How smartphones harbour thousands more germs than a Toilet Seat?
As part of my teaching qualification I did an observed training session where I talked about personal hygiene and how bacteria was transferred from face to hands to door etc. I took a petrifilm of the toilet door handles. You can imagine! the assessor vowed never to touch a (public) toilet door handle again, EVER!
Hardly surprising, they rarely get cleaned and have much handling. In fact many people use their smartphone on the toilet, it has replaced the good old newspaper.
Do you [food safety managers] have tight control of personal belongings or are your employees bringing and using mobiles and smartphones into work areas? If they are according to this study it could be a risk to food safety.
Regards,
Simon
A few years ago I have read something similar about labtop hygiene. Some people eat or cleaned their nose in front of computer! Going to the bathroom and didn´t wash their hands, using in next minute their own computer...
P.S.: The workers leave their personal things in lockers.
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I think GFSI standards indirectly required not to alllow mobile phone inside the production areas (e.g. no external pockets, no jewellery allowed except wedding ring or medical alert bandage). However, many times key personnel and visitors (especially managers, food safety teams, auditors, and buyers) are able to bring his/her mobile inside the production areas (with excuse that in case urgent call/need) and many were found on phone (either making a calls or receiving calls) inside the production areas.
After reading this research, the food safety teams might need to re-think about the personal hygiene policy.
How about walkie-talkie that some companies provided to supervisor and upper level to use...same risk? I don't think there is a cleaning program for the walkie-talkie.
Good and interesting research. Not surprise.
I think GFSI standards indirectly required not to alllow mobile phone inside the production areas (e.g. no external pockets, no jewellery allowed except wedding ring or medical alert bandage). However, many times key personnel and visitors (especially managers, food safety teams, auditors, and buyers) are able to bring his/her mobile inside the production areas (with excuse that in case urgent call/need) and many were found on phone (either making a calls or receiving calls) inside the production areas.
After reading this research, the food safety teams might need to re-think about the personal hygiene policy.
How about walkie-talkie that some companies provided to supervisor and upper level to use...same risk? I don't think there is a cleaning program for the walkie-talkie.
Very good point and excellent solution. :clap:
If we can clearly establish there a “reel need” for electronic communications (maybe as an exception) then we should provide a suitable solution that works and is less hazardous and also does not negatively impact on the food safety culture e.g. employees being able to say “it’s ok for you but not for me”.
Wherever there is a need for something we should provide a suitable solution.
We’ve managed to turn the conversation from toilets, which is a good thing in itself. :smile:
Regards,
Simon
Interesting article and definitely not surprising to all but sometimes we tend to ignore considering the fact that we view "toilet seats" as more dirtier than phones! But this article sort of wake us up with the real potential hazard in using phones in processing plants.
Thanks for the updates guys.
Toilet seats are (generally) dry, nutrient poor places where bacteria like Staph. aureus cant thrive (they may survive but generally wont grow to great numbers), while hands are the opposite - warm, moist, full of nutrients and thus a nirvana-like environment for these bacteria. We're using hands all the time on phones, tablets etc and rarely clean them - toilet seats get very little handling in their lifetime.
Hardly surprising results then, and certainly not 'shocking' as one person was repoted to have said.
That research seems in some ways pointless to me - anyone with a basic knowledge of food safety knows that hands in particular are chock full of bacteria, and it's pretty much impossible to remove those bacteria (see lots of threads on this forum about hand washing & swabbing), whereas toilet seats are usually plastic and can be cleaned easily and effectively.
Actually it's probably not the research that's pointless - at least it highlights just how dirty hands are - it's just the comparison to toilet seats that seems a tad silly.
Any food facility with a half decent food safety system will have already banned mobile phones from use in the production area, and staff should have washed hands before entering the work area, so contamination from phones and other potentially filthy devices should be dealt with.
What producers do need to think more about is the potential for cross-contamination from devices within the facility itself - control panels, buttons, switches, valves, touch-screens etc. Basically anything that is touched by hand is likely to be a source of contamination, and this research does go some way to showing just how dirty electronic devices can get.
Caz x
Keep Germs at Bay With the UV Cell Phone Sanitizer - MEGATechNews
http://www.megatechn...06v1Zp0ub9b8.03
We have a very small staff and company cell phones are basically used like a com system for supervisors (we work in physically separate parts of the plant). Eliminating them isn't really an option, but you have all got excellent concerns! What do you think of the device I have referenced in the link? I'm thinking that if my staff had to sanitize their phone during all break times, I'd reduce the contamination risks?
What producers do need to think more about is the potential for cross-contamination from devices within the facility itself - control panels, buttons, switches, valves, touch-screens etc. Basically anything that is touched by hand is likely to be a source of contamination, and this research does go some way to showing just how dirty electronic devices can get.
Good point Dr Des, I wonder how many cleaning programs consider the things hands touch rather than (or as well as) what product contacts. These days a lot of work processes are filled with PC's, barcode scanners, touch screens etc. and they probably rarely get cleaned (if ever).
Regards,
Simon
Keep Germs at Bay With the UV Cell Phone Sanitizer - MEGATechNews
http://www.megatechn...06v1Zp0ub9b8.03
We have a very small staff and company cell phones are basically used like a com system for supervisors (we work in physically separate parts of the plant). Eliminating them isn't really an option, but you have all got excellent concerns! What do you think of the device I have referenced in the link? I'm thinking that if my staff had to sanitize their phone during all break times, I'd reduce the contamination risks?
I think a regular cleaning schedule for phones would be a good idea.
It may be possible to buy sleeves for the phones which could be cleaned and then replaced regularly - I've seen those for sale on Amazon.
I wipe my phone regularly with a cloth impregnated with a small bit of iso-propyl alcohol - not sure if the manufacturers would be too pleased with that but it's better than using water I think.
The creation of foreign bodies from dropped phones will still remain a concern though, especially those touch screens with the large glass panels on them!
As for the phone steriliser in your link, there is very little data as to how it works or how effective it is, so it's hard to say whether it would be a good investment. It's cheap enough though, so might be worth getting one and trying it out.
Personally I use wipes impregnated with a small drop of iso-propyl alcohol on my own phone, but I dont know if the manufacturers would be too happy with me doing that!
At least smart phones tend to have smooth surfaces and are relatively easily cleaned as opposed to cheaper 'push button' phones which are bug traps.
I seem to recall a sensationalized news report that dealt with restaurant lemons along a similar theme...