Testing Reveals High Contamination Levels of Everyday Objects in Major U.S. Cities; Gas Pump and Mailbox Handles are Among the Dirtiest

Kimberly-Clark Professional* Findings Also Show People Encounter Armies of Germs Just Getting to WorkEach Day; Results Reinforce Importance of Proper Hand and Surface Hygiene as Critical to a Healthy Workplace ROSWELL, GA [DATE] –Just in time for cold and flu season, new testing in six major U.S. cities reveals that gas pump and mailbox handles may be among the dirtiest surfaces Americans touch. The results, released today by Kimberly-Clark Professional*, show that more than 60 percent of gas pump and mailbox handles and more than 40 percent of escalator rails and ATM machine buttons can be highly contaminated, potentially exposing people to illness-causing bacteria. Illness in the workplace is not just a health issue, but can also have a major economic impact. Each year companies lose $1,685 per employee due to absenteeism and presenteeism (employees coming to work while sick). 

 The testing was conducted by trained hygienists in high traffic locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia. Using a Hygiena System SURE II ATP Meter, a device commonly used to monitor sanitary conditions in industry, Hygienists swabbed the objects to measure levels of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). ATP is present in all animal, vegetable, bacteria, yeast and mold cells. Detection of ATP indicates the presence of contamination by any of these sources. Everyday objects with an ATP reading of 300 or higher are considered to have a high risk for illness transmission. In all, more than 350 separate swabs were taken and analyzed.

 The percentage of public surfaces tested and found to have high levels of contamination (an ATP count of 300 or higher), includes:

•  71 percent of  Gas Pump Handles
•  68 percent of  Mailbox Handles
•  43 percent of  Escalator Rails
•  41 percent of  ATM Buttons
•  40 percent of  Parking Meters/Kiosks
•  35 percent of  Crosswalk Buttons
•  35 percent of  Vending Machine Button

“People do not realize the amount of contamination they are exposed to going to work each day and doing everyday things like filling their gas tank or riding on an escalator,” said Dr. Charles Gerba, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Arizona. “This new testing is compelling because it underscores the importance of hand and surface hygiene. Most cold and flu viruses are spread because people touch surfaces in their immediate area and then touch their faces, other objects and other people. Washing and drying your hands frequently throughout the day, can help prevent your risk of getting sick or spreading illness around the office.” 

“The likelihood for illnesses to transfer from the objects that people use every day like ATMs and parking meters is eye-opening,” said Brad Reynolds, North American Platform Leader, The Healthy Workplace Project*, Kimberly-Clark Professional*. “These findings indicate that illness-causing germs are everywhere and have the potential to travel with you into your office space. That’s why we developed The Healthy Workplace Project* – a unique approach to hand and surface hygiene that helps employees understand and reduce the spread of cold and flu germs throughout their workplaces.”

The Healthy Workplace Project* is a new, multi-faceted program that Kimberly-Clark Professional* has designed to help companies provide their employees with a healthier and more productive office environment. The program provides educational materials in conjunction with hand and surface hygiene products to employees, arming them with the tools and knowledge necessary to break the cycle of germ transmission in the office. By reinforcing the importance of “washing, wiping and sanitizing” through The Healthy Workplace Project*, employers can help reduce that impact.

About Kimberly-Clark Professional*

Kimberly-Clark Professional* is dedicated to providing essential solutions for a healthier, safer and more productive workplace. These include a unique portfolio of innovative, cost-effective and sustainable offerings for office buildings and lodging properties, healthcare facilities, manufacturing environments, laboratories and cleanrooms, educational facilities, food preparation and processing operations, and home professionals. Kimberly-Clark Professional* offers a comprehensive array of hand hygiene and contamination control solutions to break the germ transmission chain and help create a healthier workplace as well as wiping and safety solutions that minimize risk and drive productivity. Its trusted global brands include Kleenex

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One innovative Skin Care Hand Soap dispenser

 The STOKO® Refresh 4 in 1 dispensing system is the latest cost – cutting Innovation from the worldwide leader in skin care solutions. Now, one durable, attractive, easy – to – use and economical dispenser is all you need for all of your hand hygiene programs.

 One dispenser works with four Skin Care systems

1. Thick Foam encourages frequent washing and proper skin care– environmental friendly and easy on your budget
2. Concentrated spray cleansers and sanitizers deliver superior STOKO quality at the lowest cost per use 
3. Mild liquid cleansers are ideal for use in high – traffic or high – volume work areas 
4. Hand sanitizing gel effectively sanitizes hands without water, killing 99.99% of germs that can cause illness

Flexible skin care System

• Complete system choice with abilityto switch product type at any time
• Easy to operate, simple and quick to refill
• Secure key–entry or convenient  Keyless push–button option
• One dispenser for all product types
• Can be customized with customers logo or colors

Economical Skin Care

•Low Cost per use
•High use per refill

Durable Skin Care Dispenser

• Sturdy, high impact dispenser housing
• Low maintenance, clean design

Better for the environment

• Environmentally preferred ingredients
• Conforms to recognized ecological standards
• Complete system choice with ability to switch product type at any time
• Easy to operate, simple and quick to refill
• Secure key–entry or convenientkeyless push–button option
• One skin care dispenser for all product types
• Can be customized with customer’s logo or colors

 Economical Skin Care Products

• Low cost per use
• High use per refill

Durable

• Sturdy, high impact dispenser housing
• Low maintenance, clean design

STOP throwing money down the drain.

