How Portable Sinks Stop Germs

Germs, also known as microbes, are tiny but mighty organisms that are everywhere! They’re in the air, on surfaces, and inside our bodies, playing a complex role in our environment and health. While not all germs are bad, they aren’t all good either, and one of the best ways to stop the spread of germs is through frequent and proper hand washing.

However, knowing you should wash your hands and being able to wash your hands are two different things. Getting to a sink with hot and cold running water isn’t always practical or even an option.
That’s where portable sinks come in. These mobile handwashing stations can go just about anywhere you need access to safe, clean running water for hand washing, especially in places where there is no plumbing.

What Are Germs?

You’re probably familiar with several types of germs. While many are harmless and some are even beneficial, others are pathogenic and can lead to diseases. 

• Bacteria are single-celled organisms. Some are harmless, while others can cause infections, like strep throat.
• Viruses need a living host to survive. They’re known for their rapid spread and cause anything from the common cold to viral infections like COVID-19. 
• Fungi are things like mold and yeast. Some fungi are harmless, while others cause infections like athlete’s foot (and spoil long forgotten leftovers!).
• Protozoa are often found in water and soil and can cause serious disease in humans.

The balance between beneficial and harmful germs is crucial for maintaining health. Effective disease control and prevention methods, such as regular hand washing and using hand sanitizer, are essential in managing the risks that harmful germs pose to us.

How Germs Spread

Germs have three main methods of spreading:

• Contact with infected surfaces, like a doorknob
• Person-to-person, like when a sick person coughs or sneezes
• Eating food or water that’s contaminated

While there isn’t a lot you can do about some types of person-to-person contact or consuming contaminated food, you have more control over your contact with infected surfaces.

When you touch a contaminated surface, like an elevator button that hasn’t been disinfected recently, then touch your face, mouth, or nose, any germs that transferred from the button to your hand can potentially infect you. Using hand sanitizer or proper hand washing after touching the button and before touching your face or another surface reduces the risk to you and the spread of germs.

How Portable Sinks Support Personal and Public Health

In the battle against germs, public spaces pose the most risk to our personal health. Germ transmission is more likely to happen in crowded areas and on high-touch surfaces that haven’t been sanitized. 

Proper hand washing goes a long way toward stopping the spread of these germs, but placing handwashing stations everywhere they’re needed isn’t always practical. Adding or extending plumbing and sewer lines can be messy, expensive, and not always possible. But portable sinks make it possible for people to wash their hands whenever and wherever they need to.

Enhance Accessibility

Portable sinks can be placed whenever adding permanent handwashing stations is impractical. Outdoor events, temporary medical sites, and disaster relief areas are all examples, but you can also add a portable sink to permanent campsites, daycare facilities, and animal shelters to ensure proper hygiene for staff and customers. 

Public Reassurance

While many people carry hand sanitizer, seeing a portable sink reminds them that proper hand washing is crucial to overall health and hygiene. What’s more, seeing a portable sink reassures them that your facility takes their health and safety seriously.

Adapt to Change

Portable sinks also allow your company to be nimble, flexible, and adaptable when conditions or regulations change.

For example, during cold and flu season, it’s easy to place a portable sink wherever you need it, giving more people more access to proper hand washing stations. And when state regulations regarding hand washing sinks change, a portable sink with soap dispensers and paper towels makes it more likely that you can quickly and easily comply with the changes — often for a fraction of the cost of a plumbed sink.

Complements Sanitizers

Even if you have dispensers throughout your business, hand sanitizers aren’t the most effective method of removing germs from hands. The CDC says that the best way to get rid of germs is to wash hands with soap and running water. Sanitizer should be used when soap and running water aren’t available. However, the sanitizer needs to be at least 60% alcohol to work, which may not always be the case.

Having portable sinks available throughout your company or at your event ensures people have a safe, effective alternative to sanitizer.

Protects Vulnerable Populations

Health care settings are more likely to have proper hand washing stations throughout the facility, but often they’re only available to staff. Adding portable sinks to public areas where the spread of germs is likely to occur protects patients and residents who may have weakened immune systems and are more vulnerable to infections. 

The Power of Portable Sinks

Understanding how germs spread is the first step in containing them, and proper hand washing is often the key to success. When a permanent hand washing station is impractical or even impossible, a portable sink fills that gap, allowing you to provide a safe and effective hand washing solution everywhere you need it.

Ozark River Manufacturing’s portable sinks come fully assembled and are ready to go right out of the box. Simply plug it into any standard outlet, connect the fresh and waste water tanks, and you’ll have instant access to hot and cold running water that’s perfect for all your hand washing needs.

Our portable sink solutions are perfect for a wide range of industries, including:

Contact us today to learn how Ozark River Manufacturing can support your business or browse our full line of portable sinks and accessories.