新型小便器方便洗手 如廁講衛生再沒借口

Men have long been maligned for their lack of hygiene but now they have no excuse for not washing their hands after a visit to the bathroom.

A Latvian designer has come up with a novel toilet design to improve men's hand washing habits by by including a built-in tap.

Kaspars Jursons' design is called STAND and was created to encourage men to wash their hands after using the facilities.

But opinion is divided about whether it is hygienic to wash your hands in a urinal.

The tap is hands-free and activated by sensors, arguably making it more hygienic than a traditional tap and even easier to use.

Mr Jursons said: 'If you did not have the habit of washing your hands after you go to the bathroom before, you will definitely be reminded now, when you are faced with a tap right at the urinal.'

A recent study by environmental health experts at Michigan State University, found that just one in 20 people wash their hands for long enough to kill harmful germs after visiting the toilet.

Furthermore, a third do not use soap and 10 per cent do not wash their hands at all.

The research named and shamed men as particularly bad at washing their hands correctly.

Hand washing is the single most effective thing to do to reduce the spread of infectious Diseases, according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Failing to sufficiently wash hands contributes to nearly 50 per cent of all food borne illness outbreaks, it said.

Experts say it takes 15 to 20 seconds of vigorous hand washing with soap and water to effectively kill the germs which cause infections.

Yet the study found that people washed their hands for, on average, only about six seconds.

A third of people do not use soap when washing their hands and 10 per cent do not wash their hands at all

Professor Carl Borchgrevink, associate professor of hospitality business and his team observed hand washing in toilets in bars, restaurants and other public establishments.

The study claims to be one of the first to take into account factors such as duration of the hand washing and whether people used soap.

Among the findings were that 15 per cent of men did not wash their hands at all, compared with seven per cent of women and when they did wash their hands, only 50 per cent of men used soap, compared with 78 per cent of women.

In another study, researchers from a group of US universities recently revealed that men are more likely to wash their hands after going to the toilet if they see messages reminding them to do so.

The scientists posted signs in college restrooms that read 'four out of five students wash their hands EVERY time they use the bathroom'.

Before the posters went up male participants self-reported washing their hands 75per cent of the time but after the reminders were pasted above sinks this figure jumped to 86 per cent.據英國《每日郵報》網站7月8日的報道，從洗手間出來後不洗手貌似是不少男性的壞習慣，而女人也因此而責怪男人不講衛生，不過拉脫維亞設計師卡斯帕爾斯•朱爾森斯（Kaspars Jursons）的作品可以讓這些男人們再也找不到不洗手的藉口。

朱爾森斯所設計的新型男廁小便池名爲STAND，與普通小便池不同的是，它的頂部有一個水龍頭和一個洗手池，不僅能夠鼓勵男士在如廁之後洗手，同時還能利用這些洗手水來清理小便槽，從而達到一舉兩得的目的。

同時，小便池上的水龍頭是自動感應的，相對於普通水龍頭更加衛生和方便。“如果你沒有小便之後洗手的習慣，那麼這種小便器對你來說無疑會是一個提醒，”朱爾森斯介紹說。

美國密歇根州立大學的環境健康專家們最近的一項研究表明，在20個人之中，只有一個人在如廁之後的洗手時間足夠殺死手上的有害細菌，此外，有三分之一的人在洗手時沒有使用肥皂，還有10%根本就不洗手。

美國疾病控制和預防中心的報道指出，便後洗手是減少傳染病傳播最有效的方法，如果未能充分洗手，食源性傳染疾病的爆發率會增高50%左右。

健康專家表示，人們在洗手時不僅需要肥皂進行清理，同時還需要15到20秒鐘的洗手時間，只有這樣纔能有效殺死手上的病菌。但是，研究發現人們日常平均洗手時間僅爲6秒鐘。

美國一項針對酒吧、餐館和其他公共場所的廁所洗手情況調查結果顯示，有15%的男士在如廁後不洗手，女士爲7%，而在洗手的人羣中，有50%的男士使用肥皂洗手，女士則爲78%。而另一項研究則表明，相對於女性來說，男性在廁所看到洗手提示時，更傾向去按照提示進行洗手。