Hygiene Risk and the Virtual Handshake: A Case of the Biometric Identification Machine

This study was carried out to assess hand hygiene practices in the context of an

institution that uses biometric identity machines to monitor employee attendance. The study

involved 103 employees. The study revealed that 67.3% of the respondents felt the

institution had adequate hand hygiene facilities but only 51.4 % said they always disinfect

their hands after using the toilet. 33.6% said they never disinfected their hands when using

the biometric machine due to unavailability of hand hygiene facilities and or consumables.

It also emerged that 24.3% of respondents did not know the correct hand washing

procedure. To aggravate the situation, 85% of respondents said there were no informative

hand hygiene signs illustrating the correct hand washing procedure. This indicates that a

potential health risk existed as at the institution at the time of study. Unavailability was due

either to the equipment being absent or the disinfectant not being filled into the dispensers.

Disinfection both before and after using the biometric machine is strongly recommended as

this would maximize health benefits both to the individual and to the wider employee

population. A number of other actions will also need to be implemented to ensure safer use

of hand hygiene facilities at the institution.