This guide will help you teach your employees and coworkers about germs and the importance of proper hand washing before touching, preparing or tasting food. Using High Speed Hand Washing, groups of 5 to 30 people can wash their hands properly in 5 minutes or less. It also saves time, water, energy, and prevents the spread of disease.
High Speed Hand Washing training objectives
Participants will:
- Identify ways germs are spread.
- Know when it’s important to wash hands.
- Practice proper hand washing.
- Use High Speed Hand Washing.
Preparation
- Print posters, hang near hand washing sink.
- Set up hand washing station with poster.
- Arrange for training space to gather.
- Be aware of and follow guidance of regulatory authorities, such as Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon Health Authority, and Food Safety Modernization Act.
What is the High Speed Hand Washing method?
Divide the participants into groups of 5 to 10 people. The first group starts by lining up at the hand washing station. The first person in line turns on the water keeping a low flow, wets their hands, shakes off excess water, gets a pump of soap, then begins lathering by rubbing and scrubbing while moving to the end of the line.
As soon as the space is clear, the next person steps up to the sink and repeats the process.
Participants can see their effectiveness by noticing increased lather (or bubbles). Encourage participants to increase the bubbles, because those bubbles will LIFT the GERMS off of their hands. As each group member moves forward in line, so should the next person in the group.
When the first person in each group is back at the sink or hand washing station, they will rinse their hands, get a paper towel and step away from the hand washing station while drying their hands and dispose of the towel.
When there are only three people left in line to rinse their hands, ask the next group to line up to begin HSHW. The last person from the last team to rinse their hands turns off the water with a paper towel and dries their hands with a clean paper towel.
Proper hand washing (1 minute)
Lead this activity while participants follow directions with you during High Speed Hand Washing training.
- Wet hands and shake off excess.
- Add one pump of soap from the dispenser.
- Rub and scrub palms together until lather be- gins to form. The lather and friction will lift the dirt, grease and germs from the hands.
- Spread fingers and rub between them.
- Rub backs of hands and fingers alternately with palms of hands.
- Wrap thumb and fingers around thumb and twist for each hand.
- Wrap thumb and fingers around wrist and twist for each wrist.
- Put finger tips together in palm of other hand and scrub in circular motion. Change directions.
- Use thumbnail to clean under each fingernail on the opposite hand.
- Rinse and rub hands under running water to remove lather.
Note: If available, a fingernail brush can be used for step 9. Fingernail brushes should be cleaned and sanitized daily by hand or in a dishwasher.
Source: Adapted from Follow Five Steps to Wash Your Hands the Right Way, Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
Optional pre-assessment activity (10 -15 minutes)
Using a lotion that glows in a black light can help adults understand where they can improve their hand washing skills.
This activity uses a GloGerm-type kit with special lotion and a black light. The special lotion is oil-based so hot water will be needed to completely remove it. A dimly lit area will be needed to set up the black light so the special lotion can be seen. It is a chalky white under a black light.
The trainer follows manufacturer’s directions to set up the kit. Participants line up to apply the special lotion that comes with the GloGerm-type kit, rub it in like hand lotion, then check the lotion coverage under the black light.
Next, have them wash their hands before they receive any hand washing instruction. Participants then view and self-assess their hands in the black light again to see the places that they normally miss when they wash their hands. This will show them where they need to improve their skills.
Materials and supplies needed:
- Sink or hand washing station with trash can.
- Liquid soap* in pump dispenser.
- Paper towels.
- High Speed Hand Washing—Adult poster+, English/Spanish/bilingual.
- Tape or wire flagging.
- Optional: Fingernail brush.
- Optional Pre-assessment Activity: GloGerm-type kit w/ special lotion & black light. Needs dim light & hot water to work best.
*Anti-bacterial soap is not recommended. Research from the FDA shows that while it is equally effective as regular mild soap, it can be more irritating to skin and has ingredients harmful to the environment.
+See High Speed Hand Washing resources. Posters are free to download and print and are available in English, Spanish, bilingual and full color or grayscale.
High Speed Hand Washing training script
Food safety introduction (2 minutes)
Trainer script: “Germs and bacteria are everywhere. Some bacteria are good for you, but some are not and they can make you sick. If you have had a cold, the flu, or food poisoning, it was caused by harmful germs. There are some things you can do to help keep yourself, your family, friends, co-workers and workplace safe from harmful germs and bacteria.
- Cough and sneeze into your shoulder or elbow, not your hands.
- Don’t share drinks, utensils, or food with your family, friends or co-workers.
- Don’t “double dip” with the same utensil or food when tasting or eating food also served to others. Use a clean spoon for each taste.
- Wash your hands... **
- Before you prepare food, handle clean utensils, or clean cooking equipment.
- After touching your face, hair, nose, or body etc.
- After using the toilet room.
- After caring for or handling animals.
- After coughing, sneezing, using a handkerchief or disposable tissue, using tobacco, eating, or drinking.
- After handling dirty utensils or cooking equipment.
- When switching from handling raw foods to foods that are ready to eat. For example, raw chicken to fresh salad greens.
** Oregon Department of Agriculture
High Speed Hand Washing (10 minutes)
Directions: Form groups if there are more than 10 people.
Set expectations by demonstrating proper hand washing (page 2 of training guide), showing good quality lather.
Start the first group with High Speed Hand Washing: Script: “The first person steps to the sink to turn on water to low setting then wets and shakes hands, gets soap and moves to the end of the line while lathering up.”
“Next person,” start chanting, “Wet, Shake, Soap, End of the Line.” Coach as needed.
Directions: While lathering in line ask group to show their lather. After the first person gets back to the sink, rinse, then have them step away to dry hands. Speed up the chant as skills improve.
If there is more than one group, have the next group come to the line when there are three people left to rinse.
Review (5 minutes)
Directions: Trainer congratulates the participants on their success! Encourage discussion to reinforce learning and make possible improvements.
Discussion questions:
- Why it is important to wash your hands? (Stop spread of harmful germs.)
- When is it a good time to wash your hands? (Name five from Food Safety Introduction section in first column on this page.)
- Do you feel High Speed Hand Washing is practical for daily operations?
- Do you have any suggestions for improvements?
Closing
“Thank you for your careful attention, today. We will be using High Speed Hand Washing at the beginning of shifts and after breaks every day. With practice this will go more quickly and we can be confident that we are contributing to the safety of the food we handle and your well-being.”
