Beyond the Pandemic: Crucial Athletic Facilities Hygiene Practices

Proper hygiene and disinfection have never been more crucial to maintaining a clean and safe athletics facility than they have been during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Athletic training facilities, with close quarters, closed spaces, shared equipment, varying personal hygiene practices, and high levels of contamination, face many challenges related to environmental hygiene and infection control. These conditions make athletes highly vulnerable to readily transmissible diseases, not only to COVID-19 but also to skin infections and disease.

A recent study estimated the incidence of skin-related infectious diseases as 8.5 percent of high school sports-related injuries and 20.9 percent of college sports-related injuries.¹ Several studies and surveys have documented a high presence of germs in training room facilities, including the much-publicized methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria. ^2,3 MRSA and other germs can spread quickly in athletics facilities because of shared equipment and skin-to-skin contact. Indeed, MRSA causes 1-in-3 infectious outbreaks among competitive athletes.⁴ These infections can be challenging and costly to treat, jeopardizing the team’s performance and the career – and even life – of the athlete.

Evidence-Based Hand Hygiene Practices 

1. Clean your hands at key moments throughout the day.

Hand hygiene is a crucial pillar of infection control and is critical in reducing germs on hands. The CDC advises cleaning hands at key moments throughout the day.¹³ For athletics facilities, key moments include: 

Entering/leaving a room Before eating  After using the restroom

After contact with another person After touching surfaces or shared equipment

After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing After touching garbage

2. Use safe and effective products you trust and use them properly.

To reinforce the practice of good hand hygiene, you need safe and effective products that are also pleasing to use. This reinforcement is where GOJO® can help. GOJO® offers participants of OMNIA Partners a complete set of products through various distributors that holistically fight germs in athletic facilities. These uncompromising hand sanitizers, hand, and shower soaps, and surface disinfection products eliminate having to choose between products that are both effective and sustainable.

To view the entire OMNIA Partners cooperative contract portfolio, click here.

Evidence-Based Surface Disinfection Practices

Surface hygiene is also a critical component of infection prevention programs but is often not consistently practiced safely and effectively. Look to a standardized, evidence-based hand and surface hygiene program that will integrate behavior change strategies while targeting the entire athletics team and staff. An evidence-based hand and surface hygiene program will deliver a significant impact on infection control in athletics facilities.

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About GOJO® and OMNIA Partners

GOJO® and PURELL® products are available to participants of OMNIA Partners on competitively solicited, publicly awarded cooperative contracts through your favorite distributor. The collection of GOJO® offerings include janitorial & sanitation products, supplies & related services. To view the entire OMNIA Partners contract portfolio, click here. Not a participant? Become one today!