70% of all cross infection is down to poor hand hygiene.

[Anubis]

You will have seen a great deal about the use of alcohol hand sanitisers in the NHS as part of the battle to reduce Hospital Aquired Infections.
It's not that straightforward an issue and I'll try and flag up some of the basic principals here.
There's been a rush of new products being sold but care needs to be taken as most them aren't fully effective, they haven't been independently tested and accredited and they can be rough on your hands which discourages proper use.
Here are some pointers.
1. Only used a product that is approved to the european standard EN1500. This is important. These products have been proven to remove all major pathogens in under 30 seconds. If they don't have this standard they probably don't work effectively.
2. Wearing gloves is only partially effective. The reason is that if you have bugs on you hands before you put them on they breed inside the glove. You should sanitise your hands before you put them on.
3. Washing is only partially effective and although you should wash to remove contamination such as blood or dirt even bactericidal hand soap only removes about 65% of bugs. You should, however only use alcohol sanitiser on visibly clean hands as sanitisers aren't designed to clean, only sanitise.
4. Only use alcohol sanitisers that contain skin conditioners as the cheaper ones dry your hands and discourage proper use.
5. Always try and remember to think 'what have I just done and what am I going to do next'? If in any doubt sanitise your hands.
6. Learn how to use the products correctly it's easy to miss bits and you may still have bugs on your hands.

You can email me and I'll send you the proper method. info@anubishealthcare.com

[steve mccarthy (McCarthy UK Repatriation)]

The first line of protection is the use of gloves, when ever you are handling a deceased or touching anything that could have come into contact with the deceased such as mortuary tray you should use gloves. The employer has a duty under the Health & Safety at Work Act to supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) which gloves fall under, also aprons, masks, eye protection, to name just a few. After disposing of the gloves as clinical waste then wash your hands and use, if desired a sanitiser. If everyone followed the basic precautions cross infection would fall dramatically.

PS. If you have a reaction to the latex gloves then non latex or powder free gloves are available.

[Anubis]

I don't wish to differ but I have to.
Under standard precautions the first protection is to wash or sanitise your hands and then wear gloves.
If you don't you will turn your gloves into incubators for micro-organisms.

[steve mccarthy (McCarthy UK Repatriation)]

Yes I take your point, and I don't think you do differ; you make the point that it is good practice to wash and dry your hands before using gloves, and yes we don’t want to give the bugs more chance to grow, so we come from the same direction. The bigger problem is that some employers discourage the use or restrict PPE, as to supply it cost money. I remember in my early days, my line mangers and senior FD moaned at me for using gloves with statements such as "by the time you've  got them on we could of done the job" or “do you know how much they cost” also there is the mentality from some funeral workers of "I don't bother using gloves as I never caught any thing off a deceased yet". We need to educate the importance of taking adequate precautions to protect our own and others safety and health.

[Anubis]

We are in agreement.
On a more commercial note. Can I send you a price list?