Ensuring a comfortable, clean environment is crucial, as poor hygiene and inaccessible washrooms can leave guests feeling uncomfortable, ruining the overall catering experience.
New research from Tork, an Essity brand and global leader in professional hygiene, shows that nearly half of respondents, 44 per cent*, feel anxious about using public washroom facilities. To combat this, Tork has announced its commitment to advancing inclusive hygiene in public washrooms and aims to explore how hygiene in public washrooms, often the busiest rooms in a catering facility, can be improved. This also includes helping to make them more comfortable for both users and cleaning staff, regardless of health conditions, abilities, neuro-diversities, general hygiene concerns or stage of life.
Comfortable access to public washrooms isn’t just about convenience, it’s a public health need. Washrooms are the busiest room in a facility and Tork’s research reaffirms that washrooms often aren’t equipped to accommodate the constantly changing capabilities of the population at large. This influences an individual’s ability to participate in social gatherings and work, their inclination to buy food or drink or dine at a restaurant and even what routes they choose to travel. Alongside experts and stakeholders, we aim to explore and solve the ways that hygiene in washrooms can be more comfortable for the majority of users.
In the run up to Christmas, it is important washrooms are accessible to all. According to the 2024 Tork Insight Survey, 38 percent of people avoid eating and drinking to limit their use of public washrooms and 73 per cent say a bad washroom experience in a restaurant will impact their willingness to return. It’s therefore vital that during the Christmas period, where restaurants and bars will have new customers trying their facilities for the first time, guests are made to feel comfortable to encourage repeat visits for years to come.
Working with the industry to improve hygiene standards
Tork first announced its aim to improve inclusive hygiene in public washrooms at the Reuters Responsible Business USA 2024 event in New York City. Amie Kromis, DEI Director for Essity North America, joined leaders from around the world to explore how organisations can improve the environmental and societal sustainability of their operations and solutions. At the event, printed Tork paper towels featured hand-written notes from individuals who face barriers to hand hygiene. Installed in the washrooms, these towels were part of the Tork brand’s effort to spotlight real experiences and educate leaders at the place where barriers occur.
This summer, Tork and the Global Handwashing Partnership hosted an inclusive hygiene-focused roundtable in Washington, D.C. By convening experts and facilitating discussion, the event aimed to elevate the conversation around inclusive hygiene in public washrooms and identify areas for change. Experts and leading voices representing public and private organisations met to review the new data, share expertise and work toward a greater understanding of the issues.
To learn more about barriers to inclusive hygiene, and practical steps for businesses to take, and to join Tork on the journey to help businesses provide more inclusive hygiene in their washrooms, please visit: tork.co.uk/inclusivehygiene
1 Data from the 2024 Tork Insights Survey of 6,000 individuals 18-65+ and 900 respondents representing businesses in the United States, Mexico, UK, Germany and France