SARS Scare Reinforces the Need for Hygiene Awareness

When faced with Toronto’s SARS scare, the Canadian Sanitation Supply Association (CSSA) sprang to action.

With CAN CLEAN 2003 (Canada’s ISSA/INTERCLEAN counterpart) only days away, the association needed to ease fears fast to keep the show on course.

So they set up hand-sanitizing stations on the show floor, circulated informational materials and instituted a voluntary no-handshake policy. Unfortunately, the World Health Organization’s travel advisory forced CSSA to reschedule. But the association’s response exemplifies what this industry has the power to do proactively: boost awareness of the critical importance of sanitation.

We live in a world where communicable diseases are the norm, yet where besides the health-care field do you notice strict adherence to routines that protect health? Why not other fields?

Industry consultant John Walker hit the nail on the head when, in a recent discussion, he contended that cleaning plays second fiddle to the “medical” cause and effect of disease. The cleaning industry, he says, must work to assume the role it is more-than-equipped to play: “the vitamin that precludes a cure.”

Supporting cleaning associations and other industry groups that elevate these interests is one step. Proactively educating customers about the critical role of hygiene, another. One building at a time, hygiene for health needs to become the status quo.