London Youth Gospel Choir Singing As Hygiene Angels

To raise awareness of the importance of hand washing, hygiene experts, Initial Washroom Hygiene will be launching London’s first pop-up swabbing station on Thursday 24th July at One New Change. A team of Initial Washroom Hygiene experts, led by Dr Peter Barratt, will be swabbing people’s hands and personal items, like handbags and mobile phones, to reveal the levels of bacteria-related contamination present.

The London Youth Gospel Choir will be performing for the first time as ‘Hygiene Angels’ at the event. They will be singing 30 second sections of our own ‘Top Ten’ popular songs ‘to wash your hands by’ from the last few decades. Between 20 and 30 seconds is the recommended time for thorough hand washing.

The public will also have the opportunity to participate in an attempt to set a new World Record, which will see Initial Washroom Hygiene experts swabbing the most numbers of hands and personal items during the course of an hour.

What: London’s first ‘Pop-Up Swabbing Station’ courtesy of Initial Washroom Hygiene.

The public are invited to attend to have their hands and/or personal items swabbed to see what levels of bacteria might be present and learn about effective hand hygiene. The Hygiene Angels choir will perform unique song renditions to highlight how long hands should ideally be washed for.

When: Thursday 24th July 2014 from 11am – 3pm
A swabbing World Record attempt will take place between 1pm – 2pm.

So why is hand hygiene so important? Past research commissioned by Initial Washroom Hygiene with the CEBR found that office workers are likely to spend an incredible 41 hours in the company washroom each year. It also found that over a quarter (27%) of UK employees admit to not washing their hands every time they visit the washroom. Further research also found the handles of handbags are home to more bacteria than the average toilet seat, which poses unseen risks of cross-contamination.

Experts from Initial Washroom Hygiene will be available during the event, to answer any questions around hygiene in the workplace and discuss the implications of not washing hands properly. They will offer quick, easy tips that everyone can follow to ensure they stay as hygienic as possible.