How safe are public washrooms in the UAE?

Pretty safe, thanks to high standards of cleaning and disinfection. However, experts advise good personal hygiene given the wider area of contamination as public facilities have numerous touchpoints, including taps, paper towel dispensers, doorknobs and t

As offices, malls, airports and other public spaces in Dubai reopen, one uneasy question that is doing the rounds among residents is whether public toilets are safe to use amid the global pandemic.

Possible contamination coupled with poor hygiene habits can potentially make public toilets risky, but facilities management companies and health care experts in the UAE said stepped up protocols to ensure the highest levels of disinfection and cleanliness as stipulated by the authorities ensure that public bathrooms are safe in the UAE.

Users’ hygiene matters

Markus Oberlin, CEO of Farnek, a facilities management services provider for malls, airports, banks, residential and other buildings, told Gulf News, “Public bathrooms are a highrisk area of contamination and have numerous high touch surfaces: taps, paper towel dispensers, doorknobs and door handles. It is therefore imperative to ensure a high cleaning and disinfectant standard and monitor washroom usage, consumable levels such as soap solutions, paper towels and toilet rolls.”

He said Farnek has adapted new international standards in line with the Global Biorisk Advisory Council requirements, which is based on a detailed step-by-step process on how to ensure that the risk of contamination is reduced in a washroom.

To a large extent, a toilet’s safety is determined by the hygiene maintained by its users.

As Dr Shilpa Murthy, General Practitioner, Aster Clinic — Arabian Ranches, said, there are many common mistakes that people make which reflect poor hygiene and in turn can pose a health risk in a toilet.

“Sitting on the toilet seats for too long, flushing with the toilet lids up, leaving the toilet without flushing, using cell phones inside, not washing hands long enough, needlessly touching surfaces … these are among the mistakes that people make, which can prove harmful, during Covid-19 or even non-Covid-19 times,” she said.

Going automatic

Such habits notwithstanding, facilities management companies said their stepped up protocols ensure public toilets are safe.

Parris Ullrich, head of facilities Management at Transguard, which also caters to the facilities management requirements at major shopping malls, banks and tourist destinations in the UAE, said, “We ensure that High Touch Point cleaning is done every 10-15 minutes, which disinfects doorknobs, handles and dispensers. Where possible, we’ve installed automatic paper towel and soap dispensers.

“Regular cleaning and disinfecting of fan coil units and fresh air handling units filters is done and we’ve installed hand sanitiser dispensers at the entrance to all washrooms.”

Ullrich said alternate cubicles, wash basins and urinals have also been closed to maintain social distancing.