hot water temp

[jemsthetwo]

can anyone tell me what the temperature of hot water should be for washing hands.thanks for any help.

[Jack Kane]

Hey jamesthetwo (not sure if that's the right name or not?)

Welcome to the forums

Could you tell us what sector you are in, i.e. catering, residential care homes, factory?

As far as I am aware, there is no maximum temperature for hand wash basins.

There are however controls for preventing Legionnaires' Disease.

The bacteria thrives at between 20C and 45C, but is controlled by storing the water at high temperatures of above 60C. This is obviously a bit hot for wash hand basins, most humans can stand a temperature of 50-52C for effective hand washing.

There are guidelines for residential care homes as stated by the HSE:

HS(G) 104 Health and safety in residential care homes...recommends that where vulnerable people are at risk from scalding during whole body immersion, water temperatures do not exceed 44oC.

The free leaflet which describes how to control Legionnaires' Disease can be found here: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/iacl27.pdf

I hope this helps.

[Alexis]

Welcome to the Forums Jems.

[safety1st]

HANDS
Hands are one of the principal agents in transferring harmful bacteria to food. Handling raw food then cooked food is a particular danger.
When should hands be washed?
Hands should always be washed after the preparation of both raw and cooked food. As a matter of policy, handwashing should also take place before work starts and after:
(a) using the toilet
(b) handling waste
(c) blowing the nose or touching other parts of the body likely to harbour bacteria, eg nose, mouth, hair, ears, backside
(d) smoking
(e) carrying out cleaning duties.

What Should be Used for Hand Washing?
1. Hands should be washed under hot running water (from elbow or foot-operated taps) with soap or a suitable bactericide.
2. Nailbrushes are no longer specifically mentioned in the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995, but if used, they should be made from plastic and cleaned and disinfected regularly. See WASH HAND BASINS. Nailbrushes must be used with care as excessive use may damage the skin and increase the risk of infection.
3. Food preparation or equipment sinks should not be used for hand washing. There should be a minimum of one wash hand basin in each food preparation area, service area and toilet/changing area, with
sufficient soap and hand-drying facilities.
4. Hands should be dried using air driers, roller towels or, preferably, disposal paper towels. Foot-operated bins must be provided for the collection of soiled disposable towels.

Please note regs do not specify temp, as the old adage suitable and sufficient rears its ugly head. We set our geysers to 40C but we have mixer taps like the hospital type anyway. The best defence is the soap anyway.

Hope it helps

[JIM INGLIS]

thanks all, this all stemmed from my wifes work (call-centre). she washed her hands under the hot water tap could not cool water down as there is no mixer tap or plug in the sink. have advised her to inform supervisor of lack of plug. workplace has sinced placed hot water warning signs above sink.as usual it takes someone to injure themselves before anything is done.

[Jack Kane]

Here's a new leaflet produced by the HSE on this subject, for anybody else needing to know.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg253.pdf