STOKO Refresh 4 in 1 – the best solution for facility operation and business profit!

 Cost effective

• Save time. Save money
• Simplify your purchasing – no morefiguring out which product goes inwhich dispenser
• Streamline your inventory – no needto stock multiple dispensers
• Competitively priced refills
• Improve cash flow – less inventoryto carry
• No confusion at point of use – you always have the right dispenser at hand

Trusted quality from one world class supplier

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CREATING A HEALTHY WORKPLACE

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

•  15% of all payroll costs are spent on absenteeism

• Sick days cost employees $1320 per person

• Absenteeism cost American businesses 55 billion in 2008

• 75% of men wash their hands after using the bathroom, 25% do not

• There are 50,000 known bacteria’s per square inch on the average person hands

• Fingers carrying a flu virus can contaminate up to 7 clean surfaces

• One virus on one hand can transfer to 6 people

• Cold and flu viruses are transmitted when a person’s hand touches their face; average person touches their face 16 times an hour

• 25,000 germs per square inch on average phone

Understand Problem Areas

By identifying the surfaces, spaces and locations that most often harbor germs, you and your employees can begin providing solutions for greater hand-hygiene and a healthier workplace environment.

Step Up Protection

Wash, Wipe & Sanitize, killing the germs that exist and preventing new ones from causing workplace illness.  

Educate & Communicate

A healthy workplace encourages their employees to adopt healthier hand hygiene habits.

• Proper hand washing is still the best way to reduce the spread of germs
• Drying with paper towels reduces germs by 77%
• Hand sanitizer can reduce your sick days by over 20%
• Surface wipes kill germs where they are waiting for you

Healthy Workplace Tips

TIP 1

Sanitize Often – Avoid touching your face, eyes, or rubbing your nose, and use sanitizer after touching office germ “hot spots” like elevator buttons or copiers.

TIP 2

Wash Well – Wash your hands with soap for 15 seconds before you leave the restroom, then use a towel to turn off the faucet.

TIP 3

A Clean Routine – Create an easy-to-remember routine for sanitizing your hands throughout the day—particularly before and after meetings, and every time you exit the restroom.

TIP 4

Desk Wipe-down – Desks typically have 400 times more germs than toilet seats. Wipe your desk at the beginning and end of every workday.

TIP 5

Surface Safety – Wipe down the conference room table before each meeting, as germs can live on surfaces for up to 48 hours.

TIP 6

Wash & Dry – Drying your hands with a towel after washing helps reduce germs by 77%

Wipe down conference room tables, desks and common areas often. Germs can live on surfaces for up to 48 hours!

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 Step One – Before Work – Products with BLUE labels

Protect your skin by applying a barrier cream

• Protects skin from contamination and allows for easier cleaning
• Oil based for Grease and Oil - Travabon
• Water based for Oils and General Grime – Stokoderm

Step Two –Cleaning after work - Products with GREEN labels 

Clean your skin after work is performed and skin is soiled

• Use product to clean hands – apply to dry hands, add water and wash hands
• Select appropriate product to do the job
  • Light duty cleaners & Sanitizers – Refresh Foam, Estesol
    • Light to moderate dirt and grime
  • Industrial – Solopol, BlueForce
    • General soil levels to moderate oils
  • Heavy duty cleaners – Kresto, Kwik Wipes
    • Heavy amounts of soil oils & greases
  • Specialty for Paint, inks and dyes – Cupran & Reduran

 Step Three – Conditioning – Products with RED labels

Condition your skin after cleaning to prevent chapping, chafing and eczema

• Keep skin in tact by rehydrating and repairing after cleaning – Stokolan,
• Heal the hands with medicated conditioners

 How to decide which system to use?

