Handwashing
Handwashing

Surprise finding: no major increase in Australians washing their hands since this time last year

Embargoed until: Publicly released:
Not peer-reviewed: This work has not been scrutinised by independent experts, or the story does not contain research data to review (for example an opinion piece). If you are reporting on research that has yet to go through peer-review (eg. conference abstracts and preprints) be aware that the findings can change during the peer review process.

Survey: A study based solely on people’s responses to a series of questions.

People: This is a study based on research using people.

Food Safety Information Council national research for Global Handwashing Day 15 October 2020 shows there has been no major increase in Australians washing their hands since this time last year. As handwashing was a major component of the national campaign to reduce the risk of catching COVID-19, we were surprised that 20 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women report they still don’t always wash hands after going to the toilet and over 40 per cent of Australians don’t always wash their hands before touching food.

Organisation/s: Food Safety Information Council

Funder: This research was funded by charitable donations from our members ACCORD and Ecolab

Media release

From: Food Safety Information Council

The Food Safety Information Council today released Omnipoll national research in the lead up to Global Handwashing Day 15 October 2020, showing there has been no major increase in Australians washing their hands since this time last year.

As handwashing was a major component of the national campaign to reduce the risk of catching COVID-19, this lack of improvement was a considerable surprise, according to Lydia Buchtmann, the Council’s Communications Director.

‘This year the greatest improvement was a 4% increase in the number of people who said they always wash their hands after going to the toilet (up from 79% to 83%) but that still means almost 1 in 5 Australians don’t always adhere to this most basic of hygiene messages!’ said Ms Buchtmann.

‘The research indicated that more people are putting themselves at risk of foodpoisoning, as there was a 5% drop in the number of respondents (from 63% to 58%) who said they alway washed their hands before handling food.

‘Men were less likely than women to always wash hands after going to the toilet (80% of men versus 85% of women) and before touching food (53% of men versus 62% women).

‘This year Omnipoll also asked how often people washed their hands and used hand sanitiser on the previous day. While 1 in 5 people couldn’t recall how often, the others reported that they washed their hands an average of 7.5 times a day and sanitised them 3.9 times a day. There was also a strong correlation between people’s use of hand sanitiser and concerns about catching COVID-19.

‘While the Food Safety Information Council’s major concern is to reduce the estimated 4.1 million cases of food poisoning each year, we recognise that good hand hygiene can also reduce your risk of COVID-19 and other viral infections. Health and handwashing go hand in hand, after all. A study by University College London recommends that people should wash their hands 6 to 10 times a day to reduce their risk of catching viral infections such as colds, influenza and COVID-19.

‘You can easily reach this recommended 6 to 10 times a day handwashing recommendation (and reduce your risk of food poisoning) by always washing your hands with soap and running water for 20 seconds and drying thoroughly (or using hand sanitiser if hand washing facilities aren’t available) on these occasions:

  • before handling, preparing and eating food
  • after touching raw meat, fish, shell eggs or poultry
  • after using the toilet, attending to children’s (or others) toileting and changing nappies
  • after blowing your nose
  • after touching a pet
  • after gardening
  • after returning home

‘To remind Australia of the importance of good hand hygiene, the Food Safety Information Council has re-launched an education package today including a video and posters for adults and children that give 4 simple tips for hand washing correctly. The package can be downloaded from our website here and we encourage people to watch the video and to put up the posters at home, in their workplace, or at school,’ Ms Buchtmann concluded.

The Food Safety Information Council would like to thank their members Ecolab and Accord Australasia who made this research possible through charitable donations.

The research was conducted by Omnipoll nationally online over the period August 27-31, 2020, among a sample of 1232 people aged 18 years and over. To reflect the overall population distribution, results were post-weighted to Australian Bureau of Statistics data (Census 2016) on age, sex, area and highest level of schooling completed.

Attachments:

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public

  • University College London UK
    Web page
    Handwashing 6 to 10 times a day linked to lower infection risk
  • Food Safety Information Council
    Web page
    Handwashing fact sheet

News for:

Australia

Multimedia:

  • Hand washing poster for adults
    Hand washing poster for adults

    How to wash your hands correctly poster

    File size: 480.9 KB

    Attribution: Food safety Information Council

    Permission category: Free to share or modify (must credit)

    Last modified: 15 Oct 2020 12:19am

    NOTE: High resolution files can only be downloaded here by registered journalists who are logged in.

  • Handwashing poster for children
    Handwashing poster for children

    How to wash your hands correctly - for children

    File size: 463.0 KB

    Attribution: Food Safety Information Council

    Permission category: Free to share or modify (must credit)

    Last modified: 15 Oct 2020 12:21am

    NOTE: High resolution files can only be downloaded here by registered journalists who are logged in.

  • How to wash your hands correctly to avoid food poisoning

    Find out how to was your hands correctly to reduce your risk of food poisoning and the infectious diseases

    Attribution: Food Safety Information Council

    Permission Category: Free to share or modify (must credit)

    Last Modified: 13 Oct 2020 3:49pm

    Note: High resolution video files are only available for download here by registered journalists who are logged in.

  • How to wash your hands correctly

    File Size: 73.6 MB

    Attribution: Food Safety Information Council

    Permission Category: Free to share or modify (must credit)

    Last Modified: 15 Oct 2020 12:30am

    Note: High resolution video files are only available for download here by registered journalists who are logged in.

Show less
Show more

Media contact details for this story are only visible to registered journalists.