World Toilet Day falls on the 19th of November every year. The theme this year centres around toilets and nature. To inspire action in tackling the global sanitation crisis, World Toilet Day is working to provide proper toilet and sanitation systems that work in harmony with our environment. Utilising nature based solutions will allow us to harness the power of our ecosystem, such as using our own human waste to produce fertiliser for crops. With Malaysia’s own water crisis, this issue should be at the forefront of our minds. Listen, because Nature is Calling.

Despite having a sound sanitation system and proper washroom facilities in Malaysia, many people are still experiencing unhygienic washrooms especially in public toilets. The cleanliness of public toilets reflects the civilisation of a society. Many Malaysians are still not aware of the impact of toilets and how our environment is being affected by our own ignorance when it comes to hygiene.

Many also experience dirty cubicles, bad smells and poor hygiene habits in the workplace washroom. This is concerning when people spend more time in the office than ever before and expect higher standards of hygiene and cleanliness. In fact, 1 in 4 office workers don’t wash their hands after using the toilet. This is one of the reasons that make workplaces the ideal environment for germs to spread through cross contamination.

Impact of poor washroom hygiene to businesses:

• Staff absenteeism due to sickness thus resulting in lost of productivity
• Staff presenteeism – working while sick can potentially spread infectious diseases to others
• Global estimates the cost of lost productivity due to illnesses caused by lack of sanitation and poor hygiene are up to 5% of GDP