1. What are the skin care circumstances and do I need all the steps or only parts
   1. Incidents of skin irritation, eczema and dermatitis in the plant will indicate requirements
2. What soil and conditions are in the plant
   1. Choose the product in each of the categories above that best fit the amount and type of soil
   2. D’limonene cleaners may be a natural solvent but they are a skin irritant
      1. Read the MSDS Section V Health Hazards reads… “May be irritating to skin and eyes. Skin contact may cause slight redness.  Contains a potential skin sensitizer.”  The MSDS goes on to instruct if there is contact with the skin, “wash affected area with copious amounts of soap and water.”
3. Cost in Use of the soap system
   1. Cost per ML
   2. Usable ml per container – Container ml less waste Left in the container that cannot be dispensed due to dispenser system efficiency
   3. Refill time per unit – How long does it take to refill the dispenser
   4. ML of product dispensed per push
   5. The average number of pushes per hand wash is 2 times
4. Are there GREEN alternatives

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The Basics — What Is It And Where It Is Found?   

First discovered in 1961, these MRSA infections are fiercely resistant to usually reliable beta antibiotics such as methicillin, oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. In rare cases, mild skin infections featuring boils or pimples can transform lactams into necrotizing fasciitis (“flesh eating”) bacterial infections that can spread with horrifying speed and result in amputations or death.     

Currently, the majority of MRSA cases are in Healthcare settings. According to an October 2007 study published in “The Journal of the American Medical Association” (JAMA), approximately 85% of invasive MRSA infections occur in these environments, while 14% are categorized as community-associated (CA-MRSA) infections, or in those individuals lacking the risk factors associated with healthcare environments. As outlined in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, more individuals died from MRSA in 2005 than from AIDS.    

Transmission and Vulnerability     

SOURCES

:CDC Web site. The American Academy of Family Physicians Web site. WebMD Web site.Capriotti, T. Dermatology Nursing, Jan. 26, 2004; vol 15: pp 535-538. Johnson, L.
Infections in Medicine, 2005; vol 22: pp 16-20.
Klevens, R.M. The Journal of the American Medical Association, Oct. 17, 2007; vol 298: pp 1763-1771. R. Monica Klevens, DDS, MPH, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, CDC, Atlanta.
Elizabeth Bancroft, MD, Acute Communicable Disease Control, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
CDC Basic Statistics, HIV/AIDS Status Report, 2005. WebMD Medical News: “MRSA Rates Much Higher Than Thought.”
CDC Press Release, “CDC estimates 94,000 invasive drug-resistant staph infections occurred in the U.S. in 2005.” October 16, 2007.
Linezolid for the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in children. Kaplan SL - Pediatr Infect Dis J - 01-SEP-2003; 22(9 Suppl): S178-85
Prospective comparison of risk factors and demographic and clinical characteristics of community-acquired, methicillin-resistant versus methicillin-susceptible
Staphylococcus aureus infection in children.
Sattler CA - Pediatr Infect Dis J - 01-OCT-2002; 21(10): 910-7 Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the community. Bratcher D - Pediatr
Infect Dis J - 01-DEC-2001; 20(12): 1167-8

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Excerpt from CDC Recommendations on Hand Washing

When hands are visibly dirty or contaminated with pertinacious material or are visibly soiled with blood or other body fluids, wash hands with either a non-antimicrobial soap and water or an antimicrobial soap and water. If hands are not visibly soiled, use an alcohol-based hand rub for routinely decontaminating hands in all other clinical situations described in items. Alternatively, wash hands with an antimicrobial soap and water in all clinical situations described in items. Do not add soap to a partially empty soap dispenser. This practice of “topping off” dispensers can lead to bacterial contamination of soap. No recommendation can be made regarding the routine use of non-alcohol-based hand rubs for hand hygiene in health-care settings, unresolved issue.

 Antimicrobial Spectrum and Characteristics of Hand-Hygiene Antiseptic Agents*

Note: +++ = excellent; ++ = good, but does not include the entire bacterial spectrum; + = fair; — = no activity or not sufficient.

• Hexachlorophene is not included because it is no longer an accepted ingredient of hand disinfectants

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5116.pdf

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 Proper hand washing is the single largest activity that can prevent illness and improve health.

 Tank Type Dispensers  50oz   

Offers the lowest cost per gallon of soap

      @ 0.1oz per push &  $8.00/gal                                                       $.006/hand wash

• Each Dispenser fill last only 500 hand washes – 4 times more filling
• Soap is less concentrated and cheaper pink soaps can be thickened using salt – salt destroys the dispenser
• Soap is open to the air which can promote bacterial growth in the soap itself
• Refilling can be a messy operation
• Soap can be taken, misused or wasted by employees adding to cost

Duraview  – Dispensers

Cost effective per hand wash

      @1.0ml per push & $10.00 per 2000ml                             $.005/hand wash

• Each Cartridge will last up to 2000 hand washes
• Can restrict amount dispensed per push to increase cost effectiveness
• Great looking dispenser system
• High quality soap, people will be more apt to use it and improve their health
• Soap is super concentrated – a little will go a long way
• Cartridge is air tight, soap cannot be contaminated
• Easy to refill cartridges
• Cartridges can only be used effectively in dispenser – eliminates theft

What would you rather Use?

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