. '

Utter tosh, pure and simple. That excuses every dirty git who doesn't wash their hands after going to the toilet.

It was noted years ago in hospitals that the one of the best ways to stop infections spreading from one patient to another was to make sure that doctors and nurses wash their hands before and after every patient contact.

The risk is different, true, but the principle is the same. Just because the culture is different amongst those who use and share tools, you are still increasing risk. Much lower likelihood of cross contamination of those who work with and share tools. But again, if you are using tools between dirty and clean systems, without washing them in between, you are potentially spreading bugs. As one of the post above says, there is understanding among those who work in clean systems that they should not cross contaminate, so it is already in the industry to some extent, but it obviously hasn't got to some yet.

I have read the thread with interest and a little amusement, if not at times incredulity. I am pleased to see that some have managed to keep a sense of proportion and realism though.

Risk assessment has a poor enough ‘reputation’ with using it as the sledgehammer to crack a nut with. In the grand scheme and in the majority of situations and workplaces I would be hard pressed to assess the risk as being high. If I did then I would have to create a new category of risk for some of the other activities that I have assessed; how about humungously high? Seriously, to use risk assessment as a tool to deal with such an issue if IMVHO wholly unnecessary.

As has been observed by others, there are any number of people that don’t wash their hands after going to the loo, in all walks of life. It happens and if you don’t think t does; think again. So, I feel that the sharing of tools issue is a little spurious at best.

We’ve had complaints of people not washing their hands over the years, and feet on the ground the best I have come up with is putting up some ‘posters’ in the loo type approach. And, you know what? I’ve worked in all sorts of situations, in 10+ countries some of which had pretty basic sanitation standards, shared tools with any number of people for around 20 years of that, I’ve shaken hands with more people that I can shake a stick at, and I’m still here.

Now for the more serious bit, and something that might well raise a few eyebrow’s. I am really ‘disappointed’ (I’m struggling to find a better word to describe how I feel about this) to see the advice that “..workers [should] refuse to work with him.”. It is particularly surprising that this advice comes from the same person who has recently posted a thread on workplace bullying. I hope that this piece of ‘advice’ in particular isn’t heeded. Personal hygiene issues can be tricky to tackle, but I would suggest that any employer would be very ill advised to deal with it by advising their workers to refuse to work with someone.

I don’t feel that this needs a specific RA (I would expect that most of us have bigger fish to fry) It doesn’t need a sledge hammer to crack this nut, and it certainly doesn’t need an approach that could leave someone feeling isolated or alienated and give rise to a potential bullying claim. One of the tricks to the job that you learn as you go along is that there is more than one way to skin a cat, and the need to keep a sense of proportion.

On a lighter note, a story I heard from my past life in the RAF. While in the loo, an officer observed that an airman had not washed his hands after performing a ‘standing operation’. “They taught us at Cranwell to wash our hands after going to the toilet”. As he left through the door, the airman responded “Really Sir, they taught us at Halton not to pee on our hands”!!!! I have little doubt that I shared that man’s tools time and again over the years!

Come on moderators, no wonder H&S is seen as a joke.
Steve

Come on canopener, you can print my name. It is hardly the same thing as a mental health problem. If you cannot see that then I'm, for once, speechless.

Are saying that you would knowingly handle a tool passed to you from the hands of someone you know has just used the toilet and has openly refused to wash their hands?

Glad I don't work next to you.

Just done a quick survey of our workshop of 8 people with the above question and came back with a 100% NO.

Of the office staff of 10 people 100% No.

Sorry Ian, the Penney has finally dropped (joke here) spend a penney etc.

No need to wash hands after being to the toilet. No need to RA it then. Cheers. Made my day.

Unless the company foots the renewal fees an IOSH H&S person no longer needed. :-)

I'm home Barnaby old son...on the sick

OK I give up you win:-)

I;ll stick to post #54

I never imagined that my query would produce so much heat as well as light. Although not washing hands after going to the toilet is objectionable, I do not think it produces a significant risk for most of the time given, as some responders have said, the ubiquity of micro-organisms in the everyday environment.
However, as I am not a competent microbiologist, I thought I had better canvass some views before advising my client.
Thank you all.

LB

There is another thread about how H&S is percieved. Is this just another example of other departments or managers not wanting to deal with a situation so they look at H&S for the answer.

Not at all sure John but...I've had the trots a few times :-) maybe from a situation such as No.5 and 7 by A Kurdziel spring to mind.

I repeat, I do not want to knowingly lick, suck my pen or rub my lips with dirt from from some ones bottom. Now that may upset a few people here but frankly my dears, I don't give a dam!

Re Ebola: Mayinga, Marburg or any other filovirus virus they are just a plane ride away (and you know that better than me)

please no more

What about hot desking and one of the staff picking his nose?

And I take full responsibility!!!!

Perhaps the Mods could (should) lock the thread, so that people can hit the link, read the article and gain a sense of perspective, which was perhaps a little lacking in some areas in the above discussion (hence I posted the link)