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Toilet Seat Sanitation in Schools

Children aren’t always the cleanest bunch, especially while using the restroom. Whether it's inattentiveness or just plain laziness, the toilet seats tend to get the worst of it. Although it may prove difficult to keep school toilets clean all the time, it is necessary. Because of these frequent “accidents”, toilet seat sanitation is even more important and it’s the schools responsibility to maintain a healthy restroom environment.

Keeping the students healthy
Good infection control starts with good hygiene. Organisms, especially viruses, can live on surfaces for hours and even days, so proper sanitation is vital for keeping students healthy. A school can reap many benefits from keeping their toilet seats clean, which include:

Fewer children missing school days because of sicknesses acquired by germs in restrooms and on toilet seats.
Fewer illness for children especially diarrhea, vomiting and respiratory illness.
Fewer outbreaks of infectious disease.

Proper cleaning techniques
Cleanliness and maintenance of toilets should be checked daily to ensure its upkeep is being sustained. Schools may even want to include the students in the checking process so they can start to get an idea of what to look for themselves - make it a learning experience as well.

Using cleaning products specifically designed for a particular job is extremely beneficial. For example: toilet bowl cleaner for the toilet bowl, toilet seat cleaner for the toilet seat, etc. Using a toxic cleaning product on the actual toilet seat could cause irritation and/or burns- not good!
Make sure the toilets seats are cleaned regularly. Children constantly use the bathroom throughout the day and can get dirty fairly quickly. Once a week may not be good enough.
If there is an emergency, the toilet should be cleaned immediately to prevent further spread of germs and potential infections. Don’t wait another day, or even another hour to clean it up.

A simple solution
Even when you have a proper cleaning regimen in place, deposits from previous users can still appear on the toilet seats causing a potential health hazard. Because of this, schools should put toilet seat covers in every bathroom so students can use them if necessary. Toilet seat covers are made paper thin so they can be easily flushed, yet durable so they can effectively protect the user from the germs on the toilet seat. With toilet seat covers, you don’t have to think about the person that sat before you. It’s easy, safe, and will benefit not only the students, but also the school as a whole. These covers, by no means, undermine the necessity of regular cleaning, and schools should still maintain their typical cleaning schedule. These covers will simply be an additional measure to fighting germs and to keeping students safe.