29 October 2009, 09/253
Hand washing at Farmer Ted’s to promote good
hygiene
Children visiting a popular farm attraction in West Lancashire
on Friday will learn the importance of hand washing to promote good
hygiene and prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
West Lancashire Borough Council’s Commercial Safety Team will be
at the award-winning Farmer Ted’s tourism site on 30 October from
10am to 1pm to speak to visitors about the importance of washing
their hands properly, especially after being in contact with
animals.
This is because diseases such as E.coli are potentially serious
infections that can be spread from contact with animals or infected
meat products and from person to person. Yet good personal hygiene
can prevent these diseases spreading.
So Council officers have been visiting open farms in West
Lancashire to ensure that they are following current guidelines and
are doing everything reasonably practicable to control the risk of
staff and visitors potentially becoming infected. As part of this
work the Council will be offering all open farms in West Lancashire
the opportunity to hold a ‘hand-washing event’.
On 30 October, Council officers will be at Farmer Ted’s armed
with their fun ‘hand washing machine’, which includes an ultra
violet light box so that children can see whether they have washed
their hands properly. Using the special cream, they are asked to go
and wash their hands and then put them back under UV light in the
box to see if they have missed any areas. They and their parents
are then given useful advice to promote good hand washing.
Stickers, leaflets and other goodies will also be given out on the
day too.
Councillor Andrew Fowler, Portfolio Holder for Community
Services and Health, said: "Swine flu, E.coli and other such
infectious diseases have featured a lot in the media recently with
various outbreaks, yet by simple hand-washing techniques these
diseases can be prevented from spreading. As part of the work we
already do with our open farms to help them control potential
risks, we are offering these hand washing events to teach
youngsters and their parents the importance of good hygiene. I’m
sure that this type of education will help to improve the health
and well-being of local people and I’m delighted that Farmer Ted’s
have invited us to take this valuable opportunity to spread the
word of good hand washing."
Farmer Ted’s have been working with the Council to ensure that
their attraction remains a safe environment for visitors and
invited the Council to carry out their handwasing event on 30
October.
Owner of Farmer Ted’s, Mark Edwards, said: "Farmer Ted’s is
delighted to show that farms are great safe places for educational
trips and family days out. We are proud to say that we provide a
clean environment with plenty of hand washing facilities and we
want to educate children and families to wash their hands before
eating and after touching animals. Germs can be picked up from lots
of other different places and parents must get into the habit of
encouraging and even showing their children how to wash their hands
properly. We’re extremely delighted to be working in partnership
with the Council on such a positive and exciting initiative."
Farmer Ted’s is also just about to roll out a new school
campaign of their own, called ‘Healthy Food Happy Hands’. It is a
free service whereby they will go into schools to talk about food,
farming, food chains, healthy eating and rounded off with the
importance of hand washing. The idea behind it is to reflect the
importance of health and hygiene - combined with lots of fun. It
runs in November and January and schools who are interested can
contact Farmer Ted’s on 0151 526 0002 for details.
Related information