Innovations

ADVANCED MEASURES FOR ADDRESSING CRITICAL HYGIENE ISSUES

Your business is under attack millions of times a day. That's because the working environment is literally a breeding ground for potentially dangerous pathogens – microscopic invaders that can sicken your customers and employees, increase your rates of absenteeism, decrease your operational performance and worse. The threat is anything but abstract – businesses in every industry are affected daily by their failure to implement proper sanitation procedures:

• According to the National Restaurant Association, "a single outbreak of foodborne illness can cost a foodservice operation as much as $75,000 in legal fees, medical claims, lost employee wages, cleaning and sanitizing, discarded food supplies, and lost income from negative publicity and/or being shut down. That figure increases dramatically if the incident involves death or serious injury."

• During the first quarter of 2005, the United States Department of Agriculture took administrative action against more than 185 establishments for violations of Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures or failure to meet Sanitation Performance Standards Between January, 2004 and July, 2005, the United States Food and Drug Administration issued more than 530 warning letters to major manufacturers, retailers, food service providers and pharmaceutical companies because of adulterated or contaminated products or processes.

• According to the National Center for Health Statistics, absenteeism costs companies an average of $789 per employee per year, which can translate into as much as $60,000 annually for a typical small business – and can easily run into the millions for a large employer. Employees who come to work when sick – a practice called "presenteeism" – are estimated to be responsible for as much as two thirds of the $250 billion in lost health-related costs in the U.S. each year.

What can you do about it?