Bradley Corporation

Each year on October 15, Global Handwashing Day highlights how consistently washing hands with soap and water is an effective and affordable way to prevent viruses and diseases, and ultimately save lives.

This year’s theme, “Clean hands are in reach,” accentuates the important link between good handwashing practices and disease prevention.

According to the Global Handwashing Partnership, creators of Global Handwashing Day, great strides have been made in hygiene commitment and action in the past few years, but globally, better access and more practice is needed to achieve hand hygiene for all.

Less than a fifth of people worldwide currently wash their hands at critical times. Even in areas where handwashing is an established practice – and soap and water are accessible – people still fail to wash their hands often enough.

As for school-aged children, more than a million children globally die each year due to diarrhea but handwashing with soap could prevent two-thirds of those deaths. Further, children lose 443 million school days each year because of water-related illnesses. Without handwashing facilities in schools, children are more susceptible to illness, and less able to learn, grow and thrive.

Medical experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization agree that developing a habit of consistent and thorough handwashing with soap and water is the best prevention of cold and flu germs and the spread of other contagious illnesses seen around the globe like diarrhea and pneumonia.

Survey Reveals Handwashing “Disconnects” in America

With a similar goal of stressing the health importance of regular handwashing, Bradley Corporation, an international manufacturer of commercial restroom fixtures, has conducted its annual Healthy Handwashing Survey. For 14 years the survey has highlighted Americans’ self-reported handwashing beliefs and behaviors, sometimes revealing disconnects in handwashing follow-through.

For example, the 2023 survey revealed that 93% of adults believe handwashing is essential to maintaining their overall health and 75% wash their hands more diligently during flu and virus outbreaks. However, Americans’ handwashing activity has dropped 30% over the past three years returning to pre-Covid levels. There has also been an increase in people taking handwashing shortcuts. 45% admit to just rinsing with water and skipping soap.

“The aim of our survey is to keep the health benefits of handwashing with soap top-of-mind, especially as we head into cold and flu season. Celebrating Global Handwashing Day is a natural outgrowth of that mission,” said Jon Dommisse, vice president of marketing and strategy for Bradley Corporation. “Connecting handwashing with our daily habits or rituals is an effective way to form good handwashing practices.”

Medical experts emphasize it’s important to wash your hands whenever the risk of spreading germs is high. For example, before and after eating or handling food, caring for someone who is sick, or after using the restroom, sneezing, coughing or blowing your nose.

“In addition to advocating for better handwashing practices, Global Handwashing Day is a great reminder for businesses and facilities to provide clean, well-stocked and maintained restrooms that support handwashing,” Dommisse said.

Most Americans seek out – and spend more – at businesses with good bathrooms while canceling businesses with messy ones

Businesses that fail to keep their restrooms clean and maintained are unwittingly flushing away customers’ repeat business and sales. According to the Healthy Handwashing Survey™ from Bradley Corporation, almost 60% of Americans make it a point to stop at a business and will spend more money at the establishment if they know it has clean and maintained restrooms.

In fact, those age 25-44 are even more likely to shell out more cash based on the condition of a business’ restroom.

Conversely, there are negative business repercussions for experiencing a restroom in poor condition. More than half of Americans say an unclean or unpleasant public bathroom shows poor management and causes them to lower their opinion of the overall establishment. The 55+ age group is especially turned off by unkempt restrooms with more than 60% reporting a damaged impression of the overall business.

Almost 20% say a sloppy restroom actually makes them less likely to clean up after themselves.

The business fallout of unpleasant restrooms

Perhaps most damaging for customer-facing businesses is that 52% say a bad restroom experience causes them to vow not to return in the future or think twice about doing so. Another 32% will either tell a friend or post a comment on social media about the negative encounter.

While there are a variety of restroom maintenance issues that may tarnish customers’ restroom experiences, the most common ones include clogged or unflushed toilets; an overall appearance that is old, dirty or unkempt; unpleasant smells; and empty or jammed dispensers for soap, toilet paper and hand towels.

“Restroom maintenance may seem like a business no brainer but limited budgets and facility staffing issues mean that companies are doing more with less staff and resources,” says Jon Dommisse, vice president of marketing and corporate communication, Bradley Corporation. “Nevertheless, customers place a high value on clean restrooms – and reward businesses that offer them. It’s incumbent upon facility managers to prioritize regular restroom cleaning and make sure that everything is in good working order.”  

Understanding the aversion to touching restroom surfaces

“In 2023, Americans continue to be in an elevated state of germ consciousness and don’t like touching things in shared public restroom spaces,” adds Dommisse. “As a result, people use all sorts of techniques to avoid coming into contact with surfaces.”

62% use a paper towel to avoid touching toilet flushers and faucet and door handles. 43% operate the flusher with their foot. 31% hover over the toilet seat and 27% open and close doors with their behind to eliminate contact. Women are considerably more likely than men to use these evasive actions.

With so many people deliberately avoiding contact with restroom surfaces, it’s not surprising that 82% believe it is important to have touchless fixtures in a public restroom. Another 60% are more likely to return to a business that offers touch-free technology like faucets, flushers, soap and towel dispensers in its restrooms.

“When asked what restroom improvements they’d like to see, cleanliness topped the list,” Dommisse said. “After that, Americans want touchless fixtures and better stocking of supplies, such as toilet paper, soap and paper towels.”

The annual Healthy Handwashing Survey from Bradley Corp. queried 1,025 American adults Jan. 4-10, 2023, about their handwashing habits, concerns about the coronavirus and flu and their use of public restrooms. Participants were from around the country and were fairly evenly split between men (45%) and women (55%).

For more information, visit www.bradleycorp.com/handwashing.

Bradley Corporation announces the promotion of Latisha Rathell to Director of Customer Service.

Rathell brings over 20 years of experience in financial and business analysis, reporting, project management and contract performance management roles. She brings a diverse background in regulatory, service, product surveillance, as well as customer service leadership.

Prior to joining Bradley in 2020 as product compliance analyst, Rathell worked in various leadership roles at General Electric.

“Latisha brings strong leadership experience, dedication to change management and business acumen to the Bradley customer service team,” says Jim Johnston, vice president of manufacturing, Bradley Corporation. “Over the past two years she has managed a number of process improvements in support of our corporate growth strategy.”

Rathell earned her MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management, and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Cardinal Stritch University.

Bradley Corp., creator of the all-in-one hand washing concept, opens a world of washroom design possibilities with a new extension of its award-winning WashBar^® series:  WashBar^® with Undermount Basins.

WashBar with Undermount Basins pair Bradley’s original clean+rinse+dry technology with a selection of cast-formed undermount basins made of either Evero^® natural quartz or Terreon^® solid surface. These durable basin materials allow designers to create their own customized restroom decks in varying lengths, L-shapes, cut outs or even different counter top materials.

A perfect alternative for applications featuring a complex or restrictive restroom deck design – yet still call for the design simplicity and functionality of the WashBar – this flexible fixture makes the most “impossible” designs entirely possible.

The complete system includes the WashBar, a cast-formed basin designed specifically for use with the WashBar, a one-gallon foam or liquid soap container, and an optional access panel. With a wide array of basin designs and color selections – Evero in eight colors and Terreon in five colors – the WashBar with Undermount Basins enable unlimited design options.

“This extension of our WashBar family allows greater design flexibility when designers need it,” said Will Haas, senior product manager, Bradley Corp. “Our cast-formed basins have been designed to work together with the WashBar to keep water in the basin and off the floor, and together they integrate into any type of countertop or deck.”

Award-winning clean+rinse+dry technology

Designed to enhance all the fundamentals of hand washing, the cutting edge WashBar is comprised of a single piece of chrome-plated metal that combines soap, water and dryer. LED lighting on the fixture helps to visually orient the user through the hand washing process with easy-to-identify icons on top of the bar. Using a bowl designed to work with the WashBar will keep water in the bowl and avoid splashing outside the basin onto the floor, walls or user, improving washroom cleanliness and safety. The system’s integration of soap, water and dryer into one sleek fixture eliminates deck and washroom clutter.

Basin materials provide a high aesthetic and durability

Bradley’s exclusive Evero natural quartz offers a long life cycle. Made from a blend of granite, minerals, and other natural stones, this material is beautiful, resilient and environmentally friendly. Constructed with a smooth, seamless finish, Evero’s non-porous surface does not support microbial growth, and is stain, chemical, scratch and heat resistant.

Also seamless and non-porous, Terreon and TerreonRE recycled solid surface materials will not support the growth of mold, mildew or bacteria, and will last for years to come. Highly durable, this material is easy to clean, maintain and repair.

Both Terreon and Evero have achieved GREENGUARD Gold Certification.

For more information, please visit https://www.bradleycorp.com/washbar.