Impact of a Comprehensive Workplace Hand Hygiene Program on Employer Health Care Insurance Claims and Costs, Absenteeism, and Employee Perceptions and Practices.
The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of a multimodal hand hygiene intervention program in reducing health care insurance claims for hygiene preventable infections (eg, cold and influenza), absenteeism, and subjective impact on employees.



A 13.5-month prospective, randomized cluster controlled trial was executed with alcohol-based hand sanitizer in strategic workplace locations and personal use (intervention group) and brief hand hygiene education (both groups). Four years of retrospective data were collected for all participants.



Hygiene-preventable health care claims were significantly reduced in the intervention group by over 20% (P < 0.05). Absenteeism was positively impacted overall for the intervention group. Employee survey data showed significant improvements in hand hygiene behavior and perception of company concern for employee well-being.



Providing a comprehensive, targeted, yet simple to execute hand hygiene program significantly reduced the incidence of health care claims and increased employee workplace satisfaction.
GOJO Industries, Inc, Akron (Dr Arbogast, Ms Hughes); Medical Mutual of Ohio, Cleveland (Dr Moore-Schiltz, Ms Harpster-Hagen); Jason and Jarvis Associates, LLC, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (Dr Jarvis); and Center for Biofilm Engineering and the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Montana St. University, Bozeman (Dr Parker).
James W
JW
Arbogast
Laura
L
Moore-Schiltz
William R
WR
Jarvis
Amanda
A
Harpster-Hagen
Jillian
J
Hughes
Albert
A
Parker
D000041:Absenteeism; D005260:Female; D063373:Hand Hygiene / Q000592:standards*; D064548:Hand Sanitizers / Q000008:administration & dosage; D017048:Health Care Costs; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017132:Workplace
D064548:Hand Sanitizers