Hand cleaners
by Rich Vurva
Protecting the environment and concern for the health and well being of workers are two trends driving innovation in industrial hand cleaners. Here’s a look at how two different companies are driving innovation in the marketplace today.
Gojo
Michael Prediger
Market development
Director Industrial Markets
Organizations in the industrial and manufacturing sectors are continually striving to improve processes, attract and retain talent and foster a safe and productive work environment. Given the current skills gap in U.S. manufacturing, it is critical for manufacturing organizations to keep their workers happy, healthy and on the job if they hope to retain talented employees in today’s environment where workers have more viable job choices than ever before. Providing employees with meaningful solutions to ensure they stay healthy pays big dividends not only from a productivity perspective but also in the way that employees view their organization.
Industry initiatives such as combining workplace wellness programs and workplace safety programs into one integrated health and safety program are examples of how companies are striving to be more proactive in ensuring their workers overall health and safety. These types of programs are geared toward not only ensuring employee safety while on the job but also providing employees with wellness programs and benefits which foster a healthier overall lifestyle and demonstrate to their employees that the company cares about their well-being both on the job and off.
GOJO recently unveiled the GOJO Industrial Workplace Solution, a broader approach to workplace well-being for industrial facilities. GOJO has offered specialized solutions for the industrial markets for over 70 years, and this new approach presents a complete set of
GOJO and PURELL products in a simple, yet comprehensive, bundle that can help improve workplace wellness. The GOJO Industrial Workplace Solution presents a program that, when implemented correctly, ensures that all employees, from the production floor to the front offices, have the products available to them to care for their overall skin health and reduce the potential for germ transmission in the workplace. Implementing this program not only helps employees maintain productivity and reduce illness, but also demonstrates that the organization cares about their employees by providing products their employees know and trust.
As the category leader in skin health and hand hygiene, GOJO, the inventor of alcohol-based instant hand sanitizer, is continually innovating across all end-user markets. Most recently, GOJO has released a new product for industrial markets, GOJO MULTI GREEN Heavy Duty Hand Cleaner. This new formula eliminates the use of plastic micro-beads to improve the environmental attributes of the formula. In doing so, GOJO has earned EcoLogo certification on the bottled format of the MULTI GREEN hand cleaner. This new product removes even the most stubborn soils from hands while remaining gentle on the skin and harmless to the environment.
Deb Group
Matt Cloward
Marketing manager industrial
There is a growing awareness and concern about the ingredients found in many industrial hand cleansers. Many hand care products are based on very old formulations and often contain harmful ingredients such as petroleum distillates and pumice.
Environmental responsibility is another trend driving innovation. In response to the growing impact of plastic waste that is contaminating waterways such as lakes and oceans, the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 bans all plastic particles in rinse-off cosmetics and rinse-off drug cosmetics (drugs are exempt). Manufacturers were required to stop producing products with microbeads by July 1, 2017; the deadline to remove these products from interstate commerce is July 1, 2018. (For more information on the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, please visit www.fda.gov and search for “microbeads.”)
New product innovations are being implemented that replace harmful ingredients with those that are skin friendly while still maintaining effective cleansing. For example, natural biodegradable scrubbing agents such as corn meal, ground olive pit or walnut shell are extremely effective at removing contaminants from the skin without being harsh and abrasive. Additionally, many companies are opting to use industrial hand cleaners that are petroleum solvent-free. This, combined with more skin friendly scrubbers, allows workers to avoid having their hands feel dry, rough and cracked after washing, which means they can be more effective at their work.
Organizations are also implementing safety programs that look beyond what is formally required and take into account the total health and wellness of employees with an eye toward prevention. One example of such a program is the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Total Worker Health initiative. This approach encourages “protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being” (www.cdc.gov). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that 50 percent of all working time lost to industrial illness is due to dermatitis. To combat this, organizations should implement a skin care regimen that is tailored to mitigate the risks workers are exposed to, which includes the use of pre-work protect creams and skin moisturizers that are applied at the end of the work day and restore skin to its natural health.
This summer, Deb Group launched Solopol GFX, the world’s only heavy duty foam hand cleanser with grit. Solopol GFX quickly removes medium to heavy duty contamination such as oil, grease and grime from your hands, without leaving them feeling dry, rough and cracked. It contains only skin-safe ingredients and biodegradable cornmeal and
olive pit scrubbers while still providing up to 42 percent more hand washes per liter.
In late 2016, Deb Group launched Stokoderm Frost – a pre-work cream specially developed to keep hands, face and other exposed skin healthy in cold working conditions. Stokoderm Frost is ideal for use in cold environments and can be used with gloves or personal protective equipment (PPE). The dual action formula is designed to work at preventing skin dryness and can be applied at sub-zero temperatures to -22˚F without freezing.
Looking to the future, Deb Group is expanding its approach to skin health and safety to provide data driven solutions that encourage total worker health and the prevention of occupational skin issues rather than treating them after the fact. By elevating skin health in industrial environments, organizations will come to think of skin safety as a
critical piece of their safety program, with proper skin care products being thought of as standard elements of PPE.
This article originally appeared in the Sept./Oct. 2017 issue of Industrial Supply magazine. Copyright 2017, Direct Business Media.
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The November/December issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Kimball Midwest. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dirk Beveridge, Frank Hurtte, and Mike Marks, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
