It’s hard to believe, but winter-germ season is here. Along with the colder temperatures comes with the potential for sneezes and sniffles.
Yet, there are ways c-stores can help both customers and staff stay healthy during this time of year. Let’s take a closer look at two simple preventive measures we can all take—the practice of good hand hygiene and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces.
The Importance of Hand Hygiene
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that up to 80% of all infections are transmitted by the hands, which is why practicing good hand hygiene throughout the day is so important.
Having a hand hygiene program, which includes offering an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, such as PURELL® Advanced Hand Sanitizer, both in your store and at the fuel pump, is one way in which you can show your customers you care about their health and well-being.
The CDC recommends the use of an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol when soap and water are not readily available. Formulation matters when selecting an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. It is important to offer your customers one that is effective, gentle on the skin and aesthetically pleasing.
Clean and Disinfect Surfaces
Throughout the day, surfaces such as service counters and door handles are touched by many people, which makes it easy for germs that can cause illness to easily be transferred from one person to the next. This is why it is important to clean and disinfect both hard and soft surfaces frequently. Also, retailers should always sanitize food-preparation surfaces with a sanitizer specifically formulated for those surfaces.
When looking for a surface disinfectant be sure to use one that quickly kills viruses, like cold and flu and norovirus. New PURELL™ Professional Surface Disinfectant eliminates 99.99% of germs on surfaces, including cold and flu viruses and norovirus—in 30 seconds.
Winter-Germ Season Recommendations
To help make sure practicing good hand hygiene and surface disinfection is as easy as possible this winter-germ season, GOJO recommends the following:
- Ensure all hand soap dispensers are in good working order with sealed refills available.
- Make alcohol-based hand sanitizers easily accessible and available in areas where customers and employees need it most—at the fuel pump, store entrance, food service areas and cash register. Also, you can leave an alcohol-based hand sanitizer outside in the cold winter weather; the product will not freeze.
- Place hand sanitizer dispensers near restroom exits to help prompt the one out of four people who don’t typically wash their hands after using the restroom.
- Offer portable alcohol-based hand sanitizer for sale at your checkout counters for customers on the go.
- Clean and disinfect surfaces within your store frequently using a surface disinfectant that kills common viruses.
Make it a point to help customers and staff stay healthy in simple ways this winter. For more tips on how to stay healthy this winter-germ season, go to www.GOJO.com.
This post is sponsored by GOJO Industries, the inventors of the PURELL brand