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Peter Honey

Peter Honey

13 Oct 2011 | 17:13

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I have just returned from two weeks in Egypt where we were actively encouraged to use an anti-bacterial hand gel after we had touched, well, virtually anything. The label on the bottle assured us that 99.9 per cent of germs would be killed within 15 seconds.

Egypt, famous for pyramids and traveller’s tummy, is full of hazards not least numerous impromptu thank you ceremonies where our Egyptian helpers would line up to receive a well earned tip and an appreciative handshake. There were also many encounters with street traders and small children who, keen to earn small change, would rush to take our hands and guide us as we balanced precariously on unstable gangplanks and/or struggled in and out of 4X4s in a bid to examine yet more hieroglyphics and/or 5,000 year old graffiti (more politely known as rock art).

Fortunately, the frequent hand gel routine seemed to do the trick; no upset tummies – not even from the 0.1 per cent of germs the hand gel apparently could not reach. But I must admit that every time I clasped a grateful, outstretched hand, I remembered that the Queen, a professional hand-shaker, always wears gloves.

And now I see that a leading scientist, Nathan Wolfe, a virologist at Stanford University, has written a book, ‘The Viral Storm’, in which she explains how contact between hands is responsible for transmitting microbes at high speed and spreading diseases. This is serious stuff, aiding and abetting not only the spread of influenza but, far more dangerous, pandemics that can wipe out millions of people worldwide.

It occurs to me that HR is a profession where lots of hand shaking is implicit in the job description. All those hopeful job applicants to meet and greet; all that well wishing of people taking early retirement; all that comforting of people being made redundant; all those meetings with trade union reps... the list is endless. But what is the alternative to all that hand shaking? High fives clearly won’t do since hands still come into contact – albeit fleetingly. Touching noses is unlikely to catch on. The answer, according to Nathan Wolfe, is to switch to ‘safe shaking’ where elbows, instead of hands, briefly touch.

Perhaps HR should take the lead in promoting elbow touching? Surely a heaven sent opportunity to be seen to do our bit to save the human race? Either that or you need to put in a large order for bottles of hygienic hand gel.

Comments

1. At 16:45 on 14 Oct 2011, Lucy Townsend wrote:

Or we could all do more to support and promote handwashing at our workplaces e.g. through global handwashing day:
http://www.globalhandwashingday.org/
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2. At 15:41 on 17 Oct 2011, Theresa Latham wrote:

Why the need to shake hands anyway - just a pleasant smile and a nod should suffice.
Although a hand shake is so embedded in 'good manners' it will be hard to remove this type of greeting. The hand shake is also a 'gentlemen's agreement' to more often than not secure a deal.
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3. At 11:34 on 22 Oct 2011, Martin Campbell wrote:

I read this with a healthy (or unhealthy) dose of irony. A similar scientific body of researchers is also telling us of the surge in allergies and autoimmune disorders in the developed world as a probable consequence of raising children in an "over clean" environment. Forget the handshake - "give 's a hug!"
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