The Weekly Gripe

Gripes the News
The Soapbox
Gripes in the pipes
*

Public toilet door handles are the wrong way round

69 comments  Add a comment

We all have had to use a public toilet (restroom) at some time or other and have probably come across an example like the one in the film Trainspotting aptly named 'The worst toilet in Scotland'.

The worst toilet in Scotland? However in this article I hope to show you that even in the cleanest public loo there is a serious design flaw that even if it isn't a health risk, is guaranteed to turn your stomach if you think about it too much.

Doors usually open into a room and this feels right and has always been the way.  For example you walk into your house through the front door and you generally open a door and walk into your bedroom.  The door on your toilet quite often swings inwards as well, although this is not always the case as my one has to be opened and that brings me right to the point that I am trying to make.  How many times have you used a toilet in somewhere such as a pub or restaurant and observed someone else walk straight out after doing their business without stopping to wash their hands?

I can't speak for female toilets, but this happens quite regularly in male toilets and especially in the toilets that are in pubs and this level of poor hygiene is simply disgusting, there's no other way to describe it.  Just imagine the germs festering on the handles of those doors, it doesn't bear thinking about!

Now wash your hands! But what bothers me most though is that the doors to these toilets are quite often of the type that you have to push to go in and then pull with a handle to leave.  This doesn't make much sense to me as it means you have to use the same handle that someone who may not have washed their hands has just used.

Toilet door handles should be on the opposite side

Wouldn't it make much more sense to have toilet doors work in such a way that you could pull a handle to go in and then push the door to exit, thus avoiding contact with door handles?

I'm not sure how feasible this would be and I suspect there is a good reason why things are the way that they are but it's just something that really bothers me.


Leave a comment

First Prev 1/5 Next Last

Handle Hygiene UK

Handle Hygiene UK

Check out www.handlehygiene.com for a great solution to this problem!
17/04/12 Handle Hygiene UK
2
carly

carly

So many people don't wash their hands after using the toilet and this handle would help stop all of the germs they are spreading around. Everyone has to use the same door handle to leave the restrooms, so people who wash their hands just end up with more germs right after washing their hands because of the people who didn't wash them. I think this handle is a brilliant way to start controlling the spread of germs and diseases. It should be put in all the hospitals and restrooms around England. I would love to see it in my area.
25/01/12 carly
-4
Stephen

Stephen

The reason why they are nearly all push to go in and pull to come out is partly for fire regulations and partly because you can't have the exit door opening outwards into traffic (people walking past). We have the solution to your problem- the Purleve hygienic door handle which has a plastic wrap over the handle that advances everytime someone goes through the door so that there is a fresh, new plastic wrap over the contact part of the handle- for every user, every time!! This fantastic new product can be purchased from Stream Hygiene Ltd (www.streamhygiene.co.uk) who have the UK rights to this product.
18/03/11 Stephen
-1
Jethro

Jethro

Have you gentlemen and maybe ladies noticed that the toilet door handle in mcdonads food stores is a vertical bar (in most cases) and after washing your hands you open the door in the same spot as evrybody else. How many of you eat your burger and fries with a knife and fork? Happy tum-tums.
03/03/11 Jethro
2
dave

dave

thank god for motion-sensing taps though, I wish they had those in every washroom!
24/01/11 dave
-7
mike

mike

the handwasher/drier should be in the cubicle and operated by foot
22/09/10 mike
6
arrawn

arrawn

Diamonds are forever,you make a very good point,but where would you store all this not pure water,failing pumping the used water from washing dishes,clothes,baths etc etc up to the attic the project (I think) becomes an impossibility.
As to the original gripe writer you are dead right,no building should have a water closet door that opens inwardly.But even if the cubicle door opened outwards I think you would still have to twist a handle or unlock the door before you could get out.
So my answer to the problem is simply to wash my hands(even though all of the people in-front of me have had to touch the tap handle) leave the Toilet (restroom) and use the little bottle of Sanitiser gel that I take everywhere I go (and I do mean everywhere).
11/06/10 arrawn
-10
Chris C

Chris C

Libel laws don't apply to the Environmental Health, STMS!!

Maybe you should give them a ring, they need to get in there with some hand swabs - disgusting!!
25/05/10 Chris C
32
Sick to my stomach

Sick to my stomach

I was relieving myself at a urinal at the food court the other day while some was unleashing a sloppy bowel-ful in one of the cubicles. I washed my hands and faffed around with my stuff and the cubicle clicked open. Out comes a restaurant guy in his apron and hat, checks his hair and off he goes back to work at a popular noodle place. Never a moment's thought about washing his hands. Reminded me of Seinfeld. Of course I have crossed that place off my dining list forever. I'd love to share more info but you know what libel law is like.
12/04/10 Sick to my stomach
11
Diamonds are forever*

Diamonds are forever*

You do have a point saying that public hygenies are badly designed. What I want to know is that if there is a limited supply of water on this planet that is fresh, then why do we use fresh drinking water 2 flush crap down the toilet?
18/02/10 Diamonds are forever*
8
Russ Daw

Russ Daw

Public toilet hygiene is much misunderstood. Even if the person before you washes their hands you are still not safe. Imagine this. Previous person uses toilet and soils his hand. He uses that hand to turn the tap on thereby dirtying the tap. Washes hands and exits having turned the tap off thereby dirtying his hand again. He uses that hand to open the door. Dirty door handle. You come in and dutifully wash your hands but turn the tap off thereby dirtying your hand again and touch the door handle.

The solution is to get a paper towel to turn the tap off and another to open the door with. You can't be too careful. I know to my cost. Gastro enteritis is not good.
03/02/10 Russ Daw
-2
kaiser

kaiser

Very good point dude: public hygiene systems are very badly designed, it's unacceptable!
But you're wrong on one point: there is NO good reason why things are the way they are (immediate equipment cost is the reason, which is a bad one).

P.S. to all: F.U. with your money/advertising considerations! Just let the guy say what he has to say!
24/01/10 kaiser
15
GM

GM

I agree ,how sad that you have to advertise in this manner, why don't you pay like the rest of us.
14/12/09 GM
0
grumpyoldwoman

grumpyoldwoman

Digsy, have you ever actually clicked on "Please read this before you post" above the box for posting comments? Please do so now and you will see that it is site policy. Adverts can be placed on the site for a fee, but among the comments on a gripe (and for free) is not the place!
06/12/09 grumpyoldwoman
9
Digsy

Digsy

grumpyoldwoman, Please remember that you do not actually own this site. It is not up to you (or me) to say what other users can or cannot do or say.
05/12/09 Digsy
12

First Prev 1/5 Next Last

FEATURES

Gripes the News
Gripes in the pipes
The Soapbox
spinner