Does touching the toilet flush button make you sick?

Infectious germs such as E.Coli, Salmonella or viruses like the enterovirus and rotavirus can be easily spread by the cause of users. The act of flushing could cause these microscopic germs to spew out and land on surfaces within 2m of the toilet bowl. A toilet seat cleaner would allow users to wipe the seat clean before using the toilet.

A good 85% of the respondents mentioned good quality consumables such as hand soap, toilet paper and paper towel is as important. Bacteria can stay alive on the hands for up to 3 hours. You could even catch a flu from the public toilet. After using the washroom, a single hand can have a population count of over 200 million bacteria per square inch. While the common cold virus usually survives for a shorter while, some viruses like influenza, norovirus, etc. can live for many days on toilet surfaces. By encouraging hand washing, illness may reduce by 30% to 50%. Damp hands spread 1,000 times more bacteria than dry hands so it is important to use paper towel after hand washing. Of course, as a public washroom frequently visited by public, diligent maintenance of the washroom by keeping it clean, dry, hygienic, pleasant and well-working at all times is important.

Typical bacteria hotspots in a washroom

• Toilet main door handle, cubicle door knob which is a high usage and common touchpoint,
• Toilet flush button/ handle and seats were home to bacteria associated with the human gut, suggesting faecal contamination.

Initial Hygiene conducts evaluation program for the washroom premises. Structured study and assessment with the help of Lumitester Technology and Swabbing Activities will be conducted by our specialist to validate the key risk areas. ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) reading allows the analysis of biological concentration of bacteria on surfaces that indicates the level of microbiological contamination. An ATP reading of 200 or higher is considered to have relatively high risk of bacteria and sickness transmission.

Providing adequate washroom hygiene facilities such as hand soap, paper towel and hand sanitiser can help facilitate cultivating good hand hygiene standards.

Find out more on Initial Hand Hygiene range of solutions including hand foam soap, hand sanitisers and paper towel dispensers. Call 6347 8138 or email to ihs-enquiry-sg@rentokil-initial.com

*Primary research, conducted by research agency Harris Interactive, was based on responses from 5,500 respondents in total (1,100 per country) across several demographic groups from the following countries Australia, UK, Germany, France and Singapore.