Hand washing and hand hygiene
Washing your hands properly is one of the most important things you can do to help prevent and control the spread of many illnesses. Good hand hygiene will reduce the risk of things like flu, food poisoning and healthcare associated infections being passed from person to person.
When you need to wash your hands
Hands normally carry lots of germs and should be washed:
- after visiting the toilet
- before handling food
- when visibly dirty
- after coughing or sneezing into your hands
- when handling animals, in particular when visiting open farms
Washing your hands regularly will help to stop viruses from spreading.
Open farms
Open farms can be great days out for the family but it’s important to practise good personal hygiene when visiting these places.
Farm animals can be the source of several bugs that can be passed from animals to humans and cause illness.
Some can be particularly serious for children or pregnant women.
How to wash your hands
It is important to wash your hands properly.
Make sure that you wash both your hands including the tips of your fingers, the palms of your hands and thumbs.
The steps below explain how to wash your hands properly:
- wet hands with water
- apply enough soap to cover all surfaces of hand
- rub hands palm to palm
- right palm over back of left hand with interlaced fingers and vice versa
- palm to palm with fingers interlaced
- back of fingers to opposing palms with fingers interlocked
- rotational rubbing of left thumb clasped in right palm and vice versa
- rotational rubbing, backwards and forwards with clasped fingers of right hand in left palm and vice versa
- rinse hands with water
- dry hands thoroughly with a single use towel
- use towel to turn off tap
How to wash your hands video
The following video from the Public Health Agency shows how to correctly wash your hands:
Your hands are now clean.
Antibacterial hand gels and wipes
Antibacterial hand gels and wipes are not a substitute for washing hands, as gels and wipes may not adequately remove germs and bugs in the way that running water can.
However, using such gels after washing your hands with soap and water, may reduce the risk of picking up these infections.