Facilities Can Do More to Ensure Hygienic Hands

FORT COLLINS, CO – Facility managers routinely measure restroom operations, but rarely evaluate whether public handwashing systems actually support a complete hygienic handwash, according to the newly released 2026 Clean Hands Index.

The index reveals that public handwashing is not failing because people do not care. It is failing because the built environment does not reliably support the behavior people are expected to perform.

Drawing on more than 350 independently evaluated public handwashing experiences, responses from more than 2,800 stakeholders, and a dedicated Cleaning & Facility Management Survey, the research found that most organizations actively measure restroom operations, yet few evaluate whether the overall handwashing experience enables visitors to complete a hygienic handwash from soap through exit.

Cleaning and facility professionals routinely track operational measures, such as soap usage, paper towel usage, cleaning frequency, maintenance calls, and user complaints. Those metrics help manage restroom operations, but do not directly measure whether the public can successfully complete a hygienic handwash.

“For decades, restroom performance has been evaluated through operational measures such as cleanliness, supplies, and maintenance,” said Tim Cromley, founder of Clean Hands Certified and publisher of the Clean Hands Index .“The next evolution may be understanding not only whether restrooms are clean, but whether they consistently enable people to complete a hygienic handwash.”

The research found that cleaning professionals already recognize the operational value of better restroom design. Nearly 70 percent of respondents agreed that better handwashing design reduces cleaning time and complaints, indicating broad recognition that restroom design directly influences operational performance.

At the same time, respondents identified significant barriers to improvement. Budget constraints were cited most frequently, followed by maintenance concerns, infrastructure limitations, leadership priorities, and fixture reliability concerns. Notably, only 1.6 percent identified limited product knowledge as a barrier, suggesting the challenge is less about awareness than implementation and investment.

The survey also highlighted the operational issues cleaning professionals face most often. Messy sinks and counters ranked as the most common recurring problem, followed by empty towel dispensers, empty soap dispensers, and malfunctioning fixtures. These highly visible conditions influence how visitors perceive restroom quality, even when broader cleaning routines are consistently performed.

The findings align with field observations from the Clean Hands Index, which found that only 7.1 percent of independently evaluated public handwashing experiences supported all five criteria required for a complete hygienic handwash.

Those criteria include:

• The public says handwashing matters.
• Facility teams say better systems would help.
• Manufacturers say availability and reliability drive compliance.
• Plumbing professionals say real-world performance often breaks down after installation.
• Architects and designers say hygiene features are valued but frequently compromised by budget, construction decisions, and inconsistent standards.

“The public experiences the restroom as one system,” Cromley said. “They don’t separate soap dispensers from faucets, towels, or exit doors. They simply know whether they were able to wash their hands hygienically. That outcome is influenced by design, maintenance, operations, and organizational priorities working together.”

Rather than suggesting that cleaning teams are responsible for every aspect of the handwashing experience, the report concludes that successful public handwashing requires collaboration among facility managers, custodial teams, architects, engineers, manufacturers, distributors, and organizational leadership.

Those findings ultimately led to the development of Clean Hands Certified, an independent performance standard that evaluates the complete public handwashing experience rather than individual restroom fixtures. The program is designed to complement—not replace—traditional cleaning and facility metrics by introducing performance measures focused on whether facilities consistently enable hygienic handwashing.

“The cleaning profession has continually advanced how facilities are maintained,” Cromley said. “This research suggests the next opportunity is helping organizations demonstrate not only that restrooms are clean, but that they consistently support one of public health’s most important everyday behaviors.”

The 2026 Clean Hands Index includes dedicated research from cleaning and facility professionals, architects and designers, manufacturers, public health experts, and the general public, providing one of the first comprehensive benchmarks of how well public facilities support hygienic handwashing.

Clean Hands Certified is a performance standard for public handwashing. Based on the findings of the 2026 Clean Hands Index, Clean Hands Certified provides facilities with a practical five-part framework for demonstrating excellent public handwashing while giving the public an ongoing voice through its mobile app.

For more, go to www.cleanhandscertified.com.