Stuart Hands from Tork manufacturer Essity considers how to equip and run the washrooms of a summer attraction to facilitate hand hygiene - while also preventing long queues and dissatisfied customers.
A summer’s day out during the school holidays should be fun for all the family, as well as being profitable for the venue. Attractions such as theme parks, zoos and petting farms need to be able to provide a pleasant and seamless experience for guests. This means that any queueing needs to be minimised so that customers can maximise their time inside the venue.
Managers have come up with various ways of organising their queueing systems to reduce their impact on customer satisfaction levels. Some issue e-tickets or “fast passes” that allow guests to jump the queue for an added fee. Others use an appointment system whereby customers are given a specific time to show up for an attraction and are then alerted via text message when their slot becomes available.
And some strive to make queueing all part of the fun, using devices such as holograms, videos and recorded commentary to build anticipation and create a “pre-show” experience. Others employ performers to entertain the queue and to hand out bottled water to guests as they wait. However, no such strategies are employed in the toilets. And good washroom provision is crucial at any summer event to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction and maximise profits.
Visitors will feel less inclined to linger at a venue where the washroom provision is poor or if they face a queue every time they want to use the facilities. And if they leave the attraction early, they might skip their visit to the gift shop – an important revenue stream for many summer venues.
Some visitors will be tempted to refrain from eating and drinking as well to avoid having to use the washroom – and this will hit refreshment and café sales. Long queues for the washrooms will also lead to dissatisfaction among visitors who might decide to air their complaints on social media platforms.
Washrooms have an important role to play at any summer attraction. Besides their obvious use as a “comfort stop”, they are the place where hand hygiene is carried out. And clean hands are crucial in any environment where children will be interacting with displays, touching play equipment and stroking animals in the petting farm before eating picnics with their hands.
Earlier this summer the Public Health Agency issued a reminder to anyone visiting an open farm or petting zoo to wash and dry their hands thoroughly after touching animals or surfaces. Animals naturally carry a range of organisms which could be transmitted to people and can potentially cause a severe infection such as E. coli O157. In 2016, an outbreak of E.coli and parasitic disease cryptosporidiosis led to more than 30 people falling ill after a visit to a Leeds petting farm. The agency added that antibacterial gels and wipes should not be regarded as a substitute for hand washing since they may not adequately remove germs and bugs.
So in order to facilitate good hand hygiene practices, the washrooms at summer attractions should be plentiful, accessible and quick and easy to use. So, how can they be equipped and managed for optimum hygiene and efficiency?
Queues will quickly form in washrooms where the facilities are slow to use or if the soap and paper supply has been allowed to run out. So venue managers should install intuitive and ergonomic systems to reduce the risks of the units running out between maintenance checks.
High capacity dispensers for toilet tissue, hand towels and soap will all help to reduce run-outs. And these should be easy to use for everyone, even for the very young. The Tork SmartOne Twin Mini Toilet Roll System, for example, works well in a busy summer venue because the paper is drawn out from the front, avoiding the need for the washroom visitor to insert their hand inside the unit to hunt for the end of the roll. The system also helps to prevent run-outs because a new roll can be inserted at any time to ensure a continuous supply.
Tork Foam Soaps provide a good hand washing solution because each long-lasting cartridge serves up to 1,650 visitors. The sealed cartridge can be replaced in seconds by the cleaner, and a particularly low push-force is required to operate the dispenser which makes it easy for younger visitors to use while also speeding up access to the soap.
Hand dryers can lead to long queues in a busy washroom since they require visitors to stand and wait for their hands to be thoroughly dried. However, a high-capacity hand towel dispenser will allow visitors to take a towel and move on, drying their hands as they go while freeing up the unit for the next user. The Tork PeakServe Continuous Hand Towel Dispenser caters for more than 1000 guests between refills and delivers each towel in just three seconds, reducing the user’s waiting time. The dispenser has been designed to give out sheets of paper singly to avoid over-consumption, which means the supply will last for longer.
The design of the washrooms themselves can also help to speed up throughput and make them easier to use for younger visitors. Low sinks will facilitate hand washing for children, for example, while sanitiser dispensers placed at different heights will act as a further hand hygiene safeguard. And outer partitions in place of doors will help to avoid logjams.
Many summer attractions are spread out over an extensive outdoor space which means visitors will inevitably have to walk a short distance to find the nearest washroom. But while most guests will be prepared to do this, the layout of such venues will make life harder for the cleaning staff who will have to walk long distances between toilet blocks to physically check on cleaning needs and dispenser refill levels.
This issue can be addressed with the aid of digital technology. Sensors placed in washrooms allow staff members to monitor usage and check on dispenser refill levels remotely via a smartphone or tablet. They can then target those washrooms where they know the soap and paper supplies to be running low or where excessive usage makes the need for spot cleaning more likely.
Systems such as Tork Vision Cleaning remove the need for cleaners to make multiple physical checks on the washrooms, saving them time and effort walking to and from each facility.
Like it or not, the washroom forms an important part of any family day out. This is the place where people head for a comfort stop, a nappy change, time out or a hand wash during the course of their visit. So the use of these facilities should be pleasant and seamless to ensure that the customer’s overall impression of the venue remains positive.
www.tork.co.